Empowered Love by Steven Stosny is probably one of the best books on relationships I have read recently—particularly marital and partner relationships.
Stosny talks about how the “Toddler Brain” (the amygdala is heavily structured by the time one is 3 years old) shows up in so many arguments and disagreements between people. He talks about the “Grand Human Contradiction, which is the battle between autonomy and connection.” Stosny says that the Toddler Brain operates using blame, denial, and avoidance. If you want to make a relationship work, it must operate out of the Adult Brain. And the Adult Brain uses values to negotiate outcomes. Great book!
Mind to Matter by Dawson Church focuses on an application of quantum physics in changing thoughts, which then change matter (reality). The book is amazing. In one part of the book, Church talks about how emotions are contagious—just like infectious disease. He cites a study that “found that one person’s happiness can boost that of another for time periods as long as a year. When a person in the Framingham social network became happy, the chances that a neighbor, spouse, sibling, or friend would become happy increased up to 34%.”
Another study found “not only did happy people affect those around them, but happiness also showed a ripple effect. Three degrees of separation out, people became happier. Having a friend know someone who was happy increased the chances of happiness by as much as 15%, and even in the next layer out, the likelihood was still 6%.”
