the cover of Designer Relationships: A Guide to Happy Monogamy, Positive Polyamory, and Optimistic Open Relationships, which has a series of interlocking rainbow colored circles prominently featured

Designer Relationships: A Guide to Happy Monogamy, Positive Polyamory, and Optimistic Open Relationships

by Patricia Johnson Author and Mark A. Michaels Author

"You are the designer, along with your partner or partners, and it's up to you to create a relationship that works and to redesign it when and if appropriate. We invite you to move beyond the binary thinking that deems monogamy and various forms of consensual nonmonogamy to be irreconcilable opposites."

Are humans naturally monogamous like wolves, beavers, and gibbons? Or are they part of the 95 percent of the animal kingdom that does not mate for life and simply pair off due to a mixture of historical precedent, social mores, fear, and jealousy?

Are the "shoulds" of religion and society dominating your life without you even knowing? Is there really one person out there for everyone?

Whether you're dating one person or several, Micheals and Johnson address these issues and demonstrate that the most important thing is honest communication. Once you have learned to be honest with yourself, it's much easier to create your ideal relationship. With "kindness as your touchstone" you can make relationships be more about souls connecting and less about quibbling over things that don't matter anyway.

Whether you want to open up to new experiences or simply strengthen your existing relationship(s), Designer Relationships offers experience-based wisdom with action-oriented ideas. Dictate less, Collaborate more and design the best relationship for YOU!