Few things promise us greater happiness than our relationships 鈥� yet few things more reliably deliver misery and frustration. Our error is to suppose that we are born knowing how to love and that managing a relationship might, therefore be intuitive and easy. This book starts from a different premise: that love is a skill to be learnt, rather than just an emotion to be felt. It calmly and charmingly takes us around the key issues of relationships, from arguments to sex, forgiveness to communication, making sure that success in love need never again be just a matter of luck.
The School of Life is a global organisation helping people lead more fulfilled lives.
We believe that the journey to finding fulfilment begins with self-knowledge. It is only when we have a sense of who we really are that we can make reliable decisions, particularly around love and work.
Sadly, tools and techniques for developing self-knowledge and finding fulfilment are hard to find 鈥� they鈥檙e not taught in schools, in universities, or in workplaces. Too many of us go through life without ever really understanding what鈥檚 going on in the recesses of our minds.
That鈥檚 why we created The School of Life; a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours. We do this through films, workshops, books and gifts - as well as through a warm and supportive community.
I bought this book as an acknowledgement of gratitude to the school of life crew, for promoting my self-understanding and emotional intelligence (as far as I believe).
Their simplified and entertaining youtube channel was my ultimate destination , whenever I caught my self red-handed escaping from an awkward feeling, instead of accepting and trying to understand it.
Compared with other relationships' books, this one offers no 鈥渉ow to make things work- recipes鈥�. It helps rather keeping in touch with the little child hiding beyond our mature character. Trying to figure out his complicated psychological and emotional map and the reasons behind his outbursts and joys. How the parental relationships , experiences, fears, disappointments and whatsoever reflect on his subconscious ,control our perception of life and lead us through it, adopting selected packs of actions and reactions.
The more we get aware of our human nature, full of unclear drives and motivations, the more we are able to give others the space to be on their own nature and to reveal their real personalities, without flooding them with our judgments and anticipations or imposing our points of view on the way they see the world. keeping in mind that they too have their own inner unsolved issues and undiscovered childish jungle.
Us giving others personal space to naturally behave and our ability not to push them to meet our expectations, is something I find cherishable and as highly valued in any kind of relationship as respect and communication. On the power of understanding and creation of this holy space has this work focused.
The book gathered a little number of the texts featured on these videos:
I owe the guys working on this channel many laughters and light bulb moments. Thanks from the bottom of my heart!
Instead of being called "Relationships", the book could have been titled "Good Enough Relationships". Not the worst read in the world, but a bit disappointing after reading a few other books by The School of Life: it get's really repetitive.
Though I appreciate the de-Botton-like optimism and author's pathological ability to see the bright side of the disappointing life-scenarios, some of the concepts may seem a bit overreached and self-serving. I couldn't shake the feeling the book was rationalizing some of the personal failures instead of researching the relationships in a greater depth, as the book doesn't mention focus, balance, or growth, though rightly emphasizes the value of conversation.
To conclude, it's all black and white according to this book - you're either a naive romantic doomed to failure on a grandiose scale or a practical mature individual with no concept of romantic expectations. But is it really that simple? Humans are complicated, they're rarely one or another. Can't one be both? Can't one romanticise their expectations and still be able to accept a practical reality? Will all relationships fail, no expectations will be met, and the only way to survive the process is to accept it? Honestly, I am too young to agree with this conclusion.
Kino, gr膩matas, Disneja anim膩cijas filmas u.c. uzticami avoti - negribot tie拧i 拧eit m膿s sme募amies idejas, k膩d膩m j膩b奴t p膩ru attiec墨b膩m dz墨v膿. Un tad vi募amies, ka dz墨v膿 viss ir pavisam cit膩d膩k. Daudz vielas p膩rdom膩m. 艩eit ir run膩ts gan par ikdienas s墨kumu noz墨mi, 鈥溎玸to鈥� m墨lest墨bu, neuztic墨bu, komunik膩ciju, sabiedr墨bas spiedienu u.c. t膿m膩m. Kop膿j膩is secin膩jums var膿tu b奴t, ka mums ir j膩tiecas uz gana lab膩m attiec墨b膩m, nevis iedomu ide膩laj膩m ar 鈥渄v膿seles radinieku鈥�.
Sayang dengan partner bukan hal yg serta-merta ada layaknya pre-installed program komputer.
