Hi, Friend,
Thanks for your interest in our favorite topic: How To Make A Marriage Last.
Thirty-six years ago, I left a 16-year marriage, two sons, and a wonderful wife because I didn't know three critical things that you'll learn on this web site.
My current wife, Shannon and I have been married more than 35 years. She had also left her marriage, two sons, and a husband, because she didn't know then, what she needed to know, to have a happy marriage that lasts.
The divorces were incredibly painful. For us, for our first spouses, for our extended families, for our friends, and especially for the four children who had to suffer the misery of watching their parents divorce.
Here's the punch line. If we had known then, what we know now, we might still be married to our original spouses, the marriages could have become very happy, and the children wouldn't have suffered the break-up of their families.
Don't get me wrong, Shannon and I are very happy. We both are grateful that we met, married, and have forged a happy marriage that will last. We are also well aware that we both got divorced because we simply didn't know how to create a happy marriage that lasts.
The trauma of the divorce led us to begin studying relationships, and Shannon and I both became experts in the mysteries of relationships.
In fact, we made a career out of relationships. We built a company that taught relationship skills to more than a million adults who worked for companies all over the United States and Canada.
Companies bought our programs to teach their people how to have better customer relations. Their employees took the skills home and also used them with their families. We got many, many letters of appreciation from individuals telling us great stories about how their relationships had improved so much with their spouses, and with their teen agers.
We sold our company to a big conglomerate, and retired very comfortably in our 50's, to a life of tennis, golf, and leisure.
We watched the divorce rate creep up to about 50% of first marriages. We saw our story being repeated again and again by young people. They got divorced because they didn't know how to make a marriage happy, and divorce-proof.
Finally, we couldn't just sit and watch any more. We decided to unretire, dust off our training skills, and catch up on the newest research on marriage and divorce. In addition, we learned everything we could about the new, evolving, science of positive psychology, better known as the science of happiness. Then, we set off on a new mission.
Our mission is to cut the divorce rate by 35%. We won't do it alone. There are already tens of thousands of committed experts, therapists, counselors, clergy, and coaches helping people keep their marriages together. Part of our mission is to provide tools they can use with the couples they work with.
The other part of our mission is to teach, train, and coach couples over the Internet. By using the internet, we can teach, train, and coach couples in the skills it takes to make a marriage happy and last. The Internet allows us to reach thousands of couples we could never reach by books, marriage weekends, or personal counseling alone. And, the Internet allows us to provide what couples need — at a cost they can afford.
Well, that's our story, and we're sticking with it.
If you want to know more about us on a personal basis, you can view our family web site by clicking on: KenShan. You'll read about our families, our trips, our dog, and our cat. You can also check out Shannon's 100 favorite recipes (she's a fabulous cook).
If you want to know more about us on a business basis, we incorporated as Visionary Publications Inc. and you can see our corporate web site at VisionaryPublications. (It's not much of a corporation, so far, it's mostly just Shannon and me.)
If we can get you and a lot of other couples to join us in our mission, you'll get a happy marriage that lasts, and we'll start building the team it will take to make a serious dent in the divorce rate.
Thanks for listening. If you want to contact us, send an email to the Ken's gmail account at kenjohston1934.
Yours for a happy marriage that lasts,
Ken and Shannon Johnston
