 
10 Crucial and Surprising Steps to Build Trust in a Relationship He/she had the Affair - Why do I Need to Change? What Everyone Needs to Know About Extramarital Affairs. 10 Fair Fighting Rules for Couples The Good Marriage - How and Why Love Last The Hidden Costs of Keeping Love Alive More Lasting Unions: Christianity, the Family, and Society The Power of Two: Secrets to a Strong & Loving Marriage |  |
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The Marriage Spirit Finding the Passion and Joy of Soul-Centered Love By Drs. Evelyn & Paul Moschetta Introduction Helping couples, as a husband-wife marriage counseling team, has been our life's work. This we have done in weekly counseling sessions, on weekend workshops and retreats, and as contributing editors to the Ladies' Home Journal magazine and their immensely popular column Can This Marriage Be Saved? Over the years we have helped partners face just about every issue that exists in marriage: infidelity, in-law problems, religious differences, money problems, child-rearing issues, prolonged unemployment, communication failures, sexual problems, physical and emotional illness, physical and emotional spouse abuse, alcoholism and drug abuse, dual-career problems, issues of power and control, and the loss of love and passion. To deal with these issues we have taught partners to communicate better, showed them how to overcome past anger and resolve conflicts, analyzed their dreams, given them parenting skills, helped them heal their wounded inner child and guided them through the maze of confusing messages stamped on their psyches by loving but often misguided parents. While these efforts usually helped a great deal, we felt the need for a larger perspective, one that would not only address specific problems but also give marriage a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Solving problems was essential but the next step was just as important-making sure couples did not drift into a mechanical, soulless kind of intimacy. To be more effective we searched for a broader context for marriage. This search was also a personal journey. Both our first marriages had ended in divorce and neither one of us wanted to risk repeating such a painful experience. In the early years of our present marriage of twenty-three years we were subjected to some of the same stresses other couples, especially those in second marriages, find so disruptive. Not only were we both completing our doctorates, working, and starting to build a private counseling practice, we were also raising children while attempting to integrate stepchildren and former spouses into a somewhat harmonious whole. We have fared well. Our marriage has enriched us as individuals, has deepened our love, and was help in carving out a satisfying family and professional life. No doubt our therapy training was a saving grace for us. Yet the need for a larger meaning to our own marriage, as well the marriages we worked with, persisted.
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