Advocating for our own learning

I am going to explore with you an experience I had with Tiffany today.

She and I are grand collaborators and for the most part we know each others' strengths in our work together. What we remembered this morning is that sometimes one partner's strength can trigger the other partner's habit and visa versa. In our case, it has to do with the fact that Tiffany is (in my eyes) a total wizard when it comes to anything on the computer.  She has led the charge in setting up this website, pretty much all of our online advertising, and our online organization as well.

Great, right?! It is her strength, let her be strong in it. The only downfall is the fact that we, as humans, tend to attract a Force to balance out our own. Tiffany tends to be a Doer, I tend to philosophize and ponder and my doing comes in fits and starts. My habit is to take a backseat when there is someone involved who is ready to take lead, leaving myself in a place, I am now realizing, of willful ignorance. Tiffany's habit is to see what needs doing, teach herself how to do it, and stay on it until completion . . . I know she's a badass! Where is gets tricky is when both of our habits take charge, she ends up with all the work and I end up in the dark about what is going on and am completely reliant on her for guidance.

This goes way back for both of us. I can speak to mine and say it has to do with insecurity in my brain speed and function . . . just another negative story born out of unrealistic comparison to others.

What I realize now is that my partner and I must work with our strengths to keep them from tipping into habitual patterns. By this, I mean Tiffany has the opportunity to flex her strength of knowledge and ability to do what needs doing, while also slowing down her process so that I can help share the burden of creating our beautiful Work. All the while, I have the opportunity to step into my strength and behave as though I have all of the Knowledge of the world (because I and all of us do!) instead of being timid and insecure. In advocating for my own learning, my partner is able to clock her habitual tendency and refocus and I am able to pull myself out of the victim zone and get more involved in the Work.

Through partnering, we find our own strength.

~B