Description:
By the time you're in a relationship or marriage, it's too late to prepare yourself! Starting with Me empowers you to know yourself and get yourself ready for marriage before you start a relationship. (Based on Baha'i Faith teachings)
Brief description: Susanne M. Alexander is a Relationship and Marriage Educator, author, coach, and character specialist, as well as President of Marriage Transformation(R) (https: //marriagetransformation.com/; transformationlearningcenter.com; bahaimarriage.net). She is certified to conduct marriage readiness assessments with couples through Prepare-Enrich (prepare-enrich.com), and the Character Foundations Assessment with individuals through Peirce Group (peircegroup.com). She received a BA in Communications from Baldwin-Wallace College. Susanne meets with clients globally to help them prepare for relationships and marriage or strengthen their existing marriages. As a journalist, Susanne has written hundreds of articles, including many pieces on relationships and marriage as a contributing writer for bahaiteachings.org, bahaiblog.net, Simple Marriage, Strengthening Marriage, Marriage Partnership, and First Years and Forever. Susanne has been single, in dating relationships, engaged, married, divorced, and widowed. She is a daughter, stepdaughter, mother, stepmother, and grandparent. All of this has given Susanne a diversity of experiences to share! She is originally from Canada, where she embraced the Bahá'í Faith, which has guided her life ever since. She is married to Phil Donihe, and they live in Tennessee, in the United States.
Review Quotes:
"The unique ideas in each chapter--and the profound quotations from the Bahá'í writings--opened my eyes to new and helpful ways of viewing marriage. Then, when I started answering the reflection questions and doing the activities, I began to think in a much more logical way about how these ideas apply to my life, my specific relationships, my own character qualities, and my fears and hopes. I then started to realize I had inconsistencies between my thoughts and my beliefs, which helped me see very clearly what I need to do next to grow. I felt energy and enthusiasm I didn't know was possible--and a new-found hope that my stumbling blocks can be overcome! In short, the benefit I got from Starting with Me really skyrocketed when I began to complete the exercises that help us tailor the concepts to our lives, to maximize their impact."