Your Love Is Meant to Last

"We just don't understand what happened. It was so good in the beginning." For master certified relationship counselor Reta Faye Walker, this confession has been a repeated theme from disconnected couples for over twenty years. Deeply informed by her own experience of divorce, Walker knows that when a couple begins to anguish over the "good times" of the past, their relationship has reached a critical juncture. It's likely time to make the most important decision of the rest of their lives: exit and seek a new, temporary romance, or engage in authentic conversation fueled by daring openness, deep listening, emotional insight, endless curiosity, and a desire to overcome any obstacle-together. Understanding that many people hold a fairy-tale picture of love as a pretty lie built on the fickle recollection of honeymoon ecstasy, Walker shows us how building a foundation of understanding can help lead to true, lasting love that grows richer by the day.

In Guide to Lasting Love: A Therapist's 21-Day Program to a Fulfilling Relationship, Walker teaches couples how to:

Move away from destructive criticism and toward constructive empathy Surmount the difficulties of personality differences and enjoy their rewards Effectively reduce their stress through team cooperation Investigate their "unconscious agenda" in order to set more reasonable expectations Reinvigorate intimacy with out-of-the-box thinking

Now happily married with credit to her own relationship strategies, Walker knows firsthand that just because bonds break does not mean they are meant to be broken-they're just waiting for the real conversation-and the possibility for love's lasting return-to begin