The Owner's Manual for Thriving Relationships

A unique and essential guide to cultivating healthier relationships.

In this unique guide to improving relationships, clinical psychologist Mitch Abblett provides advice and tips on how to build more meaningful connections in every area of life—family, friendships, romantic partnerships, and professional relationships. Dr. Abblett encourages readers to replace blame, avoidance, and control-based possessiveness with the liberating practice of relational ownership.

This refreshing guide introduces a practical, accessible framework to help readers navigate relationship challenges, identify the habits that keep them stuck, and build vibrant, healthier patterns of relating. Dr. Abblett explains how to:
• Shift from blaming others to fully owning one's role and responses in relationships.
• Recognize relationships as a series of moments to be authentically engaged, rather than problems to be solved or people to be managed.
• Break control-based habits by transforming possessive or defensive patterns that hinder meaningful connections.
• Address the stories we tell ourselves that contribute to relationship pain and disconnection.
• Develop skills for mindful awareness, empathetic understanding, and taking aligned actions in challenging interactions.
• Understand others' perspectives and emotions without defensiveness or judgment.
• Repair relationships, address past conflicts, navigate resentment, and create safe spaces for emotional healing.
• Practice self-care in relationships by balancing the needs of others with self-compassion and boundaries.

Through engaging stories, perspective-shifting tools, and reflective exercises, The Owner's Manual for Thriving Relationships offers a fresh, empowering approach to improving the quality of relationships and unlocking a life of richer, more authentic connections.