Have your romantic partners been “developmentally compatible”?

Truth-Bomb.

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Have your romantic partners been “developmentally compatible”?

If not, what can you do to ensure that they are, so that you can avoid the inevitable pitfalls of love?

If they have been developmentally compatible, how can you tell?

What advice would you give to others in finding someone who’s a soul-equal?

I figure I could just share this picture alone, like always, or I can pose a question.

So, I decided to post a question this time.

Now let me answer it this time…

For me, my last partner (and most past partners) have not been developmental equals. It was clear to me from the very beginning and yet I continued on in the relationship anyway (for many different reasons). Part of it was my own patterns. My desire to be a savior. Thinking if I could rescue a woman or show her something, that would guarantee that she would love me, and value me, and not leave me.

This did not always lead me to making the HIGHEST decisions for past partners.

Now, all the partners that I consider are “developmental equals”.

And if they’re not, it is painfully obvious to me.

The way I know this is through my intuition.

And I can usually tell very quickly.

I wish I had more specific advice on how to do that.

But the best I got for you is to simply pay attention.

Remember, people are always showing you who they are.

All you have to do is pay attention.

Ask yourself: “what does this REALLY say about them?”

Thanks 1st girlfriend who never speaks to me for this insight!

Kevin

Honor Love

This is a beautiful post by Daniel Schmachtenberger.

And I wanted to share with you here, on my blog.

It started as a post on facebook titled:

Honor Love

Please don’t throw people you love out because things don’t go the way you want.

If you ever deeply loved someone, you always will. That can’t change or die….it can simply get covered up by pain. The only way to not return to the love is to never heal. You are bigger than that.

Remember all the sweet times you had together. Don’t be afraid to feel this again. Think of all the things you learned with them and all the ways you grew as a result. Recognize how much richer your life has been because of them, and how indelibly they helped shape your evolution. Focus here.

Tell this story.

The neat thing about pain is, it ends. But the lessons learned continue on. If you do the work to process what you need to, the hurt is temporary, and the gifts are lasting. What a beautiful evolutionary bias to existence!

So process what you need to, let the pain go, and honor the beauty.

Honor love.

Notice how much more whole you feel when you do. And how much better you like who you’re being.

If you were taking your last breaths…or they were taking theirs….notice what remains in you. When you don’t have time for anything non-essential, notice how only love and gratitude arise. That is what really matters to you…what is real and important to you….when you don’t falsely believe that you have time to dwell and get stuck in the unimportant.

Everyone I have ever loved, I still do, as deeply as ever. It couldn’t be any other way. They shaped my heart. I learned what I know of love with them.

How we relate on the outside my have changed. What happens in my heart with them never will.

If a woman has felt safe enough with me and deemed me worthy to open her heart and her body to me….I feel forever indebted. If she ever needs anything, and I can give it, I will. It wouldn’t feel right to me any other way.

As hard as I work at doing good, I simply don’t believe any act truly warrants that kind of beauty, the gift of someone’s heart…so the only reasonable response for me is to feel overwhelmingly blessed.

There are three of my past relationships where we are not still actively close, because they requested that of me….and I actively miss them. And still nothing has changed in my heart; it still swells when I think of them.

This doesn’t mean I think we should be together romantically or sexually again…that might not be what’s in everyone’s highest good…which is what love wants for.

But I remember those times….where I felt I could die happy and complete…. Mostly, it means that I know her. Even though she may have grown and changed…I saw her deeply enough at one time to see what is essential…to see her goodness, her uniqueness, her spark, and know that there is absolutely no one like her.

I loved her because I saw the beauty of her nature…. That will never change.

When I think of the relationships I’ve had, I feel unreasonably fortunate. Not because I’ve never been cheated on or lied to or left. Of course I have. And for a time it was devastating. And as soon as clarity reemerged, I knew I would sign up for it again a thousand times over.

If she had been clearer and better resourced, she would have treated me better. I have no doubt about this. We both have loving hearts, love being the cause of someone else’s happiness, and have only acted hurtfully when we were confused, hurting, or disconnected. So how upset and resentful do I want to stay over someone loving me the best they could with all they had going on inside?

So work to let it go. Don’t feed the resentment story. Or any story that causes or comes from pain.

Honor love.

Feed gratitude.

Stay vulnerable.

Stay open.

Stay loving.

And you’ll stay centered in your own heart, living your values congruently, and choosing your reality consciously.

That is the only real safety.

“Nothing can shatter this love, for even if you were to take another into your arms my dear, you would still be kissing me.” ~Rumi

P.S. A relationship structure (being with this person, this way) is a strategy to meet needs: belonging, connection, security, etc. Love wants for the needs of the other, because love supports happiness. As such, love wants that strategy, as long as it is truly what supports happiness the best. If that should change, love wants for the other what they most want for themselves.

I have never vowed to a relationship structure till death do us part….because I care about happiness and love and truth more than structures…and I know I cant predict the future that well. I think that is a better intention if its arising for both people, than it is a vow.

Here is the lifetime vow that I have made, and feel is honest and I can keep: “I vow to see you, and love you, and honor you, and care about you forever….and to relate with you in whatever ways truly serve the highest good.” As long as being with me supports your greatest happiness, we will be together. If things should change and something else would support your happiness better, then I want that. And Im still keeping the vow.

From this view, there is no such thing as a break up. Only a transition of how we love, as needed.

What loving you means to me…

This is a beautiful post by Daniel Schmachtenberger.

And I wanted to share with you here, on my blog.

It started as a post on facebook titled:

What does it mean when I say I love you?

First, it means that I see you. I see the feeling, experiencing being that you are. I see your sensitivity, and your strength. I see your irreplaceable uniqueness: there has never been nor will there ever be another one like you. What possible price tag could be put on something infinitely rare?

I see your goodness, underneath and through all your actions…even the misguided and hurting ones. I see your deepest yearnings, and the absolute innocence that you truly are.

And I want to see you. Your light and your shadow…your beauty, and the parts you have yet to find the beauty in. Your attractions and repulsions…your feelings, desires, thoughts, emotions…all threads in the tapestry that you are…all with a purpose to serve. I want to know you, in your depth and fullness and realness… Not a fantasy that I make up and project on you, then punish you for not being. If I want to play with a fantasy, I can do that on my own. I will not punish you for being honest.

And I want to see you as you are now, in this moment as you change and grow. I have never seen you before – the you of this moment. So I will not pretend that I have and risk missing reality.

If I want something from you, I see everything you do and say for how it affects me. So I really only see me, and you become a commodity. That is not what love means to me. So I seek to see you for you—the unique expression of life that you are – independent of me.

I seek to know you as you are, that I may love you as that.

Next, it means that I want for you. Everything beautiful and enriching…everything positive that you want for yourself… I delight in your happiness and celebrate everything that brings you joy!

I know I don’t need anything from you…so I am free to want for you congruently. I appreciate you as fully I can…appreciate all that you freely give. My life is enriched by it forever. And you – this moment – is so precious… I want to be with it fully…so there is no part of me left to make up stories about the future. Can I open myself to receive your beauty in the depths of my being, without expecting to receive it again? I work at it. Because as I succeed, I am honored each time you share with me…and happy to see your life, wherever it takes you otherwise. In your precious short time here, I don’t want to let my insecurities be the reason you missed experiencing something beautiful.

At your depth, you are the One I have always loved, in a form so uniquely precious and ephemeral… I am blessed to simply see you…if I can support you in some way, on this journey through yourself you are taking….that is why I am here.

Do I always succeed at loving like this? No, I fail often…and put expectations on you, think I know you already, try to change you…. I just no longer call that love.

 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/daniel-schmachtenberger/what-loving-you-means-to-me/495070270212

 

 

How the “Relationship Label” Can Single-Handedly Kill a Relationship

You meet someone new and you guys really hit it off. You feel that spark of attraction and that special connection.

You start seeing each other more and more and you begin spending a lot of time together.

Eventually “the talk” happens.

No, not the breakup talk… the talk about what you guys are doing and “what you are”

In most cases, women are the ones that initiate this conversation.

Women usually have the
“relationship talk” for 3 reasons…

  1. They realize the guy is everything they’ve been looking for so they want to get into a serious and committed relationship.
  2. They’re in love with the idea of being in love so they automatically start turning things into a relationship as soon as they meet a guy that they’re really into because that’s what they feel they’re “supposed to do” once they get involved with someone.
  3. Their pride starts to get the best of them and they want to make sure they’re not just a fuck buddy or a booty call. Plus they don’t want to feel like they’re giving themselves to a guy while he may potentially be enjoying the company of other woman too. They usually feel like they’re “too good” for that or they deserve better. Now I’m not saying they’re wrong for feeling that way, I’m just saying it’s simply a matter of pride.

Guys react to the “relationship talk” in one of 3 ways…

  1. They’re not particularly interested in a relationship but they decide to get into a relationship because that’s what you’re “supposed to do” after you start dating someone
  2. They’re really into the girl because she’s everything he’s been looking for so he decides to consciously enter a relationship by choice… rather than pressure
  3. They let the girl know that they’re not really interested in something serious right now. However, most guys don’t say this even if that’s how they feel because they’re afraid of upsetting the woman or hurting her feelings and potentially losing what they have altogether. Instead, they just go against their will and decide to enter a relationship because they feel pressured to do so.

