Partnership, Tolerance, Wisdom

What are the ingredients of an excellent partnership, one that nourishes and enhances the growth of each individual and contributes something wonderful to the world in general? Of course, a loving and mutual respect must be there for any relationship to get started and to have a chance at survival. However, one of the most important aspects required for any partnership to last a long time is tolerance. Far too many people cannot tolerate the quirks or individual personality traits of the other person. No matter how much you have in common, if you cannot tolerate the aspects of your partner that you don’t particularly care for you will be miserable. Do not think you will change the other person and eliminate the things you don’t like. You can never force someone to change, and especially not by jumping angrily on them when they do something that drives you crazy. Instead, learn to simply tolerate the small things while focusing on the many things that attracted you in the first place. As you learn tolerance hopefully wisdom will also be developed. When you are wise you will understand how to treat your partner in a way that motivates their individual growth in the avenues that spark their interest. One who is not wise tries to influence a partner to be more like they are and wants to force them to adopt their own interests. Instead, be wise and encourage your partner to pursue interests that ignite his or her passion, regardless of whether or not you share that passion. Growth must be achieved individually, not depending on each other. When you encourage individual growth the combined growth of the partnership will automatically improve as well.