Growing Yourself Up

Introduction Who's willing to work at growing up? Part 1: Understanding the relationship foundations of adult maturity 1. Becoming a self in our relationships 2. Real maturity or pretend maturity 3. Family ties that bind Part 2: Maturity for the first half of adult life 4. Leaving home and growing up 5. The single young adult 6. How marriage can grow people 7. Sex for grown-ups 8. Grown-up parenting Part 3: Being a grown-up beyond family 9. Off to work we go 10. Developing mature beliefs Part 4: Nurturing maturity in the face of set backs 11. Separation and divorce 12. Symptoms and setbacks Part 5: Maturity enhancement in the second half of life 13. Midlife 14. Ageing well 15. Old age and facing death Part 6: Broadening the focus 16. The grown-up helper 17. Society and self Epilogue Appendix 1: Summary questions for reflection Appendix 2: Mature connection and separateness Appendix 3: What are guiding principles? Appendix 4: Differentiation of self as a continuum Appendix 5: How to construct your family diagram Appendix 6: An overview of human development across the lifespan from a Bowen family systems perspective Appendix 7: Some Biblical reflections on relationships Notes Bibliography and further reading Acknowledgements Index