The Happy Couple: How to Make Happiness a Habit One Little Loving Thing at a Time

by Barton Goldsmith PhD, Harville Hendrix PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

Bad habits: we all have them! But what happens when these bad habits extend to our relationships? Whether it's interrupting your partner mid-sentence, acting bored when they are speaking, or teasing them in hurtful ways—over time these bad habits can lead to resentment, and can mean the difference between a wonderful, close relationship, and one characterized by conflict or unhappiness. Fortunately, for all of us, good relationship habits can be learned (or re-learned), and bad habits can be un-learned.

Named one of “America’s Top Therapists” by Cosmopolitan magazine, prominent Los Angeles-based psychologist and radio talk show host Barton Goldsmith, PhD, offers readers simple, accessible tips and tools for developing and strengthening positive relationship habits such as gratitude, humor, togetherness, and honesty.

Habits can be hard to break, but if you love someone, you’ve got to make sacrifices. When you consider that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, it becomes clear that many of us may need help in making a relationship thrive. The Happy Couple shows how simple acts of kindness and generosity can increase the likelihood of a relationship being happy, healthy, and long-lasting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608828722
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	12/01/2013
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Barton Goldsmith, PhD, is a multi-award winning psychotherapist, a syndicated columnist and radio host, and a recognized keynote speaker. He has appeared on many television shows and is frequently interviewed by the national press. He was named by Cosmopolitan magazine as one of America’s top therapists, and is the author of a number of books, including Emotional Fitness for Couples and Emotional Fitness for Intimacy.
 

Harville Hendrix, PhD, is co-creator of Imago relationship therapy, and is known internationally for his work with couples. Hendrix is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Getting the Love You Want and Keeping the Love You Find.

Interviews

Barton Goldsmith lives in Westlake Village, CA.

Editorial Reviews

10/14/2013
Psychotherapist Goldsmith (the Emotional Fitness series) weighs in on how to maintain happy and loving relationship, focusing on what a partner must do to fully appreciate and love his or her better half. Goldsmith organizes the book in an approachable way: each chapter deals with one potentially contentious issue in relationships. But the tips aimed at helping readers forge more loving relationships are predictable and repetitive. Often, Goldsmith resorts to suggesting that the couple spending more quality time together as an overall relationship booster—a great idea, but not one that every couple has time to accommodate. Not surprisingly, Goldsmith also recommends that partners communicate with each other constantly. According to the author, texting and talking on the phone every day is essential to a healthy relationship. Goldsmith is supportive in his tone, but the book depends too much on these catch-all resolutions to what are really very personal problems. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

The Happy Couple is a guidebook to relationships that every couple should read. My wife of fifty-nine years calls marriage a struggle, and Joseph Campbell called it an ordeal. They are defining the effort that two individuals must make to create a relationship. Let the wisdom of this book help the two of you create a third entity: a true and happy relationship.”
—Bernie Siegel, MD, author of A Book of Miracles and The Art of Healing




“The Happy Couple makes a great pocket book. There will be times when you get into a bad spot with your partner and you want to do something right now to stop the stress. You only need to remember one thing: ‘Where is my copy of The Happy Couple?’ Just look up the appropriate tip and you're on your way to creating a better relationship. Plus, you can avoid another night on the couch and cold shoulders.”  
—Ellyn Bader, PhD, founder of The Couples Institute
 



“When couples say they want to ‘work on their relationship,’ what does that really mean, and what work is required? Goldsmith’s The Happy Couple lays it all out through clear objectives and direct behaviors. It also amply demonstrates how changed behaviors lead to changed feeling states. I can only believe that any couple who follows this set of promptings will evolve into a much better relationship.”
—James Hollis, PhD, Jungian analyst and author of many books, including Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives

From the Publisher