Favorite Inspiring Quotes
Create Intimacy
Commentary by Peter Shepherd

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia
Too much of our daily life tends to lack the intimacy of empathic communication, so when we do experience it, it's very life-affirming. And as Shakti Gawain says, “My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.”
“Although we seem to be separate individuals, in reality we are all expressions of one primal imagination. We assume we are many, but in fact we are one. And what we do to each other we do to ourselves.” ~ Timothy Freke
Love is what we feel when we realize we are one - separate players in the game of life but joined together in essence, sharing our space. Intimacy is not purely physical. It's the act of connecting with someone so deeply, you feel like you can see into their soul.
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” ~ Albert Einstein
We're so influenced by the cultural trance and conforming to expectations of others, and tied to our own safe solutions and fixed ideas, and suppressing of true feelings that conflict, so that contacting life directly with our soul becomes rare. But we can change that.
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Article about creating intimacy...
Sustainable Intimacy in Relationships - by Alison Poulsen, Ph.D.
Many people confuse intimacy with closeness. Intimacy does not thrive where there is too much all-accepting, all-validating closeness with another person. In order to develop greater intimacy, then, we need to stop limiting ourselves due to fear of our partner's reactions. Once we can tolerate the discomfort of their reactions, we no longer need to feign agreement, laugh at a poor joke, wear the ugly dress, or dumb down our conversation to avoid upsetting our partner. Continues...