Kita kerap mengira kalau manusia lahir sudah dengan instruksi manual bagaimana caranya mencintai orang lain--lebih spesifik lagi, partner kita. Padahal, proses sayang & cinta harus dipelajari.
Ketika aku & @hasyemiraws didaulat positif melalui hasil tes PCR, kami bak diberi studi kasus oleh semesta. Di saat akan pulang ke Surabaya, kami diuji bagaimana mengomunikasikan kekesalan tanpa menyakiti pihak lain sekaligus mencari solusi atas permasahalan yg di luar kendali kami ini.
Dalam bab "Blame & Love," diberi contoh kurang lebih serupa. Karena kedekatan dua individu yg dihubungkan oleh perasaan sayang, ketika terjadi hal buruk maka langsung melampiaskannya kepada partner. Seakan-akan, dgn begitu langsung muncul penyelesaian. Namun, jika tdk dikomunikasikan dg baik malah akan menjadi "blame & leave."
Kalau boleh sombong, kami cukup bangga bisa "sat-set-wet" mencari jalan keluar--special thanks kpd @patricia.wulandari & suami yg bersedia kami repoti 馃檹. Berkat itu pula, kami belajar "to be a good teacher & to be a pupil." Atau dgn kata lain, menurunkan ego masing-masing agar emosi kami berdua menemukan ekuilibriumnya lagi.
Relationships by The School of Life menjadi bacaan reflektif bagiku. Melalui 20 bab pendek, aku jadi mengevaluasi cara memperlakukan partner: apakah sudah setara sebagaimana yg kami cita-citakan berdua? Jangan-jangan aku masih egois & lebih dominan dalam relasi ini?
Buku ini memberikan sudut pandang rasional (Classicism) untuk menyadarkan mereka yg masih mengira kalau dg "silent treatment" partner akan tahu apa mau kita apa. Atau, kalau menikah isinya selalu hepi-hepi tanpa meributkan "kok handuk basahnya ada di kasur sih sayaaang???" Faktanya, to love and to be love itu butuh usaha kedua belah pihak.
Beragam hal menarik yg kami temukan di buku ini bisa disimak di kanal YouTube Hasyemiraws. Senang deh bisa ngobrolin buku soal relasi dengan partner sendiri :3
A simple and honest book about what love and relationships really are instead of what we think they should be. We are all crazy, and we should stop chasing some romantic and unrealistic ideals and start focusing on making our 'good enough' relationships work. I'll admit that I found quite a few things I've been guilty of myself. It helps to know that my madness appears to be the norm after all.听
This book is a provocative look at how Romanticism has impacted the way we think about relationships. Throughout the book I found myself feeling forlorn and thinking, "yeah, but you're ruining it," and yet so much of it rang true. I thought that I had dismantled enough of what I thought love stories were supposed to look like, but this book took it to a whole different level. I tucked away a whole bunch of quotes to mull over and here's how the final chapter states that we'll know we're ready for love.
1. When we give up on perfection. 2. When we despair of being understood. 3. When we realize we are crazy. 4. When we are happy to be taught and calm about teaching. 5. When we realize we're not compatible.
I'd recommend this book. You'll probably disagree with pieces of it. I did. But you may also find some nuggets that shed light into any relationship in which you find yourself.
Very important book. Great for episodic reading as each chapter begs and deserves independent processing, mulling over, comparing and contrasting with your own lived experience. I feel if you read it in big chunks or - providence forbid - all at once, the potential of positive impact is diminished.
Moreover, one can really only derive wisdom and insight from the book having had some experience in "romantic" partnerships themselves. That's the sad truth of human condition - some lessons have to be learnt via considerable pain by every new generation.
Death to romanticism sounded like a horrible rallying cry when I started the book. By the end of it, I was more sold on it, than not. To all people over 25 or so, highly recommended!
The book is essentially an organized series of essays that you can already find on "the book of life" or their YouTube channel. As an avid follower of their articles and videos I was deeply familiar with the concepts, but that didn't really make the experience of reading the book any less enjoyable. The book discusses the very same ideas that were at the core of "the course of love" by Alain de Botton. The contrast between the classical perspective on love, sex, and marriage versus the relatively new "romantic" notion that our generation is intimately familiar with through the prevalent advertisements, movies, love stories and such. It provides a rather gentle and soothing explanation of the vague miseries that an average person might go through in the context of a relationship and talks about the potential approaches to alleviate the pain. While the ultimate conclusion of the book might be that sorrow of some form is an indispensable quality of any relationship, it still manages to console us through the illumination of the true underlying causes of our sufferings. I think *knowing* the problem is the trickiest part of arriving at a solution, and this book does an excellent job of explanation.
