Gerald G. Jampolsky - Love Is the Answer: Creating Positive Relationships

PART 1
ATTITUDINAL HEALING

PART 2
WHAT ARE RELATIONSHIPS FOR?

PART 3
SEVEN STEPPING STONES FOR CREATING
MORE POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

STEPPING STONE 1: MOVING PAST OUR ILLUSIONS
AND PERCEPTIONS

STEPPING STONE 2: TRANSFORMING FEAR, BLAME,
AND GUILT INTO LOVE

STEPPING STONE 3: COMMUNICATING WITH LOVE
IN ALL OUR RELATIONSHIPS

STEPPING STONE 4: FROM RELATIONSHIPS OF
CONTROL TO RELATIONSHIPS OF FREEDOM

STEPPING STONE 5: FINDING PEACE, LOVE,
AND HAPPINESS WITHIN OURSELVES

PART 4
DAILY LESSONS FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF
FEAR INTO LOVE

LESSON 1:
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THE
WORLD, AND I AM DETERMINED TO FIND IT*

LESSON 2:
ONLY MY OWN THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES CAN
HURT ME*

LESSON 3:
I AM DETERMINED TO SEE ALL MY PERCEPTIONS
AS MIRRORS OF THE THOUGHTS IN MY MIND

LESSON 4:
I CAN CHOOSE TO SEE EVERYONE AS EITHER LOVING
OR FEARFUL

LESSON 5:
I CHOOSE TO HAVE PEACE OF MIND AS MY
ONLY GOAL*

LESSON 6:
I WILL FIND NO VALUE IN BLAMING OTHERS
OR MYSELF

LESSON 7:
I AM WILLING TO MAKE JOINING, NOT SEPARATION,
THE PURPOSE OF ALL MY RELATIONSHIPS

LESSON 8:
THERE IS NO ENEMY EXCEPT THE CONFLICT WITHIN
MY OWN MIND

LESSON 9:
TODAY I CHOOSE TO TEAR UP MY SCRIPTS FOR
OTHER PEOPLE

LESSON 10:
TODAY I FORGIVE MY PARENTS TOTALLY,
RELEASING US ALL FROM THE PAST

LESSON 11:
TODAY I WILL CHOOSE NOT TO BE KING OR QUEEN
OF THE PROCRASTINATORS CLUB

LESSON 12:
HELPING OTHERS IS THE WAY I HEAL MYSELF

LESSON 13:
I CAN BE FREE OF SUFFERING TODAY*

LESSON 14:
FORGIVENESS OFFERS ME EVERYTHING I WANT*

LESSON 15:
I WILL BE STILL FOR AN INSTANT*

This book is about healing relationships, all kinds of relationships. The principles we describe here apply to our relationships with our parents, children, spouses, lovers, relatives, friends, business associates, coworkers, and bosses. They are applicable in healing our relationships with ex-husbands and wives, teachers, students, the politicians whose decisions affect our lives, lawyers, physicians, and other professional people, as well as with anyone else whose lives we touch.

This book is also about healing our relationship with our planet Earth, with God, our Source, Nature, or whatever name you might give to that Force in the Universe that gives us all life. Equally important, this book is about healing our relationships with ourselves so that we can experience deep inner peace.

When we stop to look more closely at our lives and at the many serious challenges we face in our world today, it is not always easy to see that the number-one problem we face has to do with our relationships. We forget that relationship problems are not just isolated events, limited to difficulties we may be having in communicating with one another. Beyond this we are involved in a relationship with our whole environment, including plants, water, air, and all that nurtures and supports life on this planet.

Today, as a result of an increase in stress and fear in the world, we are seeing an alarming increase in drug abuse and addiction, physical and emotional abuse, incest, adolescent suicide, divorce, and one-parent families. There is increased concern and fear about acid rain, and the disappearing rain forests and ozone layer. Additionally, the AIDS crisis has created an epidemic of fear and hysteria that has increased feelings of separation and isolation.

Our relationships with each other, with our planet, and with the universe have never been more important. We have the wisdom to understand and control the impact of our actions on the Earth, yet we are doing so many things that threaten our environment and the health of future generations. We have the ability to join in peace and friendship in so many areas of our lives, yet the possibility for nuclear warfare still looms over all our heads. There are many who believe that the world is suffering from a critical illness, crying out for our help and our love, which can bring about its healing.

What is the illness that is causing so much suffering for our world, and what is the meaning of its cry for help? Mother Teresa has stated that the most significant ailment in the world today is spiritual deprivation. It is a feeling of being unworthy of love, of feeling unlovable, of not having the capacity to give or to receive love, and of feeling that there is a wall separating us from ourselves, others, and that which created us.

Spiritual deprivation is a state of mind where we feel a sense of emptiness inside, and separated from the spiritual being that each of us truly is. It is a state of forgetfulness, of not remembering that who and what we are is love.

This book is based on the belief that we all have the capacity to retrain our minds to recognize that love is the most powerful healing force there is. As we recognize this, our interactions with the planet and its inhabitants will reflect that love.

This book is about hope, faith, trust, love, and forgiveness. It emphasizes that the good news is that the bad news is not true. It is about looking at all of our beliefs and asking ourselves if they are bringing us inner peace and happiness or if they are bringing us conflict, pain, and misery.