***Are You Conniving in Your Relating?

Partners love telling each other what to do, how to behave, how to be, what to think, how to feel, and even things like what to eat and how to dress! They are on a mission to change their partner, consciously or not. This is a sign of lack of boundaries and personal ownership. Partners love owning each other instead…

Owning each other disempowers both partners. The partners can't be themselves… They have no control over what their partner does rendering them unable to create change if all the change is to come from their partner… In minding the other's business they neglect to mind their own…

Partners love focusing on their partner and how much they stink, how they lack in some way. How they don't do things, do things wrong, do the wrong things, and other goodies. The focus is negative. They don't acknowledge, accept or cherish their partner. They don't allow their partner to be themselves regardless of their warts.
Partners don't own how they are inviting the behavior or attitudes that don't meet their needs, what they are contributing to their situation, and how they are not being the ideal partner… This lack of boundary, ownership and accountability is detrimental to our relationship, our selfhood and our life!

It makes sense partners don't believe change is possible, even though they are trying to change their partner! But, I've seen miracles happen when partners create space for their partner to be themselves, and focus instead on their own contribution to their life and relationship. They seem to have become different people and a different couple. Change IS possible. We are not striving to change the core people. We are awesome just as we are. And, we don't want to change our partner – that's with whom we fell in love! On the other hand, we are striving to approach each other differently so we connect, meet our needs and support each other's human Journey.

When we set proper and appropriate boundaries, own ourselves and are accountable we create safety, security and trust. We allow our Authentic Selves to come out and play. When our Authentic Selves show up, we can create the relationship and life we want.

Remember, let your partner do their thing, be themselves, have their side of the story, have their experience and perspective, have their own views. You don't have to love it or even agree with it all. You are entitled to yours as well, and your partner does not have to love it or even agree with it all either. This boils down to acknowledging and accepting each other's world. You don't have to compete to Exist…

Acknowledging, accepting and validating your partner's world does not nullify yours… You can both see and experience something differently. As a matter of fact, you will both see and experience things differently. This is the way things are. You are two separate individuals…

Our job is to bit by bit allow our partner's world to exist, and to own our own.Doing this in a measured way, reassuring each other, supporting and acknowledging each other, and having compassion for ourselves and each other makes this task possible and manageable. Going too abruptly creates our partner's and our own resistance. Be patient and loving with your Self and your Partner.

In conniving with each other we exist, collaborate, and create. We can create the relationship and life we want. We can contribute a better us to the world, we can create a better world… Complete the MetroRelationship (sm) Assignment below to help you effortlessly implement this, make changes and immediately start experiencing the relationship you want.

Happy Conniving!