Keep Your Love On - By Danny Silk: Review
If you have a stack of books you want to read about love languages, boundaries, communication and relationship psychology, set them aside for when you have a few months of free time....
Now, pick up a copy of 'Keep Your Love On' by Danny Silk.
I am a long time reader and listener of Danny Silk's wisdom and this little gem is a streamlined reference for many of the things that he passionately believes in and teaches for maintaining healthy relationships - from spouse to acquaintance. Utilizing easy to understand analogies and other tools, Silk shares what it takes to keep loving even in the midst of conflicts that arise in our dealings with fellow humans.
Some of my favorite things:
-His focus on the incompatibility of love and control.
-His emphasis on learning to communicate one's own actions rather than dictating to others what they should do.
-Instruction on learning how to decide who you will say 'yes' to and who that means saying 'no' to.
-I love the diagram Silk created to illustrate levels of intimacy needed to "cultivate and protect boundaries." Your Inner-most circle is for God, the next circle is for your most intimate human relationship, and from there the circles flow out farther away into the most outer circle to whom you might love with prayers or hopeful thoughts but not much else (as an example in his diagram, Silk's outer circles are populated by Charlie Sheen and Al Qaeda...I'm not sure if that's a commentary on his opinion of Charlie Sheen or not, but it made me laugh!).
-In the same chapter on levels of intimacy I found the peace that I needed in reconciling my desire to love unconditionally with my need to change the dynamic of a formerly close relationship...It is stated: "Often people who once held the 'most intimate' place in our lives find themselves out in the Al Quaeda Sphere...We keep our love on toward them but it may be a very long time before we ever have them over for dinner." Thank you, Mr. Silk, for confirming that it is OK to protect myself from emotional harm.
-Danny Silk is a Christian Counselor/Pastor with an unwavering Christian perspective, yet the bulk of the book does not belabor this point and there isn't constant Biblical Proof-texting or preaching. Because of this I feel very comfortable in sharing this book with my friends who might be of a different faith or who might not care to read a book heavily laden with theology just to get to the practical wisdom within.
-I can't wait to practice being a Blue-Ray Player.
....And to understand that last one you will have to get this book!
KYLO!!!
photo credit: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/keep-your-love-on-danny-silk/1115291752?ean=2940016439662
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