"The Top 10 Marriage Essentials" is a reflection of the couples' work that Paul Shaffer has done over his lengthy career as a professional counselor. Moving past his books on couple's conflict resolution, "Marriage Essentials" addresses ten of the most common dilemmas that chronically show themselves in marriages: realistic role expectations creating true intimacy keeping the marriage as a priority maintaining healthy boundaries fostering respect practicing validation exercising loving accountability embracing forgiveness dealing with differing perceptions a healthy you Equal time is spent addressing both the problem and the solutions, with summary questions included to personalize the reading experience and promote further discussion for the couple.