Building Healthy Relationships
Building healthy relationships requires knowledge, awareness, tools and skills. The book, Winning at Love provides the reader with all of these. The authors discuss problems that are frequently encountered in relationships. This book is different from many self-help books that vaguely address couples’ problems as “failure to communicate”; in addition to other problem descriptions, the authors brilliantly condense types of problems that couples encounter into four understandable categories. Then, in a step-by-step fashion the authors outline approaches for addressing these problems. Additionally, this book is unique in that it addresses problems encountered in intimate relationships in which one or both partners are alpha. What is an alpha?
Alpha designates “the first” and we first started designating this to the leaders of animal packs, such as wolves. Approximately 40% of all males and females are alphas. The alpha is usually the strongest and the bravest, the leader of the pack. They possess such attributes as dominance, confidence, and a take-charge attitude. The alpha has a high level of self-directedness, as they doggedly go about their goals. Alphas are usually aggressive, competitive high achievers, with a strong sense of mission and can be bold, creative innovative thinkers. Often highly successful in the world, the alpha’s traits of persistence, tenacity, determination and steadfastness help them to achieve their goals.
However, when it comes to building healthy relationships, the very traits that make alphas successful in the world can strongly contribute to sabotaging the relationship. Even if eighty percent of what an alpha does is really good for the relationship, the twenty percent that he or she does out of their alpha attitude and behavior is enough to blow up the relationship. Alphas often put their profession or career ahead of their intimate relationship, they can expect of others the same high standards that they expect of themselves, they can impose their driven nature onto others and they can come across as critical and opinionated. They assume that creating healthy relationships should happen with no effort, or without their contribution to change. They expect their partner to do all the changing.
Alphas often don’t realize that part of this has to do with addressing the problems particular to their being an alpha. While this book is a good handbook for every couple, it is unique in that it also addresses problems specific to the alpha and specific to relationships in which one or both members are alpha.
This book is written in easy-to-understand language that is entertaining and at times humorous; it avoids mental health clichés, professional jargon and dense language.
Interested in learning more about building healthy relationships? Get your copy of Winning at Love today!