A very thought-provoking and down to earth read about relationships. The book鈥檚 tone is just a little too un-optimistic for my taste. I mean sure, relationships are a lot of work and they generally don鈥檛 quite match the expectations we have from growing up seeing perfect love stories everywhere in the media but hey, don鈥檛 take away all my motivation to even try. I learned a lot from this book. Mainly that I shouldn鈥檛 have any expectations and don鈥檛 make the state of the relationship define my happiness. But also, that it鈥檚 okay to be want to have that approval. So in the end, not really that much. So let鈥檚 keep on trying to be the best version of a loveable idiot.
艩pecifick茅 obobia si vy啪aduj煤 拧pecifick茅 膷铆tanie. Prim谩rnou podstatou je, mysl铆m si to, 啪e kniha vyvracia romantizovan媒 poh木ad na l谩sku, ktor媒 vn铆mame v takmer v拧etk媒ch idealizovan媒ch 木煤bostn媒ch pr铆behoch.
Kniha pozer谩 na l谩sku sk么r pragmaticky a vyzdvihuje to, 啪e napriek tomu v拧etk茅mu pekn茅mu, budeme rie拧i钮 aj 钮a啪拧ie a nemil茅 situ谩cie. Nie v拧ak pesimisticky, ale s n谩dejou budovania l谩sky ako spolo膷nej zru膷nosti.
Je tam ve木a v谩啪nych pas谩啪铆, ale aj ve木a t媒ch vtipn媒ch. A uis钮uje n谩s teda, 啪e nie je trivi谩lne 膷i ned么le啪it茅 vies钮 dvojhodinov煤 debatu o tom, 膷i by sme mali uter谩ky ve拧a钮 alebo sklada钮.
Long review. I am not even remotely interested in what philosophers write and narrate because deep down I am well aware of plain truth that no matter how calm, composed and reasonable the writer asks you to be, it is physically impossible for us to maintain that sense of rationality when one is in the middle 0f a heated argument. One tend to say hurtful things. Period.
It can be deeply condescending thing to mention but having lived 22 years in here, and being an observant in almost half of those, I am familiar with whatever content this book had. My opinion on love and being engaged or married to someone has always been and will be fixate and that is-- "I am sure, It is not what you see and read, It is not glamour, It is not life changing, It is a change one needs to learn to cope up with, It is transitional, It has scope of improvement at any given point of life and above everything----It has a lot of potential to hurt you in uncountable ways and It is not solution to our problems and happiness".
Coming to the book in hand, I first came across Alain's work in 2017, while having a mid life crisis in my 1st year of engineering, wherein Amazon told me that "Hey, If you like GARY CHAPMAN, might as well try Alain de botton" I said No- Thank you very much. But the primal need and curiosity to know about love once in a while is a trait in-built in me.
This book, talks about every peculiar aspect of relationship leaving nothing to guess. It talks about communication, blame, infidelity, past experiences, crushes, importance of domestic chores in the grand scheme of things like spending life with each other. Past which guides our present relationship because of permanent embedded need to cope with familiar threats. Sexual orientation, extreme sex and lack of thereof, whether sex and love are mutually inclusive, if yes, who decided that, consensual partners or society? Alain covers every ground possible.
Some of the parts I already knew of in my subconscious but loved reading are---- The most comical of all times: 鈥業 promise to be disappointed by you and you alone. I promise to make you the sole repository of my regrets, rather than to distribute them widely through multiple affairs and a life of sexual Don Juanism. I have surveyed the different options for unhappiness, and it is to you I have chosen to commit myself.'
'Marry, and you will regret it; don鈥檛 marry, you will also regret it; marry or don鈥檛 marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world鈥檚 foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too 鈥� Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don鈥檛 hang yourself, you鈥檒l regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy'
Okay, Here comes the not-so-comical ones.
