Relationships are not 50/50

Relationships are 100/100

How I treat you determines how you will respond to me. If I am loving and supportive, you will respond one way. If I am judgmental, critical, or resentful, you will respond in a very different way. This makes me 100% responsible for the presence or absence of love and you are 0% responsible. You are 0% responsible because you are reacting to me. I’m the cause and you are the effect.

The other side of the coin is also true. How you treat me determines how I will respond to you. If you are loving and supportive, I will respond one way. If you are judgmental, critical, or resentful, I will respond another way. This makes you 100% responsible and I am 0%. To say this another way, each of us are totally, 100% responsible for the presence or absence of love, but this is not what we have been taught. We have been taught that there is only one responsibility.

Either you are responsible or I am responsible, or we cut it down the middle, 50/50. This is what we’ve been taught, but it’s not the truth. Everyone is responsible. When we believe that there is only one responsibility, we get into trouble. Here’s how:

What keeps us stuck

Let’s say that you and I have a problem in our relationship. Since I know that there is only one responsibility, it’s easy to find the source of the problem. It’s you. Then I get trapped. I get trapped because when I point at your 100%, I’m telling the truth. You are responsible. And since I have found the source of the problem, I don’t have to look any further. This keeps me stuck.

When I blame you, I may be telling the truth, but so what? When I blame you, I give you my power. I am saying that you are 100% responsible. At the same time, I am saying that I am 0%. Herein lies the problem. If I am 0% responsible, what percent power do I have? None. You are the problem, not me.

When you blame someone, you give that person your power. You make yourself a victim and destroy your ability to take effective action. To get your power back, stop blaming and find your role in the problem. Once you see your role in a problem, you can do something about it. As long as you blame, you stay stuck.

Sometimes, we may end up in a relationship with someone who is very destructive and controlling. When this happens, our role may be nothing more than staying in a relationship that we shouldn’t be in. Even in a situation like this, we have something to do with the problem.

Life only works in the areas where you take responsibility for the result. When you blame, you lose your power and become very ineffective. You make yourself a victim and become unable to produce the result you want. This is true in every area of life.

You can create a great life

It is possible to create a life more wonderful than you can imagine, but you have to know how. There are concepts to learn, issues to heal, and action to take. I can walk you through the steps. Give me a call. We can talk about your situation and create an action plan. I look forward to hearing from you.