Transgender - The Transamorous Network

August 25, 2020September 8, 2020

Letters@The Transamorous Network

Editor’s note: In this series, we’ll highlight conversations with our readers/viewers. We think folks will benefit from these conversations. All names are made up to protect everyone’s privacy:

I feel bad. I see myself in a similar situation in the future. I am just too scared to meet with trans women. And I have been denying this for years and dating cis-women.

I’ve sometimes seen profiles in dating apps that emerged between cis women and stayed there reading and wanting to swipe right on that trans girl, but ended up swiping left as my anxiety and fear would make things too hard.

At the same time I feel it’s unfair for the poor cis women I’ve dated in the past, although with some of them I’ve had a strong romantic attraction.

Jeb

Hey Jeb,

I once was there. I denied it for years. I didn’t fully embrace my trans attraction and let go of my fear and shame for a while. But then it got too unbearable not being fully myself.

I remember at the time dating a cis-girl. I went over to her house. She was the VP of an insurance company. Very smart. Pretty. Capable. Lovely.

But my desire for transgender women – which is a strong part of who and what I am – exerted itself. I felt great discomfort standing simultaneously in the reality where I was with this capable cis-girl, and the reality I knew was possible, a reality I call “having it all”.

So there I was, at her house. We were just chatting about nothing when all of a sudden, it came out of me. I blurted out “[her name], I can’t do this anymore. I love transgender women. I always have. I have to pursue that.”

I don’t remember what happened next. But I’m so happy I did that. The Transamorous Network, my current experiences…all of it…has come from that.

So really, my fear was more about being “out” about my trans attraction to myself than to others. Back then, my outer reality, the way I lived, matched my inner reality. I was miserable inside.

Now that those two are in synch I no longer feel fear or denial or misery. I feel the pleasure of integration and knowing, and confidence about the goodness of my desire.

You can have this too, Jeb. And you will. When you’re ready.

TTN

August 4, 2020September 8, 2020

Letters@The Transamorous Network

Transwomen are not women. I wish we would stop saying that. That is INAUTHENTIC! I’m not dogging the attraction to transgender MTF – I’m just calling a spade a spade. They are NOT women. Maybe calling them that makes them and the men attracted to them feel better. But, I’m sorry, as a natal woman, I can say unequivocally, they are not women. That being said, your article has helped me as my husband is transattracted and I have known for a long time that I can’t meet his needs. Thank you for validating that.

Marcia

Hi Marcia!

You’re welcome Marcia. Yes. My wife couldn’t meet my needs as well. That didn’t make her bad or wrong. That’s just what was. What I learned from my marriage was she was a wonderful clarifier of what I really wanted. So our marriage was good for me. Perhaps you can see from a standpoint of the love you feel for him, that benefit you offer your husband.

It’s interesting. I participate in a discussion group of varied gendered people. When talking with both trans “men” and trans “women”, they revealed that they find being among cis-women and cis-men, now that they have transitioned, as very challenging. They find cis-people (men and women) far more distinct from them than they originally thought. It’s challenging acknowledging the accuracy of what you’re saying though because many, many, MANY transgirls want so bad to find a place to “fit in” rather than finding satisfaction and joy in their own distinctness, being as something different from both man or woman. It’s not as homogenous as you would think though. For there are, indeed, some transgirls who acknowledge that they are not “women”.

It’s all about the stories people are telling, right?

Until that unwillingness to accept themselves goes away, it’s going to be challenging doing away with this conversation. Part of our work at The Transamorous Network is having people authentically embrace who and what they are. For some, it’s a very long road. Glad we could help you chart your path.

TTN

July 14, 2020

How Getting What You Want Works

Editors note: we’re borrowing this story from our sister organization Positively Focused because it is so good.

My 1:1 clients show how easy getting what they want is. After just five sessions, the Universe demonstrated to KJ here how he creates his own reality, thereby getting what he wanted – a table saw – in the most delightful way.

I know, and my clients are increasingly knowing, when I tell stories about things the way I want to see them, my life shapes itself to those better story versions.

But it’s not magic. There’s a process. Once mastered, it makes living fun. KJ here is on the way to mastery.

I know everyone can live life happy. Everyone can have all they want. By telling the right stories, one realizes life is supposed to be not only fun, but also include desire after desire being fulfilled. I show my clients how to have this kind of life.

