ON GETTING A RING PUT ON IT......

Commitment. One word that women of all ages are familiar with. Most of us want it, many of us chase it, and some of us worship the thought of having it. We want somebody to “put a ring on it.”

But often, the search for commitment is not a movement toward something, but more a desire to run away from something; and that something could be loneliness, single girl income or being the last one in a circle of friends to walk down the aisle. Yes, commitment sounds good, but what does it really mean to us? To most of us, it means having a “plus 1.” It means validation. It means that we have been chosen. It means that we are “good enough.”

And as we pursue the brass (or “golden”) ring, the achievement of anything short of that becomes flat and meaningless. "Single" becomes a four letter word and the older we get, the nastier the word becomes for some of us. We come to believe that we have somehow missed the mark or that we don’t measure up; that we alone are not enough; or that we are on the outside of our own lives waiting for someone to unlock the door and let us in. Our other accomplishments begin to pale in comparison and being in a committed relationship becomes the stick by which we measure how successful we are. Careers are not enough. Family is not enough. Friendships are not enough. Love, in all its other manifestations, is not enough.

But through it all, as romantic relationships begin and end on our journey to finding “the one”, we are always left with ourselves. And for that reason, our bliss must come through an appreciation of ourselves and all of the many blessings that we have -recognizing that we are experiencing love regardless of our relationship status. Who we are is not enhanced by a ring. So, in our race toward commitment, we have to ask ourselves, “When I reach that magical destination called ‘married’, who am I gonna be?”

It’s time to rid ourselves of the antiquated belief that our lives will somehow begin with “I do.” Life is happening now; and as we continue to create whatever in our lives that we are desiring, we will be no better or worse than who we choose to be in this very moment.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

As we grow older and experience various relationships; some good and some not so good, many of us seek to have a greater understanding of ourselves and the men in our lives so that we can better relate to one another. In our quest to do better and be better, we buy books, attend seminars, join groups and engage in endless discussions about relationships. In an effort to transform the quality of our relationships, we analyze the circumstances that have led to a “breakdown” in communication between men and women. And as our awareness increases, we become “experts” who are able to quickly identify dysfunctional behavior in others.

For instance, we know why our best friend continues to date a man who will never marry her, or can recognize when a particular man has a “fear” of commitment and can’t seem to settle down with one woman. In our arrogance, we may even have a suggestion or two about how to “fix” these problems! And, what about us? Somehow, that’s not so easy to tackle. While we are quick to offer advice to others, we are unwilling to take that same advice and do the work it takes to make ourselves better.

As we become more skillful at labeling issues and calling other folks out about what we perceive to be their shortcomings, we are often satisfied to merely label on our own. Now, of course we cannot change what we do not acknowledge, but simply acknowledging our faults does little to transform the quality of our relationships. While it is smart to understand the dynamics of relationships and what it takes to make them succeed or fail, it does not stop there.

When it comes to our personal behavior, we are quick to explain it away and assign it to some past psychological trauma or social stigma that’s causing us to act out; but when exactly do these explanations cease to be explanations and become excuses? Surprisingly, we expect our partners to understand and accept our faults, while we audaciously judge others for their negative behavior. We become complacent with our circumstances and the comfort of having someone there, while ignoring our part in damaging our own relationships. But, if we are truly seeking to heal the quality of our relationships, we should start the healing at home. In order to transform our relationships, we have to be in the act of transformation. This means that we have to take responsibility for our own actions; to actually BE the standard that we set for others.

So, before we engage in conversations where the finger of blame is pointed away from ourselves, maybe we should instead take the time to decide one positive change we will make within our own relationships. It’s great to be able to spot and analyze problems in other people’s relationships, but the best part about understanding where relationships tend to breakdown is using it to identify where our behavior may be similar and taking the advice that we so freely give to others.

RELATIONSHIP KARMA

“You get what you give.” “What goes around comes around.” We often use these sayings to describe what we consider to be “karma”; a kind of cosmic justice that creates balance in the world. It makes us feel really good to know that ultimately no good deed will go unrewarded just as no bad deed will go unpunished. Somebody or something is keeping score. And because we generally like to consider ourselves to be on the right side of “right”, we do our good works and we sit back and wait for our reward. We are so invested in this belief that we can become really impatient, sometimes to the point of frustration even, when our good stuff fails to show up.

And what about relationships? We do all the right things. We practice being spiritually grounded; we want to be present and emotionally available. We surround ourselves with the right people; “toxic” friends are no longer a part of our inner circles. We keep ourselves physically fit and well groomed as we pluck and wax and tweeze ourselves to perfection. Even more important -we are good. So, so good. Kind, loving, thoughtful and considerate. We are Ms. Right ready for our Mr. Right to appear. We have cleaned out our emotional junk, done our spiritual homework, and we are ready, willing and able to give our best. So what is up with the men who show up in our lives who don’t quite match our perception of our perfect mate? For some reason, our relationship reward seems to be slow in coming. Surely something is off-kilter, but we keep moving and we wait for our good karma to kick in.

And as we move in and out of relationships, attempting to get it right and seeking our reward, we often find ourselves dissatisfied. We feel we deserve better. We see ourselves as more than what we are attracting, but what we fail to realize is that EVERY relationship that we experience is a direct reflection of who we are in any given moment. Through our relationships, we are given the opportunity to truly see ourselves-our greatness and our strength, and also what is injured and needs healing. EVERY man is our Mr. Right and right now is our perfect opportunity to heal and to grow; to use each and every relationship to help us become more of the person that we ultimately want to show up in our lives. Nothing is broken. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is out of balance.

Our karma is good and everything is exactly as it should be.

-This post was written by Angie