"Strangely, even when we鈥檝e had pretty disappointing experiences, we don鈥檛 lose faith in our expectations. Hope reliably triumphs over experience"
"A particularly poignant sign of the trouble we have with talking in relationships is the tendency to sulk. At heart, sulking combines intense anger with an intense desire not to communicate what one is angry about: one both desperately wants to be understood and yet is utterly committed to not explaining oneself plainly. It happens a lot, and it鈥檚 telling us that, far from being easy and natural, good discussion in a relationship can be very hard to manage."
"Irrational blame is at heart just a symptom of an intensity of investment in another person. We attack because we have richly entangled our deepest dreams and anxieties with our lover."
"Disagreement is what happens when love succeeds and you get to know someone close up across the full range of their life."
"Our adaptations to the troubles of our past make us all maddening prospects in the present."
All in all, if you have had, many experiences in love or being close to loving someone, what Alain says is already something you know, but it is short, and moreover it is good to read your own thoughts and feeling being articulated in 100 pages with such details.
鈥楻elationships are understood to be institutions, not just emotions鈥�.
The main premise of this book - as all books by the School of Life about relationships and romance - is to challenge what it calls the 鈥楻omantic view鈥�. This is to see love as something (almost) metaphysical, a beautiful accident that happens and then goes splendidly on without any necessary effort because of an underlying feeling.
This Romantic view is then contracted with more constructive view, what the author calls 鈥榯he Classical view鈥�, which sees relationships more as a work in progress, a joint effort that鈥檚 full of compromise, mutual learning, but also disappointments. This rather pragmatic view sees relationships as (temporary) unions of inherently flawed beings, going so far to suggest that more realistic wows would be 鈥業 promise to be disappointed by you and you alone. I promise to make you the sole repository of my regrets鈥�.
There are some more useful parts - like about 鈥榓rtificial conversations鈥� or about having a learning mindset when communicating with one鈥檚 partner, and some less useful parts, that are often a bit philosophical (like about sexual liberation). But generally the book is written so generally that I would say most people can find something relevant for them and their relationships.
In the final chapters, it is naturally a mixture between the two which is argued for, but the sometimes almost ridiculing takes on the Romantic view make one feel that the author鈥檚 perspective on relationships (and love) is rather bleak - even if that might not be fully true. So while some parts might be challenging to read for the more naive-romantic souls among us (as is often me, I have to admit), it is written as to challenge some of the assumptions of the past hundreds of years about love and functioning relationships.
Having read this book with my partner, I feel like we have learnt a lot and even often reference some parts of it (like prefacing constructive criticisms with 鈥榗an I make you more lovable?鈥�). I think this book can break a lot of taboos in a relationships, to force a different view on what it means to be partners. Emotional education is extremely undervalued in our day and age and while this is not a manual, it鈥檚 definitely a good start for discussions that can make couples not just go for the long run, but actually enjoy it together.
It鈥檚 definitely a useful guide through important discussions about what it means to not just love someone, but also to actually share life (or large parts of it) with them.
This is one of those books that I would like to give as a present to everyone. With a warm and close tone, Alain de Botton, teaches us about love and relationships in the real life, not the romantic ideal: Things like deciding if it is OK to leave wet towels in the floor of the bathroom matters. With a brief tour through the different views of love through history, we learn that having a relationship is quite different than the common fairy tale. Being ins a relationship means being comprehensive, communicative and care for the other, even though he/she misbehaves irrationally sometimes. Some important points put forward by Alain de Botton are that, in one way or another, we are all a little bit mad and that inside we are not "adults". Inside our mature facade, we have our fears, and having a good relationship means accepting that the person you are with is not perfect, is not THE person that you are predestined to be with. Being in a relationship means accepting that you are lucky to have found a person good enough to want to share the journey with.
Alain de Botton is one of my favorite philosopher and School of Life introduced me to this book. Clearly, he is vocal about pitfalls of Romanticism and I personally enjoyed reading a realistic view of what to expect from relationships.
Thoroughly enjoyed reference to Soren Kierkegaard's words on existential dilemma - If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Laugh at the world鈥檚 follies, you will regret it; weep over them, you will also regret it; whether you laugh at the world鈥檚 follies or you weep over them, you will regret both. Believe a girl, you will regret it; if you do not believe her, you will also regret it; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both. If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the sum of all practical wisdom.