There are many forms of intimacy - there is the
kind of intimacy between a parent and child, between a therapist
and client, between close friends, between lovers. There are probably
as many types of intimacy as there are people to perceive them.
Intimacy is one of the great mysteries - what makes
it happens, why it feels safe with one person and not another,
how it can change suddenly or gradually. Intimacy can be challenging
and wonderful. It can bring out the best and the worst in us.
Intimate relationship can be frightening, frustrating, and delightful.
So why do we bother? That's part of the mystery. I don't pretend
to have answers, but I have included some poems and quotations
below that may nourish your own contemplations.
Namaste,
(Honor the Light within),
Sue Redding
POEMS BY SUE REDDING
Feeling Our Way
when I touch you
I can feel myself more
when I touch you
I know how alike we are
when we come together
in a sacred way
joining at the skin
I know how large the Universe is
and my heart can hold it all
-
Relationship
are you happy with her
I ask
your lover
your life partner
your wife
happy?
he replies
incredulous and annoyed
happy?
as if it were an alien concept
irrelevant to relationship
unknown in intimacy
yes
I think
happy
joyful
in mutual adoration
the way it was for me
wistful
I hope to hear
about the happiness of others
that it's still possible
that it wasn't a fantasy
something I dreamed
a trick of my memory
magic lost in antiquity
like unicorns
-
First Kiss
my heart was a baby bird
quivering in your gently cupped hands
beginning to stretