Books on Issues of Divorce, Mediation & Self Awareness

CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING - 5 STEPS TO LIVING HAPPILY EVEN AFTER

By: Katherine Woodward Thomas

We enter our romantic relationships with great love, hope, and excitement–we’ve found the ‘one’, so we plan and forge our futures together. But sometimes, for many different reasons, relationships come undone; they don’t work out. Commonly, we view this as a personal failure, rather than an opportunity. And instead of honoring what we once meant to each other, we hoard bitterness and anger, stewing in shame and resentment. Sometimes even lashing out in destructive and hurtful ways, despite the fact that we’re good people at heart. That’s natural: we’re almost biologically primed to respond this way.

Yet there is another path to the end of a relationship–one filled with mutual respect, kindness, and deep caring. Katherine Woodward Thomas’s groundbreaking method, Conscious Uncoupling, provides the valuable skills and tools for you to travel this challenging terrain with these five thoughtful and thought-provoking steps:
Step 1: Find Emotional Freedom
Step 2: Reclaim Your Power and Your Life
Step 3: Break the Pattern, Heal Your Heart
Step 4: Become a Love Alchemist
Step 5: Create Your Happy Even After Life
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THE GOOD KARMA DIVORCE

By: Michele Lowrance

The average divorce takes two years with a median cost of $30,000. Yet the true cost of divorce is more than time or money; it is the legacy of the decisions made during the process. No matter how long two people have been married, whether there are children or not, divorce often leads to bad choices that can forever alter a family’s life. But what if you could reverse the stereotype and move regret-free through this process? Divorce is unfortunate but it does not need to become the defining moment for the rest of your life.

Michele Lowrance is a practicing domestic-relations judge who over the past four years has seen 100 percent of divorcing couples avoid trial by following the principles presented in this book. Using her expertise as a family-court judge and former divorce attorney, Judge Lowrance has created a revolutionary guide for people facing the turmoil of divorce. The Good Karma Divorce offers concrete advice, real-life examples, no-nonsense tools, and helpful checklists.
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SPIRITUAL DIVORCE: DIVORCE AS A CATALYST FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

By: Debbie Ford

Could the end of your marriage be the first step toward reclaiming your personal power and joyfully living the life of your dreams? If the answer is yes, this book is for you.

Divorce rocks the very foundation of our beings, leaving us feeling lonely, flawed, enraged, undesirable, hopeless, and empty. In Spiritual Divorce, New York Times bestselling author Debbie Ford reveals how this devastation can be transformed into a profoundly enlightening experience. This empowering guide shows how the collapse of a marriage is, at root, a spiritual wake-up call, an opportunity to liberate ourselves and reclaim our lives. The end of a relationship—no matter who ends it—is a damaging moment. Ford offers a clear program for turning ruin into renewal.
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THE GOOD DIVORCE

By: Constance Ahrons

It's never too late to have a good divorce. Based on two decades of groundbreaking research, The Good Divorce presents the surprising finding that in more than fifty percent of divorces couples end their marriages, yet preserve their families. Dr. Ahrons shows couples how they can move beyond the confusing, even terrifying early stages of breakup and learn to deal with the transition from a nuclear to a "binuclear" family--one that spans two households and continues to meet the needs of children.

The Good Divorce makes an important contribution to the ongoing "family values" debate by dispelling the myth that divorce inevitability leaves emotionally troubles children in its wake. It is a powerful tonic for the millions of divorcing and long-divorces parents who are tired of hearing only the damage reports. It will make us change the way we think about divorce and the way we divorce, reconfirming our commitment to children and families.
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TRANSFORMATIONAL DIVORCE: DISCOVER YOURSELF, RECLAIM YOUR DREAMS & EMBRACE LIFE'S UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES

By: Karen Kahn Wilson

This book offers a step-by-step program for women not only to heal from divorce, but also to recognize the opportunity for change and transformation that is part of the process.

