Relationships That Work: The Power of Conscious Communication [Paperback]

I'm the kind of person who is naturally skeptical about books that have a title like Relationships That Work: The Power Of Conscious Living (How Transformative Communication Can Change Your Life).
But David B. Wolf's latest book made me change my mind, in addition to making me want to change my mind for the better.

The operative word here is transformation when we communicate with people. Sure, we know how to establish a rapport, and set out our ideas, but does this really change anything? Perhaps it does, but if we are still having a lot of angst and dysfunctional relationships in our lives, we might want to reexamine some of our most basic presumptions about ourselves, our significant others, in fact, the entire world and the way it works.

Well, you might say, and it might very well be true, that your communication skills are excellent. OK, but how well do you communicate with yourself? This was the most important part of Wolf's book for me. I'm introspective. I go deep. But I could go deeper if I could sustain my introspection at a more intense level of application. What is the value of self-honesty if you go around in a circle, as we tend to do? And for the religious among us, Wolf invites us to apply our religious principles, too, through the power of transformative communication. We are not flattering the great religious leaders of history by accepting their teachings in a shallow way only, and we are certainly not flattering ourselves. The real test of religion, as far as I am concerned, is when we answer this question: are we happy?

Or at least, as happy as we can be in this crazy old world? Relationships That Work invites us to make our world a little less crazy. Isn't that what it is all about?

Be prepared for some nitty-gritty reading. Wolf is going to help you confront yourself.

I read this book and loved it! I read a lot of personal growth and self-help books, and this was really unique. It teaches how to use spiritually-based self-development tools to enhance personal relationships. Some of the topics and methods discussed in the book include the importance of being true to our word, becoming aware of our false assumptions, discovering various roadblocks to effective communication, being truly empathetic, how to diffuse hostility, learning the art of powerful, open-ended questions, assertiveness skills, and cultivating an attitude of gratitude. I especially appreciated the focus on the spiritual dimension of all our relationships, and understood more than ever how essential deep trust, honesty, personal responsibility, self-awareness and commitment are to the process of fulfilling relations. Also, from Relationships That Work I got that "love" means dedication to the spiritual growth of another person, and I'm using this understanding in my life, with amazing results. An underlying theme of this book with which I completely resonate is that we already have the personal qualities to experience completeness, fulfillment and happiness. The book provides a sublime process for uncovering those qualities. For me it was more than a "read"- I'm changing my life through the process defined in the pages- bringing out the gifts and treasures that are inside.

Miriam Mendoza- New York City Public School Teacher

I read Dr. David Wolf book and it changed the way I communicated. I thought I was a good listener, then in doing the exercises in the book, I realized I had more to learn. It's been exciting to apply his techniques in my love relationship and at work. Family visits are more successful too (when I use his Transformative Communication approach). I recommend this book to anyone who likes Non Violent Communication, NLP, Landmark Education stuff or is just looking to create excellence in their relationships.