Seeking more partner-seeking

This is embarrassing. I'm going to tell you why I like my partner, and why I like having a partner.

I was just biking down Baltimore Ave. and passed Ellen walking the other way. We had a microscopic interaction that left me smiling.

Ellen and I both work 4 day weeks at PCA. We do three days together, and then each of us works one day alone, so that patients have 5 days of treatment times to choose from.

Today's the day Ellen works and I don't. I had just stopped by PCA to write myself a check and pick up some notes, while Ellen was on her way in to work her shift. I was moving along about as fast as you'd want to go on a potentially icy bike path, so I didn't wave or slow down or even turn my head much towards her when I went by. I probably had her in my sight for a total of 3 or 4 seconds, but a whole lot got communicated between us in that time.

Ellen gives off such a clear energy impression at any moment. From half a block away, it wasn't her face I recognized. It was an unmistakable walk, made of commitment and purpose combined with gracefulness, and the way she takes up vertical space, in a Ling Shu kind of way, that jumped into my eyes out of the gray white December light. If you take that walk and apply it to preparing to treat 20 people, that's what I saw and connected to.

By the time I was catching her eyes, she was already smiling and saying hello, having obviously seen me coming a world of moments before I saw her. With the kind of efficiency and joy that can only happen spontaneously, we exchanged some pertinent info with a few passing words, and then kept moving.

There went my awesome partner, I thought, who I totally like and trust, going to open up our clinic on my day off.

She understands and communicates things really quickly. She's got a super strong presence. She's really fun to be around. She's a hard worker who's also a mom of a 2 year old, so really not much throws her. But, she's also open to being amazed and surprised and awed. She's a damn good acupuncturist and herbalist, and her patients love her, even though and maybe because she doesn't put up with any guff.

Now, before I get even more embarrassed and give Ellen a head to big to keep balanced on her "spiritual axis", I'd like to say that my point is really not that she's a wonderful person. Although, this IS true, and I really REALLY lucked out.

My point is that I love having a true partner, that our partnership is vital to our successes, and that I hope people keep reaching out to each other to build community acupuncture clinics as a team.

The thing is, we still don't even know each other all that well, personally; and that's just fine. What we do know well about each other are the things that are important to doing community acupuncture. We met through this website and because of this movement. Our strong working relationship tells me that the ideas we're all talking about, the way we're all changing acupuncture in the U.S., it's all on the kind of solid ground that brings people closer together and makes our lives better.

Getting to like your partner is just one of the things you get when you HAVE a partner. It turns out that many of the tasks for which I don't have great attention, Ellen does. And, vice versa.

None of us can do everything. Some of us thought we could when doing private practice acupuncture. But, there are so many aspects to a CA clinic running smoothly. And, they all need a lot of focus and either expertise or true enthusiasm.

Ellen has a very different set of skills and orientations than me; and, it looks like this makes for a good team. As an example, one of us is thrilled with organizing and executing efforts at community outreach, while the other likes and is comfortable with the accounting and financial aspects of the business.

With community acupuncture, building and maintaining a lot of community connections is not just something you hope to have time for when you're done practicing. It's actually of equal importance, inseparable. And, in this context, who wouldn't want to work with at least one other interesting practitioner who connects with people in a different way than he or she?

Then, there's treating people. During a five hour shift, it's sometimes true that Ellen and I barely speak. If we're treating 30 or so people, then we might not have a single conversation 'till the end of the night. But, just like our passing on the street, we utter plenty with a look, or a sigh or laugh.

For me, this provides an important balance of attention, where otherwise, my mind can get stuck DOING things TO patients or, even worse, FOR patients. Having another person walking around between the recliners is a reminder that everyone in the room, not just me, has a job, their own struggles and strengths, and is equally human and equally important here. With a partner there, it's harder for me to make the mistake of feeling the flow of qi as one-way, and easier for me to notice how we're all a big steaming pot of rice.

So, here's to one bad-ass partner, and to others finding theirs.