Following on from my last post on love languages let me take this subject further and introduce one of my favourite experts in this space. When it comes to having a rewarding, happy relationship there are several key ingredients as you are about to hear, they apply to children as well as to partners. I don’t think I have heard, in the space of under an hour, all of them summarised in such an engaging way as they are delivered, in the gentle, witty, dulcet tones of Professor Wally Goddard. This is a man of true relationship wisdom and I suggest you listen to him more than once as have I.

Can I also suggest you listen out for the following:

• Bids for Connection – and how we unintentionally bust them
• The Conspiracy of Nature – No matter who you marry, it is a person who does not want to be loved the way you like to show love. Same goes for your children.
• Many of our aches and pains are an expression of our hearts not our body – it’s not a slice of pie that we need, it’s a slice of Dad or Mum.

And then there is his definition of love – slightly different from mine – but only in emphasis: “Love is the reasoned commitment to act in the best interests of another person … we need to do homework and adjust our lives to accommodate those that we love. Something as dear as love should not be cheaply won.”

Click here to listen: Wally Goddard Part 1; Wally Goddard Part 2.