I'm more hopeful than I have been in a long time

Before Lifebook, I was frustrated by but somewhat resigned to, my husband's frequent negative criticism of me, often amounting to full-scale emotional abuse. I had long been feeling like, no matter what I did it was never enough, never good enough, never "right". The end of the Lifebook course just happened to coincide with our annual timeshare week at a Mexican beach resort. We always look forward to this week, but it rarely changes anything in our relationship. This is going to sound like the tiniest of baby steps, but - thanks to what I've learned with Lifebook, I had the courage to initiate two new things this week: 1. We are jointly reading daily meditation passages from Ryan Holiday's "Daily Stoic". (Day 3, we were even able to begin having a very brief exchange about the actual passage - not quite a conversation about it yet, but getting there) and 2. Each evening since Day 1 we tell each other at least one thing that we love about the other person. (Four days in, we are sometimes spontaneously doing this throughout the day, as something comes up). We're not allowed - ever - to mention things we "don't" like or love about the other person. I keep saying that we can get to that "later" - if it's still important to him. These two simple baby steps may not seem like much, but if we can continue in this direction, I'm more hopeful than I have been in a long time that we can both be happier and more fulfilled as individuals and as a couple. I know that the path toward happiness, fulfillment, financial success and inner peace will be much more easily attained if we walk together in mutual harmony, and with passionate devotion and love.