Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Bloom

Hi Linda, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

In 1968, I met my husband when we were both in our early 20’s. We realized right away that we had a strong connection and a lot in common, as we both wanted to dedicate our lives to being in service. We finished our undergraduate degrees and both went to graduate school in Boston to become psychiatric social workers. After having our three kids, we moved to the west coast for my husband to work for a personal growth seminar company. While he was working for that company, we wrote our first course and taught it through them. The course was called Partners In Commitment. It was the first of several courses we designed and delivered after we started our own company, Bloomwork.

Some of the courses that we have designed and delivered are Secrets of Great Relationships, Love S*x and intimacy, Waking Up, Man to Man, The Empowered Woman, Thriving, Stronger at the Broken Places, The Art of Joyful Living and The Hidden Gifts of the Shadow. We are regular teachers at Esalen Institute in Big Sur California and Kripalu Yoga Center in Lennox, Massachusetts.

My husband Charlie and I enjoy a co-creative partnership where we have a splendid time seeing couples for counseling, teaching workshops and have co-authored and published five books. The books that we have written are: 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last (over 100,000 sold), Secrets of Great Marriages, Happily Ever After and 39 Other Myths about Love, That which Doesn’t Kill Us: How One Couple Became Stronger at the Broken Places, and An End to Arguing: 101 Valuable Lessons for All Relationships.

Although my husband and I are both Seventy-Seven years old we have no interest in retiring because we are still enjoying counseling, teaching and writing. All of our work has been inspired by a large number of personal growth experts and spiritual teachers. The assistance we received from these gifted healers combined with the meaningful life lessons that we have learned during our journey immediately pours into the work that we do. We recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and it was a spectacular celebration. A cornerstone of our teachings is that we are so much more than we realize. With vision, commitment, diligence, resilience, courage and profound support we can live a rich life filled with gratitude and love.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

In the 80’s, when my husband was a corporate man for five years, our children were young. When he started his corporate job our little girl was only 18 months old and our sons were 3 and 6. We had an agreement to have a real partnership were we brought up the children together and mutually supported each other’s career development. When the corporation demanded that he be away from home three weeks out of each month, his work addiction nearly drove me to divorce. It wasn’t just missing him so much when he was absent; it was the terrible arguments that we had about our irreconcilable difference when he would not resign from the company. We got good help from two couples who led workshops and were able to keep the family in tact until he had learned what he needed to learn from the company, and was willing to let go. Once we started our own organization, we realigned our vision and commitments. Part of our teaching has been telling our before and after stories and how our breakdown became a breakthrough rather than a break up.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I am a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in treating couples. The workshops that my husband and I co-lead have established us as experts in the field of high functioning relationships and communication. We have co-authored five books one of which, 101 Things I wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last, was a run away best seller, selling over 100,000 copies. All of our books contain inspirational stories about breakthroughs in understanding about what makes a relationship successful.

One of the things that sets my work apart from others in my field is my willingness to expose the dark shadowy parts of my history. There was so much that I needed to learn about growing an exemplary partnership. Our culture is not intimacy honoring. We are handicapped by the cultural messages that tell us to achieve in career because success is defined as money, status and power. Defining success as the depth and breadth of our caring relationships first and foremost can lead to achievement in career. My work is designed to achieve the highest levels of happiness, satisfaction, thriving, creativity, contribution and meaning which can only take place with deeply soul nourishing connections with others.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?

Being deprived of our psychosocial supports when we had to hunker down in our homes the loneliness epidemic that was already widespread before Covid became even more damaging. People realized how much they need others to thrive. Calling and zooming with friends became important in filling in the gaps when we were not able to meet in person. I am so grateful that the pandemic has passed so that I can be with the people that light up my life in person. Gratitude for the important people in my life that bring me joy has been amplified by having missed being with them in person for two years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Bloomwork.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linda_charlie_bloom/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindaandcharliebloom
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bloomwork
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lindacharliebloom1009