In an age
when people are succeeding in answering many of lifes most enigmatic questions, the
mystery of how to find lasting love remains.
All About Love! answers that
mystery, not with rehashed clichés or phony psychobabble but with keen insights and
concrete examples that will hearten even those who have despaired of ever introducing the
person theyre with as "the love of my life."
Joan Swirsky married the love of her life
when she was a teenager and has enjoyed every day of a marriage of over 40 years. From her
"real life" experience, as well as from the understanding of relationships she
has gleaned in her practice of psychotherapy, she has written a book that can benefit men
and women of every age, no matter what their backgrounds or former experiences have been.
Finding the love of your life requires
looking at just about everything you thought you believed in with a new perspective,
having the courage to change
some basic assumptions (and behavior), and trusting that a person as terrific as you can
and will find love that lasts a lifetime.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Where Have All the
Flowers Gone?
(Progress and Pitfalls)
A look at where love and commitment used
to be in days gone by and why everything
has changed for the modern men and women who are seeking
lasting love without success.
Chapter Two: Meandering Through
the Maze
(Rules, Psychobabble, and Other Confusions)
Here is an explanation of why men and
women in the new millennium have difficulty figuring
out who they are, what values they hold dear, and why it is so difficult
to find a relationship of depth and meaning ~ and keep it forever.
Chapter Three: Chemistry
(Pheromones and Palpitations)
What makes two people
"connect"? This is one of the great mysteries
of human nature, yet here the explanation is mercifully clear.
Chapter Four: Acid and Honey
(Looking Inside)
Many people look for love in all the
wrong places ~ and for all the wrong reasons.
If you are looking for qualities in another person that may be dazzling at first
but, in the final analysis, have no substance, stop and take another look.
Chapter Five: Chocolate Cake
(Sharing Ingredients)
Compatibility is not necessarily about
what you have in common.
In fact, to be a great couple, you don't have to have anything in common!
Chapter Six: Red Flags
(Sex, Money, and "Roles")
He's in the mood; she's not. She spends;
he complains. He won't vacuum; she won't
change the spark plugs. One of the most pressing questions in all modern relationship is:
Who is supposed to be doing what?
Chapter Seven: Peacocks,
Penguins, Panthers, and Puppy Dogs
(It's Hard to Be a Person)
Here is a keenly analytical description
of the personality types that make
things go wrong, and what you can do to make things work.
Chapter Eight: Gray-Haired Babies
(The Mysteries of Nature)
Love may be romantic and full of roses
and music and hearts and flowers.
But it's also about science and nature. Here is the reason why certain
people can't help being who they are. It's in their DNA!
Chapter Nine: A Door Closes, A
Door Opens
(Getting Over Getting Hurt)
Alas, sometimes heartbreak is inevitable.
What can you do when your best efforts can't save your relationship? Lots!
Chapter Ten: Heartbreak Hotel
(Closed!)
Leaving a relationship behind and forging
a new life for yourself may seem impossible.
But it's not. In getting over getting hurt, you can paint a beautiful picture over your
scars,
change your love diet, consider the magic of the mountains,
and learn to hover.
Chapter Eleven: Your Love I.Q.
(Checking Out Your Potential)
Is there a way to test the likelihood of
your finding and keeping a love to last forever?
Decidedly yes. A few simple questions and some honest answers may just do the trick.
Chapter Twelve: The Ten
Commandments
(Ancient Truths)
There is nothing as easy and - at the
same time - nothing as difficult, as
finding your one-and-only love. Pop psychology doesn't have the answers,
but the tried-and-true wisdom of the ages does. Try it!