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Lennon and McCartney agreed at 16 to put both their names on every song they wrote

Boys are often socialized in hierarchy and competition. This limits their later intimacy in relationships.

Many couples unconsciously rank each other's value in a 95/70 dynamic.

You can be only as happy in a relationship as your least happy partner.

Co-authored by Galit Romanelli

I fell in love with the Beatles as a kid. Starting with Twist and Shout, like every other kid. As a teenager, it was the Sgt. Pepper psychedelic, mysterious, trippy feel that drew me. And since then, I keep rediscovering them every couple of decades.

Now in my fourth decade, I am a couples therapist discovering them again. This time it is not because of their music but because of one decision they made before any of the music existed.

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney were teenagers, long before the fame and the screaming crowds, they made an agreement. Everything either of them wrote would carry both names. Not Lennon. Not McCartney. Both.

It didn't matter who wrote the verse or the bridge, the lyrics or the music. Both names went on it. They shook on this at 16, and they kept it.

Think about who these two men were. Two of the most talented songwriters who ever lived, each one able to write a complete song without the other. Each of them was whole. They chose to share the credit anyway.

That is rare. It is especially rare between two........

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