How to Be a Good Partner

The essential elements required which serve to position you as a good partner are similar in both business and personal arenas. Empathy is probably one of the most important assets - the ability to put yourself into the other person's shoes. How are they feeling? What are they thinking?

This topic came up today in a conversation about business partners. (Not mine, I hasten to add!) In business the result is usually measurable in a more quantifiable sense. By this I mean you can easily count the hours of effort which are being input into your partnership, and the quality of those hours, and ultimately there is usually a monetary scale which can be assessed. In business, most things boil down to dollars; after all, that's what being in business is almost always about.

In fact, in business, if your partners are reticent about putting their hands in their pockets, you will usually find that they are backwards at coming forwards in other ways as well. If you take the phrase "put your money where your mouth is" and then view it in reverse you find yourself asking the question "if you are not willing to put your money in, does this also quantify the effort (or lack thereof) which one is willing to expend?" Beware a business partner who holds back from opening up the purse; it says more than just money - they are likely to prove difficult to deal with in other ways as well.

In personal relationships there is usually a little more of a trade-off, although in the modern day this is seen less and less. In days gone by, the male was usually the breadwinner, be he hunter-gatherer or business merchant, whilst the female stayed home and raised the off spring. He input "money" and kept the home safe, whilst she input her child rearing and home running abilities. But aside from this division of labor, there was a bigger picture; a shared goal and a bond of togetherness. Empathy, as well as necessity, played its vital role in helping each to appreciate the other.

In a personal relationship there is also the magical and insuppressible element of love. Love is an emotion which is positive, open, expanding, all-encompassing, growing and giving, to name but a few of its attributes. We all know this; and so if we encounter a trait which is not very giving, or more restrictive and less open, it triggers a question mark in our minds. We may not pay heed to that question mark immediately, but never-the-less, it will indeed be there. At some point, when we stop trying to turn a blind eye, we will see that question mark clearly in our minds eye.

Love is the most important thing in the Universe; Love makes the world go round. If you freely, openly and generously put love into a relationship you allow it to grow and succeed. If you are afraid to love, you are afraid to live.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis mp3s to help build confidence and create good relationships.

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