Receiving Love

Chapter 1: Nothing's Ever Good Enough

You're never happy with anything I do. I feel like giving up.

When it comes to love relationships, things are often not what they seem. The common wisdom is that romantic relationships would stay happy if people did a better job of giving to each other. But that's not what we've discovered. We've found that many people need to do a better job of receiving the gifts their partners are already offering. It's surprising how often the compliments, appreciations, and encouragements of a well-intentioned partner make no dent in the armor of an unhappy partner. The compliments are brushed off, the votes of confidence are discounted, and the words of encouragement fall on deaf ears. Why does this happen? And why does this universal but unexplored quirk of human nature carry with it implications for the health of marriage as an institution and the quality of our lives in community with others?

Let's begin with the couple who first inspired our odyssey into the hidden complications o ... read full excerpt from Receiving Love: Transform Your Relationship by Letting Yourself Be Loved ebook