When addiction became an issue in our family, we read several books recommended during family counseling. We discovered the importance of understanding our childhood experiences, the messages given to us in our growing-up years. We saw more links between the patterns of behavior in our grandparents and parents and between us and our children. For the first time we understood how vitally important it is to take action to avoid passing on destructive patterns to the next generation.

We became hungry to know more, for ourselves and for the people we cared about. We attended a wide variety of seminars and workshops about relationships. And read more books about relationships. And listened to more audio tapes series about relationships. Each new step gave us greater awareness of what it means to be human beings. We learned specific techniques for turning arguments into discussions. We learned how to listen to each other more effectively and lovingly. We learned to nurture and guide our children with love and firm support instead of anger and demand.