Doing this is fun for me because I have this life. I love seeing the Universe, acting to confirm my stories, as it coordinates events so that everything I want, large and small, comes into my reality.

“Everything” includes clients who love this way of living, like KJ here, coming into my life so we can play together as we both get what we want.

June 30, 2020

Heterosexuality And Trans Attraction

NOT_GAY — Photo by Brian Kyed on Unsplash

Labels are like too tight pants. Have you ever gained weight, then tried to pull on pants that no longer fit? It’s uncomfortable, right? Belly and love handles spill over belt loops like foamy beer overflowing a stein.

I spoke with a trans-attracted man recently who claimed heterosexual as his label. He came to me like many trans-attracted men, stressed out. So much so he stressed his straightness to me, holding it before him like a shield in hopes it would deflect that super scary label: gay.

I explained to him problematic features labels come with. Labels, I said, offer boundaries far too narrow, so narrow they restrict everyone’s humanity. Like a collective pair of too tight pants.

Boundaries separating “straight” from “gay” restrict in the extreme, especially in men. One whiff of suspicion triggers some straight men so profoundly they resort to violence. That’s how uncomfortable such labels are.

This guy, Trevor I’ll call him, struggled with his heterosexuality while facing his attraction to Pre-Op transgender women. I told him he had nothing to fear about being gay because most traditional gay men wouldn’t find transgender women attractive, not because they are women, but because they aren’t men. Not in any sense that a gay man would usually find attractive.

Weezies comment — Gay men aren’t interested in being with trans women. Because they (trans women) aren’t men.

This eased Trevor’s mind a little. Then something funny happened that wasn’t funny in the moment, but reflecting on the conversation after the fact made me smile.

Visibly relieved, Trevor and I next talked about how he could explore his trans attraction. He had never been with a transgender woman, wanted to try it, but didn’t know how or where.

I never encourage men to go after such explorations. Especially when they feel like Trevor – insecure, shame-filled and nervous – because stories triggering such feelings are so strong, one is bound to have unsatisfying experiences. Experiences like this:

Drama — *A client navigating his trans attraction.*

When a man feels shame and embarrassment about his trans attraction, those feelings tell him he’s on the way to meeting someone matching that state, and what will happen next won’t be fun. But most men don’t know this.

Rather than pursuing anything, I suggest the man exercise patience while sorting out his stories. In doing so, he will naturally attract trans women into his experience. The more secure he gets in his stories, the higher quality women he will meet. And, searching becomes unnecessary, nor do costly websites. Instead, the women will come to him.

My case is a good example. In recent weeks, I’ve met an Army company commander who now works at Google who is trans, a former data and communications tech who is trans, and two successful business owners who are trans.

What I offer works, you see.

Anyway, as I worked with Trevor, helping him ease his anxieties, he suddenly said something interesting.

“Now I’m thinking about wanting to try sex with men.”

That didn’t surprise me at all. This statement explains why labels unnaturally confine human experience. These thoughts Trevor entertained about sex with men were normal.

You see, humanity in general comes to earth to explore, play and delight in wide varieties of experiences. Sexual experiences along with every other experience are all within bounds.

When a person rigidly clings to labels and subscribes to their limits, stories associated with that clinging not only restrict what that person knows will delight them, stress between what the person knows and what the person believes creates stories which in turn create all kinds of mental turbulence…and realities matching that turbulence.

What’s interesting is how calmly Trevor accepted this new thought. He sat there thinking about it, tried to deny it only for a moment, then let it pass. I know this was the authentic Trevor, the eternal being here for the fun of exploration, I was now talking with.

So I told Trevor what I knew he was ready to hear; that he is an eternal being free of any label and delightfully eager to explore all kinds of life experiences. And, in that delight and play, he positively influences people around him and the world in general, which is exactly what Trevor knew he would do when he decided to incarnate. I told him his trans attraction, if pursued, would extend into the future a path so exhilarating, exciting and satisfying that he would not only relish his unfolding life, he would positively affect the lives to those around him.

That resonated with him, I know. But almost as soon as he acknowledged what I said, that too tight label reasserted itself and I felt Trevor get uncomfortable. Before that though, he said something else:

“I love you.” Yes, he said that to me.

That didn’t surprise me either. At the bottom of all this life stuff, we are flowing love eager to love. I know when I freed myself of the confines of any label, my love flowed and continues to flow, just like Trevor’s did in that brief second.

