We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Linda Bloom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I have been with my husband Charlie for 57 years. I am in the process of writing a book about our personal growth marriage. I am calling it We’ve Come So Far. It starts with the day we met, and continues over the decades with our going to undergraduate school, graduate school, becoming psychotherapists, having children, and becoming workshop leaders and authors. It has been an exciting journey of self-discovery. The kindness shown to me by my beloved husband healed me from an early start in a difficult family. We had a rescue marriage on both sides. It would be wonderful to be able to tell your audience what a personal growth marriage is, how we grew one, and what deep satisfaction comes with a healing, growing relationship.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I now teach workshops in person and on line about how to grow a great relationship. Our most popular courses are Secrets of Great Relationships, Love, Sex and Intimacy, and Relationship as a Spiritual Path. The students in our classes testify that they are in need of role models to see up close what a great relationship looks like. We do skits in the classes, showing our before and after communications to demonstrate what a good fight looks like. We play act ourselves as we used to be when we were unskillful in dealing with difference. Then we contrast that with getting vulnerable and responsible about expressing our feelings and needs, especially hurt and fear. Later in the class, we demonstrate appreciation and gratitude about the many gifts that we receive from each other. Our students are deeply moved by seeing what a loving partnership looks and feels like. Often they report that they have never seen such a open-hearted display before and are inspired to give their own appreciation and gratitude to each other more frequently following the class. It is so satisfying to do this work, that will effect their children and those who are touched by their increased love and fulfillment.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I am so pleased that I became a psychotherapist. I love to communicate with other people in an intimate way. The profession suit me. I would never have wanted to be anything else. To add to the one-on-one work that I had been doing for years, in midlife to add facilitating workshops was a fine addition. With great effort, I got over my fear of public speaking, which opened up a whole new world to me. Having students assembled in a group is so reassuring to everyone present, that there are issues that come up in all relationships that must be handled, and that they are not unique. Every couples has differences that must be dealt with and it is an art form to address them with gracefulness. And there are sacrifices that must be made, but it is for a good cause. And there are disappointments that can be forgiven. And there is gratitude for having a partner to make each other’s life easier. Teaching workshops is a joy. We have been teaching at Esalen for thirty years and at Kripalu for twenty years, and it has been a highlight of my career. Writing books, and we have published five of them, has been more demanding. But it has been satisfying as well. There are so many people who will not come to counseling or a workshop, but they will read a book. The books are filled with practical information about growing a strong, enduring, fulfilling partnership.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I was seeing clients and teaching workshops in the early phase of my career. I wanted to have a larger network, so after our first book was published, I began to blog for Psychology Today. Over the years that I blogged there, I received ten million hits. I am now a blogger for Sub-stack. The blogs that my husband and I have written have helped us to broaden our reputation. Those blogs also became a basis for other books that we have written. I often have clients reach out for services because they have read a blog or one of our books. They also come to our workshops dues to reading a blog or one of our books. I believe that I have refined the message that I want to convey in my workshops as a result of writing. It is a great way to enhance your reputation in any given field and establish yourself as an expert in that area.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bloomwork.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linda_charlie_bloom/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindaandcharliebloom
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindacbloom/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lindacharliebloom1009
• Other: https://lindacharliebloom.substack.com/