Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships: A Workshop on Healing the Wound of the Heart, Vol. 3 Book

Why is it that love is so great and powerful, and yet our relationships are so difficult and challenging? If love is the source of happiness and joy, why is it so hard to open to it fully? While most of us have moments of loving freely and openly, it is often hard to sustain this where it matters most—in our intimate relationships. In a weekend workshop inspired by his award-winning book Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships, John Welwood addresses these questions and leads us through transformative exercises to overcome the fundamental obstacles that keep us from experiencing love’s full flowering in our lives. Through participating in these exercises, as well as listening to Welwood’s powerful teachings and the audience’s moving responses, we discover how to:

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Free ourselves from the deep-seated belief that we are not intrinsically loveable just as we are.

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Work creatively with the tension between love’s inherent perfection and relationship’s inevitable imperfection. 
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Understand and release grievances we hold against others for not loving us better—and against ourselves for not being better loved.
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Recognize and gain access to the absolute love that is always available to us.

4 CDs, 4 1/2 hours 

Library Journal

Too often, our relationships leave us feeling frustrated, anxious, lonely, and sad. A nationally known psychotherapist, Welwood (Journey of the Heart) takes a psychospiritual approach to transforming our relationships by healing the "wound of the heart," i.e., the deep-seated, unconscious belief that we are unloved and unlovable as we are, which makes it impossible for us to give and receive love freely. In turn, this state of "unlove" causes us to numb our hearts and close ourselves off from others, thereby shutting down the pathways through which love can flow. To break free from this vicious cycle, Welwood offers practical exercises and real-life examples from his practice. His lyrical writing style may not appeal to quick-fix seekers, but the book will find an audience among New Agers and the deeply forlorn. For larger self-help collections.-Wendy Lee, Marshall-Lyon Cty. Lib., MN Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.