So you enter a relationship and everything’s amazing in the beginning, as usual. But as time passes, you start to fight and argue a lot more. Eventually, you find yourself with a whole slew of problems that never even existed before.

Why? Well, the obvious reason is that the more time you spend with another person, the more time you have to get to know them and see things that you don’t like. Therefore, all the problems can’t be attributed to the relationship label itself; however, a significant portion of them often arise as a result of the label. Here’s why:

The relationship label comes with
a whole set of expectations…

And the tricky part is that these expectations are different for every single person because each person has a different understanding of what love and relationships are.

We’ve all adopted different beliefs about love and relationship when we were growing up and we’ve all been heavily influenced by movies, television, family, friends, parents and past partners. And while we all share a relatively common base of social conditioning about love and relationships, each person has been influenced in a slightly different way.

Everyone has a different understanding of what a relationship actually is, and more importantly, what they expect out of a relationship.

What a Relationship Really is….

Before we begin to explore what a relationship actually is, it’s important to realize that there’s really no such thing as a relationship. It’s not like there’s some natural thing that exists out there called a “relationship.” It exists in us and we’re the ones that give it meaning. In other words, it’s not a real thing; it’s a man-made concept that’s been created and perpetuated throughout society over thousands of years.

Well just like anything else that gets passed on, it gets twisted and distorted over time and it begins to take on a whole new meaning. Now I’m not going to get into the specifics of how love and relationships are grossly misrepresented in the media because I think it’s a common fact that they often portray a very idealistic and unrealistic fantasy of what love and relationships really are. Instead, I’m going to share what I believe to be…

The #1 Most Common Misunderstanding that
People Have about Love & Relationships

“Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something: they’re trying to find someone who’s going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take.” – Tony Robbins

Both people must see a relationship as a vehicle of giving, rather than a means of receiving.

Unfortunately, most people don’t consciously enter a relationship in order to give. Instead, they enter a relationship primarily to receive. And anytime you’re expecting to receive something and you don’t get it, you get disappointed. Well, a relationship label brings with it a whole set of expectations from both people; and when these expectations don’t get met, they get upset.

And this is the fundamental problem that is inseparable from all relationships.

Once you enter a relationship with someone, you’re not only entering a relationship with the person but you’re also entering a relationship with their relationship expectations.

Their idea of what a relationship is, what they expect to receive from it, and how they expect to be treated by you.

See once you put a label on the ongoing process of relating that first brought you two together, you infuse it with expectations and you begin molding it to some fairy tale picture that you have in your head… rather than just letting it happen and enjoying the unfolding process.

Instead of just letting it be, people try to control it and make it a certain way – which often sucks the joy, passion and excitement out of things. The relationship label is notorious for taking the rich and rewarding process of two people co-exploring each others inner world and confining them to a desolate cage. This compromise is often justified because at least it gives people the security of inhabiting it with someone else, rather than withering away in their own loneliness.

So What’s the Solution?

Give each other the permission to just be together and enjoy the process of being together.

Letting things be gives you the freedom to explore each other rather than getting trapped in playing a certain role in the relationship in order to please your partner. This is what creates space for the “juice” to flow. Once it stops flowing, the relationship gets routine and boring.

The freedom to be creates an opening for intimacy; a relationship creates a set of expectations that require satisfaction.

So rather than exploring the depths of each others being and savoring the juice that brought you two together in the first place, people often get too consumed with maintaining the very cage that is keeping them confined to a life of misery and monotony.

Here’s a passage from a great spiritual teacher by the name of Osho that does a phenomenal job of illustrating this point even further.

“Love is not a relationship. Love relates, but it is not a relationship. A relationship is something complete and finished. A relationship is a noun; the full stop has come, the honeymoon is over. Now there is no joy, no enthusiasm, now all is finished. You can carry it on, just to keep your promises. You can carry it on because it is comfortable, convenient, cozy. You can carry it on because there is nothing else to do. You can carry it on because if you disrupt it, it is going to create much trouble for you.

Love is never a relationship; love is relating. It is always a river, flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but never ends. It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point. It is an ongoing phenomenon. Lovers end, love continues. It is a continuum. It is a verb, not a noun.

And why do we reduce the beauty of relating to relationship? Why are we in such a hurry? — because to relate is insecure, and relationship is a security, relationship has a certainty. Relating is just a meeting of two strangers, maybe just an overnight stay and in the morning we say goodbye. Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow? And we are so afraid that we want to make it certain, we want to make it predictable. We would like tomorrow to be according to our ideas; we don’t allow it freedom to have its own say. So we immediately reduce every verb to a noun.

Relationships should be transcended; only then can real love happen. Once you are in a relationship you start taking each other for granted. That’s what destroys all love affairs. The woman thinks she knows the man, the man thinks he knows the woman. Nobody knows either. It is impossible to know the other, the other remains a mystery. And to take the other for granted is insulting, disrespectful.

To think that you know your wife is very very ungrateful. How can you know the woman? How can you know the man? They are processes, they are not things. The woman that you knew yesterday is not there today. So much water has gone down the Ganges; she is somebody else, totally different. Relate again, start again, don’t take it for granted. And the man that you slept with last night, look at his face again in the morning. He is no more the same person, so much has changed. So much, incalculably much, has changed. That is the difference between a thing and a person. The furniture in the room is the same, but the man and the woman, they are no more the same. Explore again, start again. That’s what I mean by relating.

Relating means you are always starting, you are continuously trying to become acquainted. Again and again, you are introducing yourself to each other. You are trying to see the many facets of the other’s personality. You are trying to penetrate deeper and deeper into his realm of inner feelings, into the deep recesses of his being. You are trying to unravel a mystery which cannot be unraveled.

That is the joy of love: the exploration of consciousness. And if you relate, and don’t reduce it to a relationship, then the other will become a mirror to you. Exploring him, unawares you will be exploring yourself too. Getting deeper into the other, knowing his feelings, his thoughts, his deeper stirrings, you will be knowing your own deeper stirrings too. Lovers become mirrors to each other, and then love becomes a meditation. Relationship is ugly, relating is beautiful. In relationship, both persons become blind to each other. Just like your eyes become old, your assumptions become old too. Your mirror gathers dust and you become incapable of reflecting the other.

Hence I say relate. By saying relate, I mean remain continuously on a honeymoon. Go on searching and seeking each other, finding new ways of loving each other, finding new ways of being with each other. And each person is such an infinite mystery, inexhaustible, unfathomable, that it is not possible that you can ever say, “I have known her,” or, “I have known him.” At the most you can say, “I have tried my best, but the mystery remains a mystery. In fact the more you know, the more mysterious the other becomes. Then love is a constant adventure.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should never get into a relationship.

All I’m saying is don’t let the relationship get in the way of the love that is there.

So the #1 takeaway that I want you to get from this article is to not try to force things and rush into a relationship with someone just because you have strong feelings for them. I know that’s what we’ve all been taught to do but it’s much better to just let it happen and enjoy the unfolding process. If it’s meant to be, it will happen on its own. Trying to force it will only ruin it.

Wishing you the best of luck in life and love,

Kevin

PS: feel free to leave me a comment below if you need more relationship advice and I’ll be happy to help you!

Why everyone should date a lot . . . .

Everyone should date a lot. And see what’s out there. And get to know themselves. And what they like. And what they don’t like. So they can see what they resonate with and what they don’t. But even more importantly than that, people should pay very close attention to the entire process and observe themselves and others. This will allow you to see how people are.

People are ALWAYS showing you who they are. All you have to do is pay attention. Pay attention to every little thing along the way. There is such a wealth of wisdom in all of it. How you do anything is how you do everything. And everything is everything.

You can tell so much about each person from each interaction with them. How they act in the beginning will tell you everything about how they will act as things progress. Slow down and Listen. Don’t jump into anything. There’s no pressure. Use this process as a growth path that will help you reveal what is most optimal and true. For you.

A lot of people don’t want to do this. And have stories or excuses that keep them from doing it. “Its annoying. It’s Time consuming. It’s Vulnerable. It’s scary. It doesn’t ever seem to go anywhere. Or lead to anything. Etc.”

Yes. It can be all those things. AND it can also be one of the single best investments you can make in yourself. By discovering what you most like and want for yourself. And in a mate. This will allow you to make a much more educated decision in who you’re going to share your life with. That ONE decision alone will make a bigger impact on your life and your happiness than just about any other thing you can think of.

How A Conscious Man Commits…

I wrote this post about myself, and how I view dating and commitment, in order to give you some insight into how a conscious man commits.

I have shared this post with a handful of men, and I have found that it’s struck a really deep resonance with them.

The men I’ve shared this with on coaching calls have breathed a deep sigh of relief when I read it to them. They have often asked me for a direct link to the article so that they can read it again and bookmark it. They told me that it took the words right out of their mouth and made them feel incredibly understood in their journey of dating and relating with women.

