Ultimate Reading Resources for Happy Relationships
Maintaining a happy, healthy relationship takes work. Lot of work! You need to make an effort every day to connect with your partner and strengthen your bond. How do you do that? And especially after many years together, how do you continue to connect and bond in new ways?
Connecting with your partner and maintaining a happy relationship is not just about the work you do together, yet also the work you do on yourself. Finding joy and happiness within yourself, pursuing your dreams, and being content with who you allow you to bring more to your relationship.
Today I’m sharing my best reading resources, not only to help you connect with your partner and also to be the best that you can be; allowing you to be better in your relationship.
Let’s start with a few good reads to support a healthy relationship:
The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary D. Chapman tops the list.
Knowing how your partner receives and feels love is key to a happy relationship. In this book, Gary Chapman explores the different ways that people communicate their feelings of love. I recently published a series of articles on each of the five languages that took an in-depth look at each one and how you can show your partner love in a way they can receive it. Did you read the series? If not, be sure to check it out.
Couple Skills: Making a Relationship Work by Matthew McKay Ph.D. and Patrick Fanning. This book helps you improve necessary relationship skills like communicating, coping with problems, and resolving conflicts. It teaches healthier ways to address these issues by accepting your partner’s feelings without judgment.
The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships by John Gottman. John Gottman is a well-known couples’ expert with over 20 years of proven research. In this book, he discusses the aspects of a healthy relationship, looks at the importance of emotional connections, and the importance of responding to your partner’s needs.
When the Past is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships by David Richo. This is an important read for anyone bringing past issues into a current relationship. We often develop unhealthy habits and feelings in one relationship that we bring to another, which can lead to the downfall of the new relationship. Yet, if we become more aware of our dysfunctional patterns, we can start to heal them and stop repeating them.
I Love You But I Don’t Trust You: The Complete Guide to Restoring Trust in Your Relationship by Mira Kirshenbaum. Whether your lack of trust come from a betrayal, a series of lies, or hurt from a previous relationship, it can be damaging to your relationship. This book looks at ways to start rebuilding trust starting with exploring the different stages of trust and where you currently are on the spectrum. You can heal and learn to trust again, yet it takes effort and a willingness to work at it from both parties.
47 Little Love Boosters For a Happy Marriage: Connect and Instantly Deepen Your Bond No Matter How Busy You Are by Marko Petkovic. Whether your relationship is brand-new or decades old, keeping the romance and passion alive is important to its continued success. This book shows you how, in just minutes a day, you can connect with your partner and show them love. These love boosters are free to do and you don’t even have to leave the house. You’ll even find a checklist to help you track which love boosters you’ve already done and which ones you want to try.
Love, Sex and Staying Warm: Creating a Vital Relationship by Neil Rosenthal. Quite simply, this book is a relationship instruction manual on how to stay close, connected, and intimate. Even the best relationships develop cracks at times and if you don’t spot them, they can slowly grow until one day you realize that you are less connected. And you don’t know how it happened. With practical tips and strategies for strengthening your relationship and bringing you and your partner back to a warmer partnership, this book is the ultimate how-to for a connected relationship.
And reads for your personal growth are important too:
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth by Dr. M. Scott Peck. After more than 25 years, this book is still relevant in your journey to a higher level of self-understanding. It’s an exploration of loving relationships and fullness of life, and learning how to distinguish dependency from love. Ultimately, it will lead you to becoming your own true self.
What to Say When You Talk to Your Self by Dr. Shad Helmstetter. Our minds begin processing our internal voice from birth and as much as 75% (or more) of that programming is negative talk working against us. Dr. Helmstetter shows readers how to erase the bad programming and replace it with healthy, new programs that can positive and life-changing.
The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV. What if you could choose happiness instead of waiting for it to come to you? In this book, the Dalai Lama shows you how to overcome anxiety, insecurity, discouragement, and anger to better every aspect of your life. Whether your goal is a better relationship, overcoming loss, or finding inner peace, you’ll learn how to navigate life’s challenges with an inner happiness.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Self-limiting beliefs cause needless suffering, damage to relationships, and steal your joy. Using ancient Toltec Wisdom, the author helps you rapidly transform your life to experience freedom, self-love, and true happiness. With over 5 million copies in print and more than 7 years on the New York Times bestseller list, this book is clearly helping readers overcome damaging beliefs to live a happier life.
Waking Up in Winter: In Search of What Really Matters at Midlife by Cheryl Richardson. We all go through some kind of mid-life crisis. Sometimes it lasts for a few days or weeks, other times it can last for years. It’s a time of reflection, letting go of things that no longer serve you, and discovering what really matters in your life. Through this journey, Cheryl Richardson discuss her own midlife experience and invites you to take an inquiring look at your own life through thought-provoking questions to lead you to your true self.
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott. In this short powerful read, Anne Lamott shares three simple prayers that are essential to making it through difficult times, challenging days, and life’s hardships. In these three prayers, you learn to ask for help from a higher power, appreciate what you’ve been given in life, and feel the overwhelming awe of the world around you. They help you accept a simple way to appreciate life, in the good days and the bad.
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer. Who are you? Have you ever truly, deeply, explored this question? Michael Singer takes you through a series of self-reflections to help you discover who you are, at your core, both to yourself and in your relationship. Teaching you how to live in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts or memories, the techniques and ideas explored in this book will help you see yourself in a whole new light and find unconditional happiness.
Whatever kind of mood you’re in, whatever challenges you’re facing, and wherever you are in your journey of love and life, there is a book on this list that will help you through. Expanding your mind and opening your heart with these powerful lessons of life and love will not only help you live happier, they will improve your relationship. Being happier in yourself will allow you to feel happier in your relationships and open you up to more fulfillment.
Give yourself, and your relationship, a gift that will continue to give over the years by expanding your thoughts and ideas. Allow yourself to be touched by the words of these books today and reap the benefits tomorrow. Happy reading!
Want to move things even faster call for a FREE exploratory session to discovery how the horses and I can help you heal so of the past trauma so that you can be free in your relationship not only with yourself yet with your partner.