More than just the passage out of a relationship, the challenge of divorce is a tremendous opportunity for personal growth and transformation. This book is written to help you avoid the destructive state of consuming resentment that often accompanies divorce. It teaches you how to direct your effort and energy toward thriving in your new life and succeed at becoming the person you always wanted to be. Map the journey through your future life and create a strong foundation for future happiness. Gain independence and build new, healthy romantic relationships.
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THE UNEXPECTED LEGACY OF DIVORCE: A 25 YEAR LANDMARK STUDY

By: Judith S. Wallerstein, Julia M. Lewis & Sandra Blakeslee

Finally in paperback, the New York Times bestseller that has fundamentally changed the way children of divorce see themselves as adults -- updated with a new preface by the author. Divorce is at once a widespread reality and a painful decision, so it is no surprise that this landmark study of its long-term effects should both spark debate and find a large audience. In this compelling, thought-provoking book, Judith Wallerstein explains that, while children do learn to cope with divorce, it in fact takes its greatest toll in adulthood, when the sons and daughters of divorced parents embark on romantic relationships of their own. Wallerstein sensitively illustrates how children of divorce often feel that their relationships are doomed, seek to avoid conflict, and fear commitment. Failure in their loving relationships often seems to them preordained, even when things are going smoothly. As Wallerstein checks in on the adults she first encountered as youngsters more than twenty-five years ago, she finds that their experiences mesh with those of the millions of other children of divorce, who will find themselves on every page.
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THE DIVORCE REMEDY

By: Michele Weiner Davis

Michele Weiner Davis goes beyond her marriage-saving bestseller, Divorce Busting, with this empowering and encouraging guide for revitalizing marriage and building stronger, more loving bonds. In a down-to-earth style that is free of psychobabble, Weiner Davis outlines a realistic, solution-oriented seven-step program for managing marital problems, which, when left unchecked, can drain the life out of a relationship. Using revealing anecdotes and in-depth case studies, she illustrates practical ways for marriage partners to:
1) Avoid the "divorce trap"
2) Identify specific marriage-saving goals
3) Move beyond ineffective, hurtful ways of interacting
4) Become an expert on "doing what works"
5) Overcome infidelity, Internet obsessions, depression, sexual problems, and midlife crises
6) Get your marriage back on track -- and keep it there
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HEALING HEARTS: HELPING CHILDREN AND ADULTS RECOVER FROM DIVORCE

By: Elizabeth Hickey

Creating peace after divorce. Most people marry with the expectation of permanency. But if the time comes to divorce, parents quickly learn that they must now relate to their former partner in a different way. Healing Hearts is a guidebook written by two women who have endured the trauma of divorce and recovered. The information they share can help restore hearts and emotions while parents develop a new way of living as co-parents who have the child's best interest at heart.
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STEP WIVES: 10 STEPS TO HELP EX-WIVES AND STEPMOTHERS END THE STRUGGLE AND PUT THE KIDS FIRST

By: Louise Oxhorn

Stepwives: (n) (1) ex-wife and current wife to the same man, mother and stepmother to the same children; (2) women destined to battle for the love and control of their families...until now! Lynne and Louise were stepwives for ten years. While they managed a barely civil relationship, each was seething with anger on the inside. It all boiled over in an ugly scene on the day Lynne saw that Louise was wearing shoes identical to her own favorite pair, and then they knew they had to find a new way of being a family. With the guidance of marriage and family therapist Marjorie Vego Krausz, Lynne Oxhorn-Ringwood and Louise Oxhorn developed a ten-step program that has helped thousands of women begin to go from sworn enemies to CoMamas. You don't have to follow the program together with your stepwife; even if only one of you follows the plan, your stepwife relationship and the happiness of your family will improve.
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STEPCHILDREN SPEAK: 10 GROWN-UP STEPCHILDREN TEACH US HOW TO BUILD HEALTHY STEPFAMILIES

By: Susan Philip

Listen to the Voices of StepchildrenMillions of Americans live in stepfamilies. In fact, over half of all American families are stepfamilies with “your kids, my kids, and (sometimes) our kids” incorporated into the family unit. We see stepfamilies of all kinds everywhere we look. But this meshing of individuals and all the emotional and physical trappings they carry is not easy. In fact, every stepfamily, regardless of race or economic level, will encounter problems, some so serious they can destroy marriages and scar children. Families in this painful process of melding a family unit from disparate parts seek practical advice.

This book takes a whole new approach to the problem. Unlike most authors on the subject, Philips decided to ask the children (now adults) who had lived through a stepfamily experience, some serious questions: How did your stepfamily function? What helped? What hurt? How has the experience affected your life? What can parents, stepparents, children, and even grandparents do to help a family resolve the difficulties that inevitably arise?
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