My intention in publishing this post now is 2 fold:

1) To get it out in the hearts of more men, so they can navigate through an often difficult journey with a greater sense of honesty, integrity, and ease.

2) To give women greater insight into the inner world of men, and show them that our apprehension to commitment can actually be seen as something sacred and valuable (rather than something that we are purposely with-holding because we want to string you along and hurt you)

I share a lot of very vulnerable things about myself in this article, including lots of things about my life and my past. It’s a lot to reveal, but I’m happy to do so, in hopes that it will serve you.

Here goes…

It doesn’t feel authentic for me to commit exclusively to any ONE woman unless I feel that she is absolutely the RIGHT woman for me.

In order for me to do that, I need to take the time to really get to know a woman.

And see how it’s like for us to relate and co-create life together.

I also need to take the time to truly get to know myself as a man.

To see how I relate with others, to tune into what feels best for me as a man, and to feel into what it is that I MOST desire in a woman (and in a relationship)

And right now, I’m taking the time to do that.

I’m taking the time to meet and date multiple women in order to see what feels best for me, as a man, at this stage in my life.

If through this process, I happen to find ONE woman that I am so head-over-heels in love with, that I am willing to commit to her and only her for the rest of my life, I would be open to exploring that type of connection.

However, even then, I would want the agreements that we choose to uphold around love, sex, connection and intimacy – to be agreements that we both have consciously agreed upon together. Rather than just meeting a woman on the other end of this journey, after having explored a whole wide range of different ways of being relating, and then sinking back into the “unconscious monogamy mode” that I first started with.

I want to be extra clear that that’s NOT what I mean when I say I’d be open to finding ONE special woman to spend the rest of my life with. Because even if I found that ONE special woman, I would still like for us to consciously craft our commitments and agreements together, and allow the space for conversational topics like this to unfold:

Example: Why My Husband and I Sometimes Have Sex With Other People

But that’s neither here nor there, as that’s just my personal preference for how I’d like to handle the discussion of certain topics in the future.

Here’s What I’ve Learned About How I Handled Commitment In The Past…

All of the relationship I’ve been in have taught me a lot about myself, about love, and about life in general.

I have been in several serious and committed monogamous relationships, as well as several open relationships as well.

(My longest relationship was 3 years. We lived together for 2 of those years and we had a joint bank account that we used to pay all our bills with. We lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, about 5-10 minutes away from our families, and we regularly visited both of them and did lots of shared activities together. We were basically married for all practical purposes).

Now, of the many things that I’ve been fortunate enough to learn through relationships (read: almost everything I know to this day), one of the most valuable things that I’ve been able to learn is how I relate to commitment.

Notice that I said how I relate to commitment… not what I think about commitment.

Two totally different things.

I’ll explain more about this distinction in just a bit…

But first, I want to talk a bit more about my relationship to commitment (and how it’s evolved over the years)

After being in several long-term relationships with some incredibly kind and loving women, I discovered just how much I value commitment.

As well as how much I value upholding a woman’s trust and respect.

In fact, I find it to be one of the most fundamental things to a relationship.

I have witnessed, first-hand, what a difficult experience it is to be with a woman who does not trust you. Often, for no personal wrong-doing of your own.

It’s usually a result of other men in her past who have betrayed her trust.

How?

It could be through lying, or cheating, or breaking her heart spontaneously.

Either way, it all stems from NOT being 100% honest with her.

Which really sucks.

Both for her… and all the lovers that have to come after that man.

(Although she ultimately has the final say in letting things go and deciding what to take on, and what to release)

Regardless…

I vow to not add to the collective hurt that women have experienced in love.

And I do that by being very honest with women up-front.

See, I know how I am with commitment.

And I know what a pristine level of integrity I uphold when I TRULY commit to someone.

And because I know that, I also know that I don’t want to commit to someone long-term unless I feel like it’s someone that is truly right for me on ALL levels.

But in the meantime, here’s what I’m willing to commit to…

I am willing to commit my full presence to you anytime that I am with you.

I commit to sharing my full heart with you any time that we are together.

(And also when we are apart).

Anything that you ask with a pure and honest, I will answer.

Anything that you express to me with the utmost sincerity, I will receive.

I will continuously meet you in the direction of truth and love.

I will always communicate with you openly and let you know where I stand.

You will never have to worry about me or what I’m thinking or feeling.

I will always offer that up to you wholeheartedly, in the interest of having an honest and open loving relationship with you.

I commit to being fully in tune with myself, with you, with us, and with our connection as it unfolds – organically.

This is what I am most interested in.

I am interested in how our connection unfolds organically when we are not trying to force it or guide it to be anything other than whatever it is wanting to be in this moment.

And I am committed to nurturing that connection with you, moment by moment.

This is how I create connections with women today.

However, this is not how I’ve created connections with women in the past (although I’ve desperately wanted it to be this way)

Here’s a little bit of insight into how I’ve created relationships with women in the past…

Vulnerable Confession:

I have NEVER entered a committed monogamous relationship with a woman from a place of PURE CHOICE.

I have always entered a committed relationship with a woman from a place of pressure and obligation.

After seeing a woman for a month, or several months, they would always ask me:

“What are we?” 
“Where is this going?”

Naturally, I’d get really uncomfortable and try to come up with some sort of way to answer the question in a way that reflects my truth, but also doesn’t crush her heart and her feelings.

However, I noticed that the way I went about it didn’t always land or resonate with women.

In fact, it would often hurt them.

Here are a couple approaches I tried that didn’t work.

1) “I’m not looking for anything serious right now”

This would often hurt the hell out of women (and sometimes even push them away).

Why?

I assume it’s because I was so open, sincere, and loving with them from the get go… before ever sharing where I’m at and what I’m desiring.

I was genuinely interested in getting to know them as a person as soon as I met them (apparently that kind of thing is rare these days).

Sad, I know.

In any case, it made them disappointed that I wasn’t open to “seeing them in that way”

I’m sure it also made some women feel like they weren’t good enough to be considered for something like that.

Of course, none of that was actually the case. It was just where I was at, at the time. See rule #2 from The 4 Agreements:

Don’t Take Anything Personally 

“Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Nevertheless, this approach that I was taking in telling women that “I wasn’t looking for anything serious” didn’t work for me.

So I tried to be more precise with my word, and speak more directly into what it was that I was actually wanting and feeling.

So rather than saying that I wasn’t wanting anything serious, I decided to say:

2) “I’m just not looking for a serious relationship right now”

Honestly, this wasn’t all that much better (in retrospect)

But I thought it was, at the time.

After all, I was still open to deep, vulnerable and authentic connections with women.

I just didn’t want to be subjected to all the typical “relationship” stuff.

I didn’t want to be pressured to do all the things that “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” typically do when they make it “official”

I just wanted to get to know someone and feel into their heart, see what they’re all about, and hear what they’re up to.

And also figure out how I can best love and support them.

(And vice versa)

Apparently, to most women, this was synonymous for a monogamous, committed, long-term relationship.

So it still didn’t work for me… in terms of getting the results that I actually wanted.

Now, you might be wondering…

What is it that I actually wanted?

I just wanted to relate to women without any kind of pressure, expectations or disappointments.

That’s not too much to ask for, is it?

And yet, when I shared my truth with them in this way, it always lead to them feeling hurt.

When I told them that I wasn’t looking for a serious relationship right now, it always left them feeling hurt and disappointed.

It also left them feeling a bit disillusioned for thinking that it could potentially lead to something “serious”

In fact, many of them refused to listen to me when I told them that.

They would stick around longer, convinced that I would eventually change my mind.

Most of the time, I didn’t. And they eventually saw that for themselves. And left.

Which is good, because I wouldn’t want to be with someone who would only stick around if I were to give them some sort of commitment (more on this later)

However, there were a few times where I eventually “caved in”

And “compromised”

And entered a “relationship”

(More on this later)

The point here is this:

Explaining things in this way didn’t lead me to getting the outcome that I really wanted.

Which was the ability to relate freely and openly with a woman (until I discovered whether or not she was actually a good fit for me or not)

My attempts to keep a woman’s expectations at bay didn’t work when I expressed it this way.

And it also didn’t quite convey the depth of what I was really trying to create and communicate with her.

So I evolved my strategy and I would say this instead…

3) I just want to get to know you and relate to you without putting any kind of “labels” on it

See the post I wrote about that here:

How The Relationship Label Can Single Handedly Kill A Relationship

(I originally wrote this post about 4 years ago)

I remember showing this post to an ex-girlfriend of mine within the first 2 weeks we started dating.

When I talked about what I was looking for, and not looking for, in this way, there was a slight improvement.

I was no longer questioning their desire for something “serious” or saying that I didn’t want a “relationship”

I was simply expressing that I wasn’t a fan of all the labels

And I was hinting at the idea that I wanted to relate without labels (which is true)

This was certainly an improvement, and it managed to get me SOME results.

However, it still wasn’t very clear.

It worked with some women, who were kind of like me, and who were annoyed with the typical way that most people were doing relationships.

However,  it still didn’t really work (in the grand scheme of things)

In fact, it actually pissed most women off.

Anytime I shared this perspective with them, it would often lead to us getting into a long drawn out debate around “labels” and the impact they have on us.

