This is a book for those of us who recognize the importance of relationship as the key source for happiness in our lives, and who are serious about wanting to discover ways of creating and co-creating a relationship that is truly brilliant. It is a story about how our relationships can grow over a lifetime - leading us to feel more connected, content, joyful, and flourishing. We're talking about the relationship that we have a partner, the one we have with ourselves, and the one we have with being or existence - with all that is - as citizens of the universe. It is possible for us to grow in awareness, so that we have a rich experience not only of the physical world in which we move and act, but also in interior experiences of intuition, compassion, aliveness, perception, wisdom, inner tranquility, spirituality, relationship, and knowing. It's possible to grow into a deeper knowing and higher consciousness, changing and enriching substantially how we connect with life, how we make meaning, and how large our capacity to live in joy might be. Part One, "Co-Creating a Brilliant Partner Relationship," zeroes in on how to make our partner relationship successful. Many of the ideas here are new, or are examined from different vantage points than we might have considered in the past. We look at relationships as they develop, in predictable sequential stages, and examine both the issues that emerge in each of the stages, as well as how we can address them, resolve them, and move on toward richer experiences together. Nevertheless, if we are really after a healthy and satisfying partner relationship, we will need to craft an authentic relationship with our own inner selves as well, which is a subject of Part Two, "Creating a Brilliant Relationship with Me." Here we explore, in an uncommon way, the power of a conscious relationship with ourselves, focused on a deepening intimacy with our own inner being - on a conscious, deliberate connection with the wise, intuitive, compassionate core within each of us. From there we move on to explore our personal growth and development as humans. Our growth - our self evolution - persists throughout the lifespan, continuing in stages that move past the point of optimal physical growth to a primary and significant focus on the mental, emotional, and spiritual realms of our lives. In describing these mature stages, we point out potent, distinct perceptions into human well being, relationship, and life satisfaction that are possible, along with rewards that result as we allow a deeper attention and awareness to expand within us. The further we grow through these individual stages of human development, the richer and deeper our partner relationship, and all our relationships can be, and it will become quite obvious that we humans are indeed united as one - that we share a connection with each other and with everything that exists. And so finally we discuss (nothing less than) the likely purpose for our existence - which stems from the abundant richness that the relationships in our lives provide - and again point to the potential for an ever increasing sense of connection, meaning, and joy that can result. And we see from here how this is the journey of a lifetime: the most magnificent, satisfying journey we could ever take!
David A. Yeats, L.C.S.W., has been a practicing psychotherapist in Boulder Colorado for 28 years, and is married with five adult children. He has seen that the common denominator for virtually every client or couple, indeed, for all of us, is the quality of our relationships - with partners, with ourselves, and with the world at large. And so the focus of his clinical work has been to assist clients with answering the question: "How can I better my relationships, and therefore better my life?" This book suggests a clear, accessible, and powerfully rewarding answer to that question.
