12 Hours to a Great Marriage

For the past twenty-five years, the internationally renowned marital researchers from the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver have been helping couples around the globe replace loneliness with connection, frustration with understanding, fear with confidence, instability with commitment, revenge with forgiveness, and monotony with passion. Their program is called PREP®, short for the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program, and it's been so successful that its creators have been featured on Oprah, The Today Show, and 20/20, and its benefits have been documented in The New York Times, USA Today, Womans Day, and Redbook. Until now the only way you could experience this winning twelve-hour program was to attend a weekend workshop. But now, with 12 Hours to a Great Marriage, you can discover the simple, effective strategies that have helped thousands of couples— happily married, having issues, or planning to marry— to develop and protect their love, easily and at your own pace. Each chapter covers one of the key ingredients of the program, like Being Best Friends, Having Fun Together, and Protecting and enhancing Your Love Life, and shows you how to take the steps that research shows are the basis for a long-term, healthy, loving marriage. By practicing the simple skills, taking the thought-provoking self-tests, doing the fun and innovative exercises, and reading real-life couples' inspiring and informative stories, you'll find that in twelve short hours you'll be well on your way to having that great marriage you've always dreamed of.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Stepping Up to the Plate 1 Part I Getting to First Hour 1: Taking a Positive Attitude 19 Hour 2: Simple Techniques for Talking Safely and Clearly 43 Hour 3: Handling Your Issues 63 Hour 4: Solving Your Problems 83 Hour 5: Great Ground Rules for a Great Relationship 107 Part II Reaching Second Hour 6: Having Fun 125 Hour 7: Enhancing Your Love Life 143 Hour 8: Sharing Values and Core Beliefs 163 Part III Rounding Third Hour 9: Meeting Expectations 185 Hour 10: Forgiving 205 Part IV Safe at Home Hour 11: Being Friends 227 Hour 12: Making the Commitment 243 Epilogue: Keeping the Program in Play 263 Getting More Help When There Are Serious Problems 265 Resources and Training 269 Selected Research and References 271 About the Authors 277