Some women would say that it’s not about the label, and that you can still be boyfriend and girlfriend without yada yada.

Long story short: it was exhausting.

And it lead to a lot of debates and disagreements.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly get “turned on” by having conversations like this with romantic partners.

In my experience, it just leaves us feeling more and more disconnected.

It also leads to you feeling really different, and misunderstood.

Like you don’t really see eye to eye on things. Which is okay, I guess.

However, it still didn’t help me in experiencing what it is that I actually wanted…

Which is being with a woman who wants to get to know me and relate to me as a lover… without placing any kind of expectations on me or our relationship.

So I started to reflect on WHY this was happening.

I realized that it probably had something to do with me focusing on all the negatives that I DIDN’T want, rather than on what I actually wanted.

So I started to focus more on what I DID want.

And I stumbled upon an amazing quote from a woman (a renowned psychologist, at that), that described it perfectly.

Here it is:

“I want to love you without clutching, appreciate you without judging, join you without invading, invite you without demanding, leave you without guilt, criticize you without blaming, and help you without insulting. If I can have the same from you, then we can truly meet and enrich each other.”

Virginia Satir

That’s absolutely beautiful, isn’t it?

I feel like it’s so telling and revealing of the higher dimensions of living and loving.

And yet, I would always get met with some form of fear and resistance when I shared this with women.

It was actually really annoying because I felt like I had FINALLY found the most perfect passage EVER to describe it.

In fact, I got so excited that I even started using it on some of my online dating profiles (back in the day)

I thought that by using a passage that was directly written by a woman, a psychologist at that, to describe how I actually want to live and love, I was safe.

I felt like I had finally found the golden key, the answer to all my relationship woes.

And yet, I didn’t.

I shared this with women, but it never really struck a cord.

It was a wise and powerful quote, but it never lead to women actually being able to relate to me without any pressure or expectations.

They would still demand a commitment from me.

In fact, I’ve even had some women flat out tell me that they were not going to stick around past the 3-6 month mark if they didn’t get some level of commitment from me.

(Stupidly enough, I ended up entering into a relationship with one of them and created a bunch of needless suffering that could have easily been avoided if I had simply paid attention to the clues earlier and truly loved myself)

But oh well. You live and you learn.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what women want from this supposed “commitment”

They probably want to feel a sense of significance or security (or perhaps both)

I would happily provide them with a feeling significance and security throughout our entire process of dating and relating.

However, it would never truly make her feel secure.

Because security is, ultimately, an inside job.

And yet, I would still try to give it to them.

I obliged to their desires and I entered a committed monogamous relationship with them in attempt to make them feel more “secure” in our connection.

Because that’s what they wanted.

Now, let me be clear….

I didn’t do this with just ANY woman who asked for it.

It was always with a woman who’s presence I genuinely enjoyed. A woman with whom I shared a really special connection with. And typically a woman who I had been seeing for anywhere between 1 to 3 months.

During that time, it would become clear to me that I liked her more than any other woman that I was seeing at the time (and to be honest, sometimes I wasn’t even seeing any other women)

A lot of times, I was just focused on myself, my work, and my career.

I enjoyed the sense of connection, closeness and companionship that I felt with her. And I usually didn’t have any “fuck buddies” or “friends with benefits” or people that I was just “sleeping with.”

And so entering a relationship with a woman that I most enjoy and connect with, never seemed like a real HUGE sacrifice for me.

Like I said, I typically wasn’t seeing any more than 2 women at any one given time. And I was never one to try to sleep with a bunch of random girls at bars and clubs.

So I was never really “giving up” a lot of freedom.

In fact, I greatly preferred the genuine connection that would unfold between the hearts and souls of two people who were truly yearning to know each other over a bunch of shallow and meaningless connections that lead to sex.

So when I found that desire expressed with a woman that I was seeing,
I would usually enter a committed monogamous relationship with her. And I would continue to get to know her, under a more fixed and focused container.

I would completely shut off my sexual desire for other women. And I would never even so much as flirt with another woman, out of respect and honor for my relationship.

But if I were to get really honest with myself, I never really wanted to do this.

I was just doing this because this is what I thought had made me a “good boyfriend”

And it’s also what I believed to be the best thing to do to avoid dealing with a bunch of unnecessary fights and drama in my relationship.

And so I kept on doing all these things and being what I thought was a “good boyfriend”

What is a good boyfriend?

I don’t know about you, but I imagined a good boyfriend to be someone was someone honest, loving, and loyal.

Someone who really valued being with just ONE person. And truly loving them. And listening to them. And getting to know them. And doing everything they can with them.

But if I had to be really HONEST with MYSELF, I never really wanted to enter a serious, committed monogamous relationship with any of the women I dated.

I would have greatly preferred to just get to know them, and continue to explore myself through other ventures in life (whether that was through work, friends, or even dating other women)

I would have greatly preferred the lightness of truly just being with someone and getting to know them for who they are, rather than for who we want them to be for us.

I would have greatly preferred to take it slow, than to immediately escalate things to the next level and have our relationship be judged and measured by how well we adhere to the social standards of what two people who are in a relationship do when they are together.

And yet, that’s what I ended up doing…. time and time again.

In at least 3 or 4 different relationships, ranging anywhere from 3 months to 3 years.

As I look back on WHY I did this, the answer is really simple.

I felt pressured to do it.

I did it just to make them happy.

And even more importantly… I did it because I was afraid.

I was afraid that they were going to leave me if I didn’t give them what they wanted.

Especially since they made it clear that they wouldn’t keep doing this without some sort of commitment.

And while it wasn’t a complete and total tragedy for me to enter those relationships (although they did have some very tragic components), I knew that there had to be a better way to do this.

Fast forward to now…

How I View Commitment Today…

I am not interested in a woman that needs a false sense of security from me in order to assuage her fears and her worries about the future.

I am not interested in a woman who wants to manipulate me and my desires in order to get a greater illusion of control over her future.

I am only interested in a woman who trusts and values herself enough to know that what she has to offer is inherently valuable in and of itself, and that she doesn’t need to rope me into an “exclusive agreement” with her in order to get my full attention and presence.

There is no need to do that, because I already offer it to her fully and freely.

And she is wise enough to recognize it.

I always offered it freely, but I was dealing with insecure women who always wanted more. And so they couldn’t really see what it was that they were truly receiving.

They had a bottomless pit of desires that could never be satiated.

And stupidly enough, I still entered into a “relationship” with them to try to fill it.

All in attempt to be a “good boyfriend”

So I can get praised for how good I am to them, and for how special I make them feel.

I wanted to be recognized and praised for all my “good” qualities as man.

So that I can extract some sort of validation, value and worth.

How exhausting!

The really uncomfortable thing to admit here is that I was equally guilty for all of this…

As much as I want to get mad and blame my past partners, I was equally guilty here.

I allowed all of this to happen to me.

(OUCH!)

I continuously chose to create these experiences for myself because I didn’t truly love and value myself.

I don’t know if I was trying to compensate for some sort of deep insecurity within myself or if I was just trying to seek some sort of external validation from women, but I kept finding myself falling back into these same patterns.

These patterns of trying to be a “good man” to a woman.

In order to be recognized and praised for it.

And so it made sense as to why I kept attracting these types of experiences into my life.

I am much more conscious of this pattern within myself now (although I’m sure it still arises from time to time)

However, I know what it feels like in my body when I enter into any type of agreement just to please or appease a woman

(Read: the difference between complying vs choosing)

I now focus on choice, rather than compliance.

I am not interested in complying for a woman’s compliments.

I am not interested in loving her in exchange for her praise and validation.

I source my value and my worth from within.

And I share my love freely with the people in my life.

I share my love freely with them because I see so much to love about them.

When I share my love for them, I pay attention to how it’s received.

I pay attention to how it lands for them.

How they receive it.

And how they express it back to me (although I try to not be attached to receiving any kind of expression back).

In short, I pay attention to all of the clues that are right there in front of me.

And I take careful note of ALL of this.

Because it tells me everything that I need to know.

It tells me everything that I need to know about them, about myself, and about how we relate together.

I use this information to make educated choices about what serves me best.

And here’s what I’ve noticed within myself…

When I enter an exclusive relationship with just ONE woman, I give up a lot of my power and freedom.

Sure, I still remain incredibly powerful and free as a man.

But I have given up something very fundamental to me, something that is very powerful to me as a man.

And that is my choice.

My ability to choose the type of connections with women that most nourish, expand and excite me.

If I give up this ability to choose, from the world-wide buffet of women, then I want to be sure that the dish that I am choosing to eat is one that is the most nourishing, expansive, and exciting to me.

If I choose JUST one woman, and I truly decide to choose her, moment by moment – I want to take my time and be absolutely certain that I am making the RIGHT choice.

And I know that this is ultimately what is best for me, and for the woman.

I know that if I enter an agreement with a woman from a place that feels like anything other than me making a powerful choice for myself and for what I truly feel is best for me, then we will eventually both grow to regret it. And also resent it.

I know, because I’ve done this so many times. And I know exactly what it leads to.

And what I can say is this:

Neither of us really needs to be subjected to the type of experience that this leads to.

I would much rather relate with you in real-time, separate from any assumptions expectations or projections that we may have for each other.

I want to co-create with you now, moment by moment, and see how enjoyable it is for us to do that.

And through doing that, I would like to see how compatible we truly are as lovers. And co-creators.

If through doing so, we find that we are compatible. Great. We can continue to co-create a life together.

If through doing so we discover that we are not compatible, we can discontinue seeing each other from a place of love, honor, and mutual respect (instead of having a whole slew of emotions arise from the deep level of disappointment that we’d normally feel after getting so heavily involved and invested with someone prematurely, without taking the proper time to really feel a person out and see if it’s a good long-term fit).

When we enter relationships prematurely with people, we often enter the relationship in an attempt to meet some fairy tale that we hold in our minds.

And then we end up disillusioned when it turns out to be different than what we imagined.

However, when we take the time to truly get to know each other and feel each other out, we can co-create life together in a way that is truly expansive and nourishing for both our hearts and our souls.

This is the type of relationship that I imagine for myself.

And this is the type of relationship that I truly want for others.

And I feel that, in order to do that, we must begin to hold the power of our commitment as something truly sacred. Because it is.

Our commitment is truly sacred. And so are our choices.

Our choices reflect our commitments.

And our commitments create our life.

Be mindful of the choices you make.

And be very intentional about the commitments you create.

May this article support you in creating the type of relationships that your heart most deeply desires

Should you want any additional help working through any of the topics that I mentioned here, please feel free to reach out to me at kevinkurgansky@gmail.com and we can schedule a time for us talk.

Best wishes,

Kevin

PS: I wrote a second follow-up post on this topic here:

How We View, Approach, And Commit To Long-Term Relationships (And Why It Needs To Change)

 

How To Find Strength In The Midst of Anything: Discover A “Sure-Fire” Way to Ground Yourself In Times of Uncertainty

I find strength in truth

The deepest truth I know is love

The deepest love is self-love

The deepest act of self-love is self-trust;

The deepest act of trust is surrender

And so I ground myself in these knowings and I surrender.

I have just unraveled and articulated these knowings, in this particular form, for the first time, now.

And I trust that they have entered my consciousness for a reason.

I believe that they have entered my consciousness in order to serve my highest good and growth.

And to support me in my never-ending flourishing.

I hope that they support you in yours as well.

May you allow these words to penetrate your soul and your psyche and unravel in your life as necessary.

Should you desire any support in applying these profoundly deep and universal truths to a certain circumstance that you may be feeling or dealing with now, feel free to reach out to me here

I will be happy to break them down for you even further, as they apply to your specific situation.

Note: these words were birthed as a result of my soul and my psyche attempting to navigate through a possible uncertainty in life.

As I felt into what was coming up for me, I felt a wide range of things.

I felt Anger. Fear. Sadness.

And a deep sense of vulnerability.

And then underneath THAT, was a feeling that I hated feeling more than anything.

A deep sense of disappointment.

I wasn’t fully comfortable having these feelings.

I allowed myself to feel them for a bit, but I wanted them to stop.

I wanted to ground myself.

And so I sought refuge in truth.

(As always)

And now I feel strengthened as a result of these truths.

And now that I found that strength within myself, I wanted to transmute my experience into something that others can use to experience a similar effect in their own life as well.

Let me know if, and how, this serves you

Should you need anything else to transmute this transmission into something that serves you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me

Kevin

Accept the apology you never got…

Life becomes a lot easier when you learn how to accept the apology you never got

It’s great when we can have honest and open conversations with the people in our lives that mean the most to us.

It’s great when we can transparently share what comes up for us, and process with them.

However, that is a luxury that isn’t always available to us.

And in this moments, we must learn to give ourselves the apology we never got.

Not for any reason other than because we value our freedom.

To hold on to the stored and stagnant energy that we still hold about the experience is a way for us to stay stuck.

Quite simply: it’s an energy leak.

And now, you have the opportunity to plug it up by giving yourself the apology you’ve never gotten.

Take the time to do it now

Your heart will feel freer

Kevin

The Revolution of Love – Changing Our Collective Understanding Of Love (REBRANDING LOVE)

After working as a love and relationship coach for the past 7 years, and helping millions of people through the terribly painful process of heartbreak, I’ve discovered ONE fundamental truth about love and relationships.

And it’s this:

The SOURCE of ALL the PAIN we experience in relationships is rooted in a “wounded” and “limited” UNDERSTANDING of LOVE.

So if we want to have a more fulfilling and enjoyable experience of love – with all it’s beautiful highs and glory’s and without the gut-wrenching pain and heartbreak – then we need to do MORE than what we’ve done so far.

We must not only learn and grow ourselves, but we must ALSO grow and evolve our UNDERSTANDING of love.

And that’s what this little manifesto is designed to do – to help you grow and evolve your understanding of love.

Because, quite frankly, our current version of love just isn’t working.

If it was, it wouldn’t be producing the results that it’s currently producing (50% divorce rates, billions of strained relationships, and tons of devastating loss and heartbreak)

In other words:

LOVE is in DESPERATE NEED of a good “REBRANDING”

And I’m taking on the task of being the new brand ambassador.

If we want to avoid the outcomes that the current form of “love” is producing, then we must not only adapt and learn new behaviors (i.e. better ways of relating and communicating) but we must also adapt and evolve our UNDERSTANDING of love.

Now, there are many great resources out there on how we can be better lovers, better partners, and get better at communicating.

However, there are VERY few resources on how to grow and evolve our UNDERSTANDING of love.

Why is that?

Because love is such a subjective topic. And it varies so much from person to person.

And yet, there are some striking similarities in the kind of love that we typically experience.

In fact, I would venture to say that there’s more similarities than there are differences.

That’s why when you read advice online about dating, love, and relationships – they can accurately speak on our experiences and offer us advice based on common sets of actions and re-actions.

That’s because they’re speaking to the “collective experience” that we typically have around love.

MOST of the problems that I encounter in my work with people actually stem from this collective understanding and experience of love.

And I believe that we will continue to experience these problems until we begin to question what the hell love actually IS and what it is NOT.

It’s a very morally-questionable territory to go into, and I don’t claim to have ALL the answers.

However, I do believe that I have SOME of the answers.

I also believe that the experiences I’ve had, both personally and professionally, have given me a greater understanding of what love actually IS and what it is NOT.

And since there are very few people out there that are willing to force us to engage in this existentially-rich question, I thought I’d be the one to start the discussion and provoke us to think a little deeper about what love IS and what it is NOT.

Regardless of whether you agree with any of my views or not, I promise you that the process of bringing these ideas into question will help you get to a deeper truth within yourself about what love means to YOU.

And I promise that through questioning what you believe to be true about love, you may identify things that you’re currently doing that do NOT serve you (as well as things that do)

Pay close attention to these things as they arise, for they will help you chisel your understanding of love into something that will serve you in experiencing the type of love that you truly want in your life.

Note: if after reading this, you realize that you’ve been engaging in a pattern of behavior that does not serve you and only produces more pain for you and your partners – that’s okay. In fact, that’s the whole point.

It’s better to realize these things now – in this safe space of deep contemplation – than it is to keep doing it over and over again without even realizing it.  So if you DO realize it now, that’s okay. In fact, it’s normal. Because no one’s ever forced you to stop and question what you believe to be true about love. You’ve probably just functioned off the “collective understanding” that you’ve adopted over the years – just like the rest of us.

But now, you’re about to start bringing these things into question.

And I think you’ll really like what you’re about to discover.

So let’s begin..

Here’s what I believe to be true about Love (so far)

Read along and see how much of this resonates with you…

I believe that True Love simply wants what is best for the other… whatever supports their highest good and happiness.

I believe that Love, in it’s purest form, is an experience of expansion and liberation – and not just a series of transactional exchanges that are littered with hidden resentments from the inevitable disappointments.

Hidden resentments that stem from unmet needs, uncommunicated requests, and unreasonable expectations.

I believe that our experience of Love ought to be a consciously co-created one; with conscious agreements that are chosen and agreed upon by both parties, that are rooted in the expansion of love and evolution, that take each other’s needs into account, and that support the highest good of both individuals.

I believe that these intentions are the things that should drive the “vehicle” that we call a “relationship” – rather than being driven by the ego-strategies that we’ve developed in order to extract something from another person that we are unwilling to give to ourselves (AKA: self-love and self-nourishment)

I also believe that a truly healthy, vibrant, and thriving Love will create more joy than it does suffering.

Pain is permissible. Pain is great, even. As long as the pain is used as an inquiry.

An inquiry that reveals new layers of growth and evolution for the individual who is experiencing that initial trigger of pain, hurt and disappointment – rather than automatically getting interpreted as some sort of “wrongdoing” by the other party and then projected outwards in the form of anger, blame, and even righteous indignation.

Thus, making the partner they supposedly “love” feel inferior, inadequate, and generally very unpleasant about themselves.

By the way, I have to stop and ask…

Is that really love?

Or is it a horribly thwarted perception founded in the unbased assumption that another individual could possibly be held responsible for meeting all our needs and desires?

How selfish.

How selfish is it of us to think that we are in possession of another human life, and that they SHOULD act in accordance with how we WANT them to act?

And if they don’t do that, that must mean that they don’t love us.

Or that they’re not the right “one” for us.

Or that we should stop loving them.

It’s sad to think how quickly we get triggered and react in ways that end up hurting the ones we claim to “love”

It’s also really sad to think that the majority of people who are in love are essentially operating from a belief structure that says that they have SOLE OWNERSHIP of the person they’re with.

And WHILE they’re together, they MUST act in accordance with each other’s needs and expectations.

And if they fail to do that, they’re out. They’re leaving. They’re walking out of their life and not looking back.

They may not do this immediately, but they’ll most certainly make threats about it.

…In order to “control” their partner and get them to do what they want.
Not only that, but they’ll also change their behavior accordingly.

…In attempt to control and manipulate their partner and get what they want.

How do they do that?

They start creating fights and arguments and throwing “emotional fits”

They start withdrawing their love…

They start withholding sex…

They stop doing nice things for you…

And they start acting cold and distant…

…All in attempt to control the other person.

…To manipulate them into getting what they want.

If they can’t successfully manipulate them into giving them what they want, they will get up and leave and try to go find someone else that will.

Someone please tell me:

How is that love?

Seriously.

When has that become a standard and acceptable behavior?

And since when do we have the nerve to call THAT “love?”

That is not love.

That is selfishness.

Remember, True Love simply wants what is best for the other… whatever supports their highest good and happiness.

For example:

A mother who truly loves her child will want her child to do whatever makes them happy.

A mother who loves her child, but has her own selfish ulterior motives at work, will try to make that child do what she never had the opportunity to do growing up. In order to live vicariously through her child and make up for her “unlived life.”

These are 2 radically different types of experiences. And 2 radically different types of love.

It’s important to begin to distinguish them here, so that we can begin to distinguish them in relationships too.

A mother with the purest intent in her heart would never say:

“I loved you and gave you birth, and so now you must love me back. And the way you’re going to do that is by growing up and being what I want you to be for a living. And if you don’t do that, I will leave you and abandon you and go adopt another child that is willing to have the exact career that I want them to have.”

And yet, that’s exactly what we do in relationships.

In fact, that’s actually a step up from what MOST of us do.

Most people never even bother to communicate the expectations they have to their partners.
They just get mad when they don’t live up to the invisible expectations they have in their heads.

And then they get upset and lash out at their partners.

(Over needs and “expectations” that haven’t even been communicated 99% of the time)

I know because I’ve experienced this first hand in my relationships, and I’ve also worked with both individuals and couples for the past 7 years.

And almost everything they’re mad at each other for is something that they failed to voice, express, and form a conscious agreement around.

In other words: the other person usually had no idea that the other person was going to explode on them for doing (or not doing) that thing.

Note: voicing a preference in a random passing conversation and then expecting the person to hear it and automatically conform their whole essence, being, and expression around that one randomly expressed preference does NOT count as a conscious and mutually understood agreement.

Look, as people, we have MANY preferences.

And we state our many preferences, at random times, at different intervals.

To automatically assume that just because you fired off at the mouth about some thing that you prefer one time – that the other person is now obligated to morph themselves into an instantly obedient version of your randomly expressed preference – is a formula that will set you up for A LOT of needless suffering.

It will also cause you to engage in a lot of unjust verbal abuse directed at the person that you so call “love”

Is that really what Love does?

I don’t think so…

And the most maddening thing about it is that people do this over things that they have NEVER even bothered to express to each other.

And yet, they still get mad when they don’t act accordingly.

In other words:

We expect people to instantly and permanently morph themselves around the preferences that we hold in our minds, that we HAVEN’T even bothered to take the time to express to them.

So if the first approach is a recipe for a lot of needless suffering (expecting people to act the way we want based on some randomly expressed preference), this second approach is just absolute fucking madness.

Now, do they sometimes manage to do it?

(IE: conform their way of being according to certain preferences and expectations that you expressed to them)

Sure.

Does it make them a very kind, caring, and compassionate person who demonstrates the ability to not only listen to you, but also go out of their way to adjust their behavior accordingly because they love you and care about you?

Yes.

Should you love, honor, and celebrate that person for loving you and caring about you so thoroughly?

Yes.

Should they ever happen to not do that for you automatically, does it give you the right to yell at them or be upset or angry with them or hold grudges or pull away and silently seethe in resentment?

Absolutely not.

And yet, we do it ALL THE TIME.

Over tens and hundreds of different things.

It’d be somewhat understandable if it was over big or important things.

But most of the time, it’s not.

In fact, they’re usually over tiny insignificant things that wouldn’t even be fought over if both individuals were in a place of truly honoring themselves and their partners. And yet, most of the time, they’re not.

They’re not in a place of truly honoring themselves and their partners because they’re so busy trying to extract some sense of value and worth from the other person, and the relationship as a whole.

Seeing the other person conform to their preferences is seen as a token of demonstrating just how much they love and care about them, and how they will go out of their way to make them happy.

Not only is this absolutely exhausting for both parties, it’s a surefire way to tarnish the amazingly beautiful love that is still alive for both individuals.

Cuz let’s be honest…. if they didn’t love each other, there’s no fucking way that they’d be dealing with that level of drama and dysfunction on a daily or weekly basis in the first place.

Which leads me to my main point:

The ENTIRE GAME of LOVE, as we know it, is FUCKED.

And if we continue to play this modern game of love, we’ll be subjecting ourselves to YEARS of UNNECESSARY PAIN and SUFFERING.

If we want to stop being disappointed in love – and actually experience the level of love, joy and fulfillment that our hearts secretly long and yearn for – then we MUST adopt and develop NEW models around Love that actually serve us.

And that is part of what I’m committed to doing in this lifetime.

I’m committed to CHANGING the GLOBAL GAME OF LOVE

And I know that I will likely die trying in this pursuit.

Because the vast majority of us will continue to play out the exact same experience that we’ve had over and over again (even though we know it does not serve us)

We will scrape the dirt off the shoulders, bounce back, learn a thing or two or TEN in the process, but not truly question the “foundational beliefs” that continue to create this type of experience for us.

I know, because I used to be that person.

(Even while being a dating, sex, and relationship coach)

The fact is: it’s really hard to spot the “source” of these beliefs.

Because we’ve all adopted them so early in life, and have had them reinforced through so many different outlets.

And the most sad and unfortunate thing about it is this:

There is nothing that I can say or do right now that will prevent the 17 year old girl in high school from getting her heart broken when her boyfriend leaves her or cheats on her.

There is nothing that I can say or do now that will prevent the young man in his early 20’s from being emotionally unaware, unable to empathize with himself or his partner or even know his own aim and purpose in life – causing his partner to feel unloved, unheard, misunderstood, and eventually lose respect for him (causing her to make his life a living hell before she finally has the courage to leave him since she doesn’t know the right way to speak her true feelings and break it to him and so she will first try to wait it out and hope that he changes and may even try to fix him)

There is nothing that I can say or do, NOW, to change the entire “relationship ecosystem” of a marriage that has been founded on a basis of codependence for the last 10 years and then suddenly snap them into a positive upward trajectory towards a healthy, happy, mutually supportive relationship that encourages both their individual growth, expression and freedom.

There is nothing that I can say or do to cause an individual to truly love and value themselves, and not try to source their value and worth from another person in the highly noble but misguided aim of loving another.

And there’s very little that I can say or do to get someone to truly love and honor themselves and their boundaries when they are love-smitten by another person and see them acting in ways that place unreasonable requests and demands on them.

You have to stand in your power SO much to not take this on as your own stuff, and to truly remain responsible for yourself and yourself only, and communicate that in a way that will get the other person to see and own their shit and stop projecting it on you.

And you have to be even MORE powerful in your level of self-awareness in order to not let yourself fall prey to these traps within your own being.

What traps am I referring to?

The trap of your triggers.

The trap of associating meaning to things that don’t need those associations.

The trap of expecting things that you have no right to be expecting of another.

And then the REAL work here is to not let the prevalence of these things (or lack thereof) stop you from loving them, or being an expansive force of love within your own being.

This way of relating is a highly skilled art that very few will ever understand or assimilate in this lifetime.

And yet, it’s so critical.

It’s so critical to our love, our happiness, our liberation and our freedom.

I don’t know anything that hurts us, or zaps our energy, quite like love.

When something in your love life is off – it throws off every other area of your life.

When you are in an unhealthy relationship – where you feel stuck, trapped, confined or abused – you are literally drained of all your energy and creative potential.

It’s like someone took a knife and jabbed it in your gas tank, and all you can do is drive for a few more blocks as you look in the rear view mirror and watch all your fuel leak out.

This one little act starts to undermine all other areas of your life.

You’re in a shitty mood when you’re interacting with friends, family & co-workers.

You start neglecting your health, skipping workouts & over-indulging in food.

You can’t focus at work and you end up stunting your growth in your career and your business, costing you hundreds and thousands of dollars.

