Relationship has a higher purpose.
- BE what you want to HAVE.
- Limiting perceptions inhibit authentic connection.
- Agreements are a basic requirement for relationship workability.
There you have it. The Readers’ Digest version of the workshop: Love The One You’re With (#5 in our 8-week series in Santa Barbara) lead by 360 coaches Maggie Rauen and Tamra Rutherford.
Relationship.
Could there be a more complex, stimulating and well, upsetting topic? Unfortunately, much of the upset is because we bring a whole bag full of myths, beliefs and considerations which inform our idea of what relationship SHOULD be and as a result, we come into them with unreasonable expectations. Consider this statement:
When I’m in your presence, I want you to love me unconditionally.
Seems reasonable right? I mean, who doesn’t want that? It’s at the core of our personalities to long for acceptance and the safety that results from being free from rejection and disapproval. There’s only one problem.
It’s a trap!!!
It’s virtually impossible for most of us (those not yet enlightened) to love someone unconditionally when we can’t even love ourselves without conditions. You need only look at the self-help section of your local bookstore to realize just how judging we are of our authentic selves. It seems to me that living this belief is disappointment and upset waiting to happen.
Try this: When I’m in your presence, I want you to love yourself unconditionally.
Wow. Now that’s a supportive position if I’ve ever heard one. This is having the deepest possible wish for freedom and fulfillment for my partner. And taken as a guideline, I can return to this intention each time I start making it all-about-me again (which happens a lot BTW).
If relationship has a higher purpose than just getting my needs met, what else could it be about? Yes, I know…romance, companionship, family….all fine expressions of primary relationship. Maybe it’s just me, but I want more. I’m up to something bigger. I want to be conscious. To become all that I can be in this life. I’m a human being….evolving is what we do!
The possibility that I can actually have a partner in this undertaking is thrilling beyond measure. And just what is it that causes me to grow, stretch, and transcend the limits of my personality the most? Yep, conflict. Getting rubbed the wrong way. Now you gotta KNOW that the person who is most likely to push my buttons and call me forth is my mate right? That and my kids (but that’s another post).
I dislike conflict and upset as much as the next gal…but I’m onto myself. I know that it is my partner’s job to annoy the crap out of me (though hopefully not full time). My job? To do the same with him. And what is our intention? To recognize that problems are not really problems. Issues will surface, upsets will come and go – sometimes again and again. What we are actually doing together is inviting the other to become bigger than all that. To choose to love each other again and again – every single time.
If it sounds like every time we have a conflict I am delighted, then I’ve misled you. The truth is I’m practicing. I’m learning. Sometimes I succeed and other times I fail miserably. That’s the point.
Relationship has a higher purpose.
I call it my spiritual practice. My man...he calls it Disneyland for Adults. What do you call it? What context or metaphor describes what you are up to in your relationship? Is it your Workout? Post-graduate school? A Never-ending Gobstopper?
I’d love to know.
~ Tamra Rutherford