Which is enough. For once your eternal love shines through, there’s no going back. Only forward. Including embracing your trans attraction.

June 16, 2020

Trans attraction and Knee “Jerks”

A client recently worried about how much her life changed since working with The Transamorous Network. She worried she had become so positive, she wouldn’t relate to her transgender friends, most of whom are negative, angry and bitter.

She also worried about whether she would find a partner. She felt so far from where she was before working with us that she wouldn’t be able to relate to “normal” men.

Her happiness, her positivity does set her apart. But is that really a problem?

Life experience matches beliefs. For many trans and trans-attracted people, that can bring love and fun and happiness. It also can bring anguish, fear, disappointment and discouragement.

Unless a person looks at what they’re thinking, life seems random, bringing a little bit of everything, good and bad. Depending on one’s dominant perspective, life generally gets better, stays the same, or gets worse.

When a person starts looking at what they’re thinking though, then does something about that, shaping their experience however they want becomes possible, consistent with the laws of physics, of course. A person may not fly like superman in their physical body, for example, but they can experience leaving their body and flying none the less.

Clueless reactions

It’s fascinating watching people react to posts we publish here at The Transamorous Network. It’s instructive too, because, when a person reacts, especially when the reaction is extremely negative, they aren’t reacting to some objective truth about our post. Instead, they’re reacting to their story about our post.

Take this exchange below, for example. This person knows nothing about The Transamorous Network, yet had a severe, knee jerk reaction to the title of a post we recently published: “Trans attraction is an adventure“.

I understand her upset. There are lots of trans women who share her opinion about trans-attracted men, about fetishization, and anger about being fetishized.

I know every story about every subject is never about the subject. It’s always about the story – the interpretation the observer makes about the subject. Stories will always create realities consistent with themselves.

So when a person acts like a jerk, like the person in the picture, that person is showing others the story they’re telling: an unpleasant one.

The real story

This post she’s telling a story about described an exchange I had with a young man struggling with his trans attraction. I told him his trans attraction is an adventure he came into life eager to have. Every life experience can be seen this way, I told him. Life is supposed to be fun, filled with love, happiness and joy.

But if a person looks to other people for advice and guidance, people who don’t know that life is an adventure, that person will get lives like those he seeks advice from. That’s not a good idea, I told him.

This trans woman didn’t bother to read the article. She interpreted the post’s title from her own stories then had a knee jerk reaction to it. She thinks the article is saying “trans women are the adventure”, which has nothing to do with the article.

It’s not much different from men who, struggling with their trans attraction, have knee jerk reactions to their own stories, stories that trigger within them shame and embarrassment, then do things that trans women don’t like. Such behavior makes them looks like jerks too.

When a man doesn’t want to meet in public, or ghosts a trans woman after spending months with her on instagram, that’s what is happening. His behavior is not about the trans woman. It’s about him and his stories.

But some trans women make it personal, then lose their cool. When they lose their cool, they set up future experiences just like the one they’re knee-jerking about.

Later, they see a post headline and lose their cool again, all the while not knowing they’re creating more experiences exactly like the last. Experiences that reinforce their disempowering story.

If there is a jerk in their story, it’s not the trans-attracted man. It’s the trans woman interpreting the guy’s actions as if they’re personal. They are not! She’s being a jerk to herself!

Unworthiness runs rampant

Many people tell stories that make them feel unworthy. They’re being jerks to themselves instead of loving themselves. There are a lot of people out there who believe they aren’t worthy of….well…a lot of things, including love and being loved. These are strong stories and when triggered, create strong reactions, which perpetuate more experiences consistent with themselves. In other words, if a person feels they’re not worthy of love, they’re going to see every relationship through that lens.

If a trans woman believes all trans-attracted men fetishize them, then they’re only going to experience fetishization, even when that’s not happening.

Back to my client: I encouraged her not to worry. The world is a big place and the Universe can deliver any experience. A person who tells positive stories develops positive expectations. Those expectations must be satisfied by the Universe. That’s just how it works. So a trans woman believing all trans-attracted men fetishize will only meet men who fetishize her. And my client will meet men consistent with her stories too.

Everyone gets what they think about most. That’s why I don’t worry about my client. She’s going to meet her match. I don’t worry about knee-jerk trans women either.