Transforming Relationships

TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIPS: ESSENTIALS FOR BUILDING BRIDGES OF CONNECTION Meaning-Centered Applications & Interventions Meaning-Centered Relationship Transformation model and processes help us discover ways to “transform” and “alchemize” all our relationships. This manual is filled with many different, unique, and useful tools, approaches, methods, and handouts for creating Bridges of Connection so that we: ~ Are better able to communicate in each other’s styles and love-appreciation languages. ~ Recognize our own and others’ needs. ~ Keep our physiological arousal regulated. ~ Can be responsive rather than reactive to one another. ~ Can change communication patterns. ~ Find ways of living happier and fulfilling lives. ~ Discover meaning in life and relationships. ~ Create shared meaning opportunities. ~ Motivate our co-workers and energize our work environments. ~ Initiate the changes necessary to produce stronger and lasting bonds. Tapping Into Our Relational Capacities, and Discovering Shared Meaning In Life FOR LASTING CONNECTIONS… “Relationship begins and is sustained through interest in each other, which, according to Kierkegaard, is a form of “inter-existence.” Inter-existence is a collapse of duality into a unity. As we get (passively) interested in each other, and as we choose (actively) to pursue this initial interest, we glide into a curious trajectory of shared meaning – into an infinite feedback loop of knowing and being known - into an interlocking orbit of relationship. And this kind of meaning-based relationship transforms us, that is, if we allow it… Transforming Relationships is a bottomless treasure trove of maps, compasses and sextants for helping relational and institutional dyads navigate around the fiords of misunderstanding.” ~ Pavel Somov, PhD, Author of Present Perfect; Lotus Effect; Choice Awareness Training: Logotherapy and Mindfulness Training for Treatment of Addictions; and Anger Management Jumpstart: A 4-Session Mindfulness Path to Compassion and Change “Once again, Drs. Dezelic and Ghanoum demonstrate their special talents in providing concise explanations of complex concepts and beautiful graphic illustrations of complex therapeutic processes in their recent Manual on Transforming Relationships. In this highly informative manual, they cover many important topics in the relational realm. I recommend it for all therapists.” ~ Paul T. P. Wong, PhD, CPsych, President of the International Network on Personal Meaning; Co-Editor of The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality; Handbook of Multicultural Perspectives on Stress and Coping; and Existential and Spiritual Issues in Death Attitudes “This book, which is a superb and stimulating study-guide, is about our relationships - both personal and professional ones, and how we can transform them and ourselves through meaning. Dezelic and Ghanoum show us that it is about building bridges of contact and connection. Their approach is unique and visually stunning in that they offer us conceptual pictographs as an aid for the clinician and client alike. It is a reflective work centered on the magic of meaning and on the alchemy of attitudinal alteration so much needed if we are to live and work with purpose and passion, with a sense of significance, and sheer aliveness. I do not just warmly recommend this brilliant book, I would like to say that it is requisite reading for any and every mental health practitioner - an imperative. It is an original contribution to Logotherapy and packed full of philosophical and psychological ideas. It shines the light of the logos itself into one area which most requires attention and wholeness. For a magnificent and generous production, we owe Marie Dezelic and Gabriel Ghanoum a considerable debt of gratitude.” ~ Stephen J. Costello, PhD, Founder & Director of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Ireland, Author of The Philosophy Clinic: Practical Wisdom at Work