Customer Reviews

Married People: Staying Together in the Age of Divorce

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Do you want to know what principles keep a marriage together? This is a good read by a woman who has done some extensive research covering a wide range of marriages, what has held them together despite some overwhelming odds. These are couples whose option was to stay married under any circumstances. "Divorce" was never discussed nor was it a ever spoken. You get circumspection into lives that you might never have or dare. You won't be bored!

Passion is easy. Commitment is tough. Celia Barbour

True life is lived when tiny changes occur. Leo Tolstoy

Author Francine Klagsbrun interviewed couples nationwide married more than 25years to glean insight into the why and how of marital commitment.

Each couple is unique, each story idiosyncratic. Their adventures weave a tapestry of electric interactions, helpfulness, soul-searching.

Finally a portrait emerges of loyalty, heart stabbing adversity, maturity, growth, evolution as a unit. Married People is a collection of Ethical Wills: Putting Your Values on Paper, 2nd Edition collaboratively offered by hundreds of anonymous couples of hope and shared vision.

Marriage as the foundation of family informs how we engage in all our relationships. We choose according to our narrow field of experience. What is true for us is merely that which is closest to who we are in this moment. Having regrets means we are growing beyond who we were as we continue becoming. We are not stuck as children of our parents, we may realize our own adult selves if we humbly attempt growth beyond vanity.

Couples married for more than 25years show us a roadmap of friendship consciously offering, receiving, appreciating, compromising. A couple's faith in one another's potential for grace humor and courage supports evolution beyond solitary achievement, breathing wholeness jointly surpassing individuality.

Human interactions for reflection:

DVD The King's Speech allows us to observe a marriage under stress; not attacking one another, rather facing challenges together (us against problems) with humility, persistence and restraint. See Special Features of archival audio and video of King George VI public addresses before speech therapy and after.

DVD Fair Game with Naomi Watts Fair Game has voiceover in Special Features by real-life husband and wife who lived pain and overcame the scission in their marriage 2003-2006: self-doubt, confusion, ambivalence about duty, loyalty, honor and parenting their 4yo twins; support offered by her colonel father and mother while she contemplates duty to family, country and sworn silence.

Departures role model for healing broken trust through parental surrogates, healing of broken relationships with music.

The Caregiver Helpbook, Powerful Tools for Caregivers addresses our final responsibility to one another as friends, life companions, partners.

Marital longevity, fidelity, mutual encouragement and respect offers stable role models of probity for children in sorting out their own choices in relationship.

Dhamma Brothers meditation as a self soothing social skill to tame and modulate interaction.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale based on true story of Hachiko an Akita born in Odate 1923 whose devotion and loyalty are celebrated in Japan, now translated into America 2008. The parental advice to their daughter on marriage, marital communication acknowledge challenges "I wanted to run into his arms but I think too much" "I heard you" "I missed you" "Do you love my daughter? remember that during the hard times."

The Young Victoria "do not mistake stubborness for strength."

5 star reflection on consequences of marital commitment.

In the long run we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt