Cue Cards for Life by Christina Steinorth - Book review

Cue Cards for Life: Thoughtful Tips for Better Relationships

By: Christina Steinorth, MA, MFT

Published: January 8, 2013
Format: Paperback, 168 pages
ISBN-10: 0897936167
ISBN-13: 978-0897936163
Publisher: Hunter House Publishers












"Even though life can be complicated, there really isn't any reason for your relationships to be", writes licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board Certified Diplomate in Professional Counseling, Christina Steinorth in her engaging and positive outcomes oriented book Cue Cards for Life: Thoughtful Tips for Better Relationships. The author describes to utilize her Cue Cards regularly to improve and change your relationships for the benefit and consideration of everyone.

Christina Steinorth understands that the simple, seemingly small things make an enormous difference in any relationship. The author reminds us that everyone has the skills to develop and nurture their relationships with others, but that all too often time and distractions cause us to not pay attention to others. Instead of operating on autopilot, as Christina Steinorth calls it, she offers a series of quick and actionable ideas she calls Cue Cards. These reminders, shared by the author throughout the entire book, provide a constant reminder to think of relationship building and to reduce conflicts and misunderstandings.

Christina Steinorth (photo left) recognizes that life may be complicated and that people face constant challenges and demands on their time and attention. The author presents an alternative viewpoint that paying attention to our many interpersonal relationships takes little time and a bit of attention to others. This caring and interest goes a long way to preventing problems before they ever arise between people. The Cue Cards offer wisdom and advice for developing good relationships and for repairing connections that may have gone awry for any reason.

Christina Steinorth presents a series of ideas for building relationships so a person has the skills to develop or repair relationships. The author makes clear that relationship nurturing and mending is a skill that can be practiced and learned like any other skill. Christina Steinorth offers Cue Cards in the following interpersonal relationship areas:

* The basics
* Love relationships
* Marriages, babies, in-laws, and all things family
* Parents with teens
* Interacting with aging parents
* The workplace
* Friendships, parties, and social events
* Effective apologies

For me, the power of the book is how Christina Steinorth combines a powerful framework for developing and rebuilding relationships, with a practical set of ideas for making those transformations a reality. The author offers the simple to understand and use Cue Cards for guiding daily interactions with other people. The cards include people within the family including being a care giver to aging parents, people in your social circle including their social events, and people at the workplace. The author's comprehensive approach to relationships in life makes the book especially valuable.

Christina Steinorth takes the position that relationship building and repairing are learned skills like any other ability in our personal toolkit. This is a very important aspect of the book, as many people believe mistakenly, that developing relationships is an inborn talent possessed only by the rare few. With the premise of a learned skill understood, the author presents the Cue Cards that offer guidance in handling the various exchanges and conflicts that may arise in everyday life at home and work. The principles contained on the Cue cards soon become learned behaviors, replacing the previous ineffective and even destructive behaviors.

I highly recommend the very practical and transformational book Cue Cards for Life: Thoughtful Tips for Better Relationships by Christina Steinorth to anyone seeking a clear and concise set of guiding principles for developing, nurturing, and rebuilding any relationships in a person's life. This book offers the skills needed for conflict resolution, effective leadership, and bringing happiness and consideration for others back into our lives.