Sunday, December 06, 2009

intimacy defined

In the midst of an otherwise thoroughly depressing article in the NY Times Sunday Magazine about the limits of marriage counseling, is this gem of a sentence that I will now carry with me (slightly modified so that it will make sense out of context):

Intimacy begins when one person expresses revealing feelings;
intimacy builds when the listener responds with support and empathy; and
intimacy is achieved when the (initial) discloser hears this support and empathy and feels understood, validated and cared for.

I think that is very well stated.

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