Updating our "Love Maps"

So I just started reading:

Last night I read the first three chapters. The first two mainly serve the function of giving credit to the writer's credentials and expertise by explaining his research and overall findings. They are interesting, but it's chapter three...the FIRST PRINCIPLE: "Enhance Your Love Maps"...that really gets at the nitty gritty of what makes marriage work. 

As I came to the end of the chapter, my husband looked over and asked what I was reading (I was on my tablet, so the question was warranted...he couldn't see a title. I thought briefly of lying. I didn't really want him to know I was reading a book on marriage. Two reasons...I didn't want to talk about it (I need to wrap my own head around it first) AND I didn't want him to razz me about it. I'm not sure why I though he'd give me shit for reading a relationship book, but I guess I sort of worried he'd scoff at the idea of getting marriage advice in this way. 

But, I didn't lie. I told him...and waited for his reaction. He asked me what it was about. And so I told him what I just told you and then went into some detail about chapter 3. While the title sounds cheesy, the concept is central to any lasting relationship: You have to really KNOW your partner...inside and out, up and down. You need a "map" of their mind and their heart and their soul. And they need one of yours. And since we change over time, it's important to stay in tune with our partner as they change. So I read him some of the dozens of questions from the end of the chapter. He thought they were so good he asked me to print them off so we could go through them. 

So, that's where we are. He thinks we should work through them over a week - enough time to really do them justice, but not so much that they lose their centrality in our thoughts.

I'll update as we work through them.

Read more about the 7 Principles HERE.