Timeout! To Retreat, Renew and Review by: Phyllis and Jerry Campagna

PJ Campagna is the moniker that Phyllis and Jerry Campagna have adopted to emphasize just how important is the coming together to nurture relationships. What the Campagnas have done is provided a service station for couples – preventative medicine to assure that relationships survive and thrive the climate of now. Their recipe is pretty  straightforward and once started can become part of  your life where and when it is most needed.

They introduce the concept of Timeout! – planning for, preparing for, and actually participating in a getaway – far from interruptions even by phones and computers connected to the internet, a place that become a private getaway where couples can be together in peace to slow down the speed of living that distracts from noticing the `smell of the flowers’, relax with each other and then go about the `servicing’ of the relationship by review where the relationship is currently, where the couple would like to see the relationships go, sharing honest feelings about each other in a safe haven of trust, and then break out the plans for renewing the quality of the relationship – romantically, socially, financially and prospectively!

The Campagnas use this simple three-step system: Retreat, Review, Renew. There are guides on how to approach each of the three steps and instructions on how to carry out this planned retreat to assure that returning home will be an enlightening and brightening experience. The book is filled with catch words, acronyms, and simple items such as table talk – each having major significance in assuring the success of this regularly scheduled relationship `tune-up’.

My husband and I followed their recipe on our recent extended holiday and I will tell you that this method works! We are much more attuned to one another as well have a respect that somehow got lost in all the years of the hustle and bustle. This method is something we plan on using as often as we need to.