I know, because I’ve been there myself. And I’ve helped millions of other people through that awfully troubling time as well.

And through this process, I’ve observed the underlying patterns that keep us perpetually stuck in these patterns – even AFTER we leave the relationship that we thought to be the CAUSE of all our suffering.

Newsflash: we often end up re-creating similar types of situations in our future relationships… despite thinking that we already learned what we needed to learn from our last relationship.

After watching this pattern play out for many, many years – I finally discovered the deeper “underlying patterns” for WHY things keep playing out this way (and how to fix it so that it never happens again)

As well as a blueprint for a “suffering-free” relationship (yes, it’s possible)

In fact, I’ve experienced it.

(Note: I said suffering-free… not pain free)

I’ve shared a few glimpses of it already… in coaching calls with my private clients, in interviews with other experts, and in conversations with close friends and colleagues.

And now I feel super inspired to share this with the world on a much larger scale because I feel that it can quite literally CHANGE the GLOBAL GAME of LOVE.

And yet, when I look at the overwhelmingly long road ahead of me – I get discouraged.

I get discouraged because I’ve lived enough and seen enough to know the terrain that lies ahead of me.

I’ve seen it with my own 2 eyes, I’ve felt it in the depths of my heart, and I’ve observed it’s deep roots within my own spirit.

I’ve seen the pain, and I’ve seen the forces that keep unknowingly perpetuating all this pain for others, and I feel like they are far too strong to conquer.

I feel that even with me as a messenger, and the millions of other co-conspirators that are on this mission already (and the millions that I have the ability to inspire), that the force will still be too strong for us to overcome.

What is this force you ask?

There are many.

At the source of it all is INSECURITY.

Our own sense of lack and “incompletion”

And our perception that wholeness can be found outside ourselves – in the arms and eyes of another.

Through our “other half”

And through what people proudly and nobly (and disgustingly) refer to as their “better half”

While that term is cute, sweet and even endearing – it is rooted in a highly dysfunctional belief that does not serve us in the slightest.

And unfortunately, the forces that have originally indoctrinated us into these highly dysfunctional ways of being are still alive and kicking.

In fact, these beliefs are continuously installed every day through TV, Movies, Music, Media, Disney, etc.

Not only are they installed through all those different avenues, but they are also strengthened and reinforced by the people around them who are ALSO living with the same toxic belief systems.

For example:

When someone goes to their friends or family for advice, the advice they get (although it may be great) only reinforces the misguided story that they have in their head about love.

So while it may help them cope with the situation at hand, it doesn’t help them untangle the disastrous story that’s underlying the foundation of their relationship (which is what keeps giving “birth” to all the problems they’re experiencing).

What they often need (instead of the advice they’re getting) is someone to flip the entire story in their head upside down and introduce an entirely NEW version of love and relationships that actually serves them in having a happy and healthy relationship.

That’s why there’s absolutely nothing that you, I, or anyone can do to prevent that poor teenage boy or girl from getting their heart broken when their first “projection of love” disappoints them ever-so-dearly.

It’s because they’re already functioning under the “standard operating system” of love.

And their standard operating system (or what I’ll call SOS, for short) is in major need of it’s own SOS.

The horribly unhealthy codependent “happily-ever-after” love fairytales that our culture continues to propagate simply do NOT serve us anymore (they never have, really)

I’m sure you have many examples in your own life to prove this.

Yet, here’s one tiny example that I’m all too familiar with… that you may have never thought about before (I promise that you’ll find this enlightening)

So let’s look at the common terminology that we, as a culture, use to describe a relationship in which two people choose to no longer be in an intimate relationship together.

We call that a “break up”

Yet, have you ever stopped and asked yourself:

How the fuck does calling it a break up actually serve us?

You want to know why we call it a break up?

We call it a break up because our underlying way of relating is fucking broken.

That’s why.

It’s not a break up… it’s a transition.

And if we had the personal maturity to handle these transitions with love and compassion, then we can honor them for exactly what they are (instead of referring to it as a “break-up”)

A break up of what?

A break up of a fictional fairytale that we chose to believe in, that had us thinking that this would last forever?

I assure you that we wouldn’t be calling it a break up if we never entered the relationship under the illusion that it would last forever.

Someone please tell me…

When in the FUCK did we conflate PERMANENCE with SIGNIFICANCE?

Why in the world do we try so hard to achieve permanence in a world of impermanence?

Why do we try so hard to control the uncontrollable?

Why do we cling to another person in hopes of it being a “forever-lasting” arrangement?

Why is that the grand central goal for so many of us?

As I re-enter the dating world after transitioning out of a serious relationship a year ago, I see so many women so quick to discount me and other men because they don’t see a marriage or kids or a “lasts-forever” type of future with them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for people honoring their wants and their needs and being true to themselves. I love it.

But I can’t help but wonder how many of these people have actually consciously chosen that path for themselves as their deepest truth and how many of them just feel pressured to find something that gives them a greater sense of comfort and security?

(Under the illusion that getting married, having kids, and a family will afford them a type of security that they haven’t been able to find)

Which leads me to wonder…

How many of them truly want that for themselves, at this stage in time? 

And how many of them are just tired of getting hurt in relationships that didn’t last forever like they thought they would, and are now seeking something that holds a more promising illusion of comfort, security, and long-term potential – through a commitment, an engagement, marriage, kids, and a family.

(As if that somehow precludes them from having to experience change, transition, disappointment or heartbreak)

You know, since people who commit to those things never have a change of heart, right?

I truly wonder how many people actually want those things and how many people are just saying they want them in order to help them deal with the inevitable uncertainty of living and loving?

By the way, I want to be clear about something:

I am not talking down on this path in any way.

While I may not desire this in my life, at this moment in time, does not mean that I never will or that I hold any judgments against people that do.

I am merely inquiring into the underlying motives of people’s behaviors, as I always tend to do.

Now, let’s continue down that path for a few more points before we wrap up…

We were talking about people and their search for SIGNIFICANCE through PERMANENCE

While this is a noble and interesting pursuit, it may not be the most fruitful in producing feelings of happiness when relationships don’t pass the “permanence” test.

And yet, there are some that do.

After all, there are many couples that successfully live the “happily ever after” love story.

…Until one of them dies.

And then, someone’s left to process and honor that transition of love on their own.

Unless they have the fortune of knowing and timing their death and processing it together before it happens.

But life doesn’t always work out that way.

And so, one person has to grieve the loss. And honor their experience. On their own.

So if that’s what two people INEVITABLY have to do – even in the IDEAL “picture-perfect” scenario that we’ve all supposedly adopted as the golden standard of relationship success – then why in the fuck can we NOT do that now?

Why don’t we practice the art of a loving transition with the partners that didn’t quite meet that false standard of permanence that we’ve all unconsciously adopted as being the best, most significant, most noble, endearing and true?

Why must we get so hurt and disappointed when two people realize that their growth and happiness is best achieved through separate paths from here on forward, and decide to part ways?

Why must we label that relationship as a failure, or get hurt and outraged if it doesn’t live up to the false standard of permanence that only we, ourselves, have placed in our mind?

And more importantly…

Why can’t we embrace that as a possibility upon beginning a relationship with someone and then relate to each other with that understanding and knowing, alive and present?

Why can’t we relate to each other as real, fluid, and evolving beings – rather than a figment of reality that we attempt to control in order to give us some semblance of security, comfort, and stability?

Are we really THAT insecure?

If we’re not – and if we truly are the secure, confident and self-loving beings that we believe we are – then we need to EVOLVE our understanding of LOVE in order to match it.

If we DON’T evolve our understanding of love, it will inadvertently cause us to spiral downwards in quick-sand into a highly unpleasant version of ourselves that we do not even recognize.

And when we finally awaken out from our drunken slumber, we will wonder how in the hell we even subjected ourselves to that experience in the first place.

Or at least I know I did…

And now I’m here, transmuting the lessons into something crystal clear that you and others can digest and assimilate into your own awareness and experience.

So here’s a few more things to consider:

If you consider yourself to be a conscious, self-loving human being that truly loves other people for who they are and doesn’t require anything from them in order to feel whole and happy within yourself…

Then why in the world do you get so hurt and disappointed (and even threaten to leave the relationship) when someone doesn’t act up to par with the ideals that you hold in your mind?

Why do we get so hurt and disappointed when another person isn’t performing up to par with the ridiculously high standards that we have – that we often haven’t even taken the time to ever communicate – let alone, learn HOW to communicate properly.

Doesn’t it all just seem so fucking irrational and detrimental to your highest good, growth, and happiness?

Honestly, it’s hard for me to have hope of things ever changing when I look at the incredibly overwhelming task that I have ahead of me.

It requires a massive overhaul in consciousness in order for us to truly wake up to this reality and live it.

I’ve contemplated this topic for over 10 years now, and I feel like I’m just finally starting to get it.

In my many contemplations, I would frequently ask myself and others what they consider to be a “successful relationship”

Here’s a tiny piece of what I’ve learned:

Relationships are like universities.

They teach us what we need to know and then we graduate.

We may travel with certain classmates for a year, or two years, or even three or four and then we move on.

We either go to different schools to further explore different interests, or get an advanced degree in something else.

