We were made to love and be loved. Loving ourselves and others is in our genetic code. It's the purpose of our lives--but knowing that doesn't make it easy to do. We may find it a challenge to love ourselves. We may have a hard time letting love in from others. We're often afraid of getting hurt. It is sometimes scary for us to share love with those around us, and love that isn't shared leaves us feeling flat and unfulfilled.

In this book, psychotherapist David Richo provides the tools for learning how to love in evolved adult ways--beginning with getting past the barriers that keep us from loving ourselves, then showing how we can learn to open to love others. He provides wisdom from Buddhism, psychology, and a range of spiritual traditions, along with a wealth of practices both for avoiding the pitfalls that can occur in love relationships and for enhancing the way love shows up in our lives. He then leads us on to love's inevitable outcome: developing a heart that loves universally and indiscriminately. This transcendent and unconditional love isn't just for a heroic few, Richo shows, it's everyone's magnificent calling.

Richo covers topics such as:

- how to still be yourself while loving another
- how to embrace your dark side
- what to do when the one who loves you dies
- need versus fear
- clinging
- healthy sexuality, including fantasies and how to experience pleasure without guilt
- how to break destructive patterns in your relationships
- how to have safe conversations with your loved one