The Tao of Partnership

The “Tao” is Chinese for “the way.” For committed couples, there is a natural flow in which effective action tends to move. Two partners come together and plan an activity, create an idea, invent a vision or design a project. After co-creating some aspect of their lives, they move into action. They participate together, they collaborate, they cooperate in their venture and they fulfill their plans. Then, after taking action, they jointly look at what they have accomplished and what results they now have in their lives.

The Tao of partnership is the processes of co-creation, cooperation, and co-ownership. The prefix, “co,” in front of the words “creation,” “operation” and “ownership” means “together, with, joint, or equally.” The prefix refers to two people jointly engaged in the activities of creating, operating and owning, with each other and as equals.

The act of co-creation could be seen as a pre-requisite for true partnership. From the first day that two people who form a relationship meet, they are co-creating their relationship. At different points in their relationship, when they date exclusively, when they become engaged and when they get married, two people are co-creating their lives by making promises and commitments to each other.

Over time, couples honor what they co-create by continually recommitting themselves to their relationship and by taking action that not only expresses the values and vision of their relationship, but also fulfills the future they see for themselves. They see what they have in their lives as an expression of the quality of their partnership. Couples in true partnership co-create their lives, cooperate in their daily lives with one another and co-own life together. Over their life span, couples in a partnership marriage express themselves repeatedly through the processes of co-creation, cooperation, and co-ownership.

Posted in Partnership Marriage on November 17th, 2011 by Andy Miser | No Comments »
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, co-creation, couples coaching, partnership marriage