Relationships: December 2006 Archives

Through the years, working as a director of domestic violence shelters for women and children, and serving as a keynote speaker for policy and change, I have wittnessed the varying degrees of how, as humans, we inflict pain onto one another.
On a personal level, someone very close to me,who shares my blood, committed the unthinkable, he murdered his wife. Something like this, when you read about it in the newspaper, you shake your head in disbelief, and turn to the next page. But when something like this strikes at home, it locates a permenant place in your memory, bookmarked through the years, velcro for extra measures.

It’s when the wedding is over and the life together begins and couple begin to plan their financial life together – Is this putting the cart before the horse? Should financial life begin with the wedding or before? Financial intimacy, in my opinion, should unfold in a relationship along with emotional, inelllectual, spiritual imtimacy. Having a sense of the financial person you are in a relationship with is part on getting to know who that person is. This knowledge can also be a portend of ultimate relationship success.

Is your partner overly materialistic? What is your partners' attitude about money? What are their financial goals? How do they spend their money and on what? Are they in debt? How much? Why? Being able to openly talk about money and finance is a good indicator of the real quality of your realtionship. If this is a persistently uncomfortable topic, particularily if there are plans for a long term relationship or marriage, then there are probably other things needing reassesment as well.

I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of those in The FLOW community have had with financial intimacy??

Despite our pleasant material acquisitions/ suroundings, many people experience dissatisfaction in their relationships and their lives. As humans, our requirements cannot be fulfilled with material things alone.
And in such a pursuit, how does it impact our connections with each other?

What is the path beyond material exisitence? And how is that path in service of a deeper understanding of who we are, and the affect on our relationships?