Or we move to another city to explore a different land purely for the lands sake, or for the spirit of exploration.

And other times, it’s not even within our control.

Sometimes, life or work or our job or our family decides to move and we go with it and don’t have much say in the matter.

We may try to preserve the relationship, hold on to it, work to nourish it even in midst of all the distance – and some people truly make it work. And that’s beautiful.

And sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

And that’s okay too.

That’s life.

That’s relationships.

After all, relationships are still subject to the same fundamental law that everything else is subject to, right?

The law of impermanence.

This is one of the deepest truths in Buddhism. One of the few and only, actually.

So let’s give each other a little break around our expectations of love and relationships. And let’s give ourselves the permission to experience a more loving, fluid, and accepting view of love.

Let’s drop the controlling, security-seeking, fear-based paradigm of what love and relationships “should” be like and let’s allow ourselves to experience and appreciate the full glory of what we get to share with each other, for as long as we get the privilege of sharing it.

If we truly open our hearts and allow our relationships with people to impact us on the deepest level – then these “impermanent relationships” that we are often so quick to discount as insignificant actually have the power to impact us just as deeply and significantly (if not more) than the ultimate “forever-lasting” experience that we’re all so desperately seeking.

This can actually prepare you for a much more happy and fulfilling long-term relationship in the future, if you use this as an opportunity to grow and experience a more healthy and liberated form of love, that is less attached and insecure, and more supportive and nourishing of the highest good of both individuals.

After all, these are the same qualities that you will ultimately want to have in your most significant long-term relationships, right?

So why not practice them now?

If you want to practice that now, I’ve got a little experiment for you.

Think back to the most recent relationship you had…

If that relationship has changed – in the sense that you are no longer together – that doesn’t mean that your relationship has failed.

It also doesn’t mean that your relationship has ended (although so often it does)

It simply means that it has changed… and transitioned.

And we should honor these changes and transitions the same way that we honor ALL the changes in life.

1. By seeing the opportunity that they provided for us…

2. By appreciating the ways in which we’ve grown as a result…

3. And by articulating how we’ll be a better person and a better lover moving forward…

These 3 things will allow you to experience a much deeper and more enriching form of love in the future.

And you can experience an even deeper and more fulfilling form of love in the future if you take the time to look at these experiences beyond the way that you would normally see them – and actually examine the underlying expectations, reactions, and belief structures that created the basis of your relationship.

Unfortunately, the majority of us will never do that.

The majority of us barely even reflect, learn and grow after our relationships change form.

Let alone, go to the “source” of what created the relationship on a foundational “root level”

Most of us don’t even have the capacity to love a past partner (that we once claimed to love and adore) outside of a relationship that is building towards a “happily ever after” with them.

It’s like as soon as that “forever-lasting” illusion is dismantled, so is the love.

Now, I personally believe that the love ALWAYS lives on. And it forever will.

And yet, culturally, it’s so foreign and frowned upon for us to be “in relationship” with that love as it transitions and takes on a new form.

I think all these challenges are rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of love – that once we transform – will allow us to still love the closest people that we’ve shared our lives with – long after we’ve went our separate ways.

However, the modern game of love, as we know it, is totally fucked.

And it makes it hard for us to navigate through this – and many other situations – from a place of love, honor, and truth.

I vow to change this game, and yet I am feeling incredibly overwhelmed at the idea of it ever changing.

But as a wise woman I dated once told me, sometimes all you can do is pick up the starfish that got carried to the shore and throw it back in the ocean.

The ocean may cause it to ride back up to the shore but you just have to pick it up and throw it back when you see it. For at least one starfish will be saved that way.

While I have saved my share of starfish, the process can be overwhelmingly exhausting and discouraging. Especially when you know that the ocean is going to keep washing it up to the shore and undermining all your efforts.

While the process of helping that individual starfish is incredibly fulfilling, it can be disheartening when you’re not actively engaged in the act of helping someone and it feels like you’re just writing a bunch of ideas against a big giant wave that’s going to come crashing down on you and all your efforts.

And yet, it still feels incredibly fulfilling to do.

My heart is filled with an intense sense of fire and passion as I write this.

It’s been so long since I’ve felt this level of focus. Over 6 months now.

That’s why I’ve been ignoring the hunger in my stomach for over 8 hours now.

I don’t want to drop what I’m doing and break this state.

And yet, I still feel hopeless about the larger goal here.

I honestly don’t think that I can change the global game of love by myself (or even with others)

If you believe in this vision or have any words of wisdom to impart for me, can you please do me a favor and like and comment below.

I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts on this matter as this is one of the first times I’ve published my thoughts on this formally (although many of you have heard me riff on this topic in private for hours)

I actually started a facebook group where I’m going to be sharing more things like this, and also uniting with other people who believe in this message and are interested in participating in “The Revolution of Love” with me.

=> https://www.facebook.com/groups/720833748040018/

If you want to help me spread this message, please join the group and share this post.

Thanks :)

Kevin

PS: I’m still unsure of what exact form this mission will take, but I am VERY sure that this revolution needs to happen (and is already happening)

I will do everything within my power to make it happen on an even greater level, by being a visionary leader and uniting other amazing hearts and minds together to serve in the expansion of this message.

I also vow to use the business that I’ve created in order to drive and feed this revolution. I need a bigger vision to pull me to create again.

And I know that this is the only way that I will have the hunger and drive to keep creating and building my business out even further (instead of just resting on the pleasantly sized empire that I’ve built over the years)

I’ve been looking for a new driver to move me and engage me for the last year now and I finally feel like I’ve found a way to articulate it and put it out there.

Thank you for reading and thank you for all of those that are joining me on the mission to revolutionize our experience of love.

Here’s to all the other revolutionary lovers out there…

=> https://www.facebook.com/groups/720833748040018/

How A Conscious Man Commits…

It doesn’t feel authentic for me to commit exclusively to any one woman unless I feel that she is absolutely the right woman for me.

In order for me to do that, I need to take the time to really get to know a woman.

And I also need time to truly get to know myself as a man.

To see how I relate with others, to tune into what feels good to me, and to feel into what it is that I most want and need as a man.

And right now, I am taking the time to do that.

I am taking the time to date and meet multiple women in order to see what feels best for me as a man, at this stage in my life.

I have been in very serious and committed monogamous relationships before and they have taught me a lot about myself, about love, and about life.

Of the many things I’ve learned, I’ve learned how I am with commitment (and how much I value upholding a woman’s trust and respect

I find it to be one of the most fundamental things to a relationship and I have witnessed first hand what a detrimental experience it is to be with a woman who does not trust you. And sometimes it’s not for any reason other than men in the past who have betrayed her trust. By not being honest with her.)

I know how I am with commitment and I know what a pristine level of integrity I uphold in my behavior when I truly commit to someone

And because I know that, I also know that I don’t want to do that unless I feel like it’s someone that is truly right for me on all levels

But in the meantime, I am willing to commit my full presence to you anytime that I’m with you. I commit to sharing my full heart with you anytime that we’re together. And also when we are not.

Anything that you ask with a pure and honest heart, I will answer.

I will communicate with you openly and always let you know where I stand.

You’ll never have to worry about me or what I’m thinking or feeling.

I will offer that up to you wholeheartedly, in the interest of having an honest and loving relationship with you.

I commit to being fully in tune with myself, with you, with us, and with our connection as it unfolds organically.

This is what I am most interested in

How our connection unfolds organically when we are not trying to force it or guide it to be anything other than whatever it is wanting to be – moment by moment

This is not how I’ve created connections and commitments with women before, despite desperately wanting it to be that way

Instead, I have done it from a place of pressure or obligation – knowing/fearing that she’s not going to care to stick around unless she gets that level of commitment and security

I am not interested in women that need that false sense of security in order to assuage her fears and worries or attempt to get some semblance of control over her future.

I am only interested in a woman who trusts and values herself enough to know that what she has to offer is inherently valuable in and of itself, and that she doesn’t need to rope me into an exclusive agreement with her in order to get my full attention and presence.

There is no need to do that, because I already offer it to you.

I also know what it feels like for me when I enter this type of agreement just to please or appease a woman (read: comply vs choose)

I find that when I enter an exclusive relationship commitment to just one woman, I give up a lot of my power and freedom – and most importantly – my ability to choose.

So if I choose just one woman, and truly decide to choose her, moment by moment, I want to take my time and be absolutely certain that I am making the right choice.

If I enter any agreement with a woman from any place that feels like anything other than me making a powerful choice for what I truly feel is best for me right now, we will eventually both grow to regret it

I have done this before and I know what it leads to.

And what I can say is this: neither of us really needs to be subjected to the type of experience that type of agreement will bring into our life.

I would rather relate with you in real-time, separate from any assumptions expectations or projections, and see how enjoyable and compatible we are as lovers.

And if through doing so, we find that we’re not compatible, we can discontinue seeing each other from a place of love and mutual respect (instead of having a whole slew of emotions arise from the deep level of disappointment that we’d feel after getting heavily involved and invested in something too prematurely, without taking the proper time to really feel a person out and see if it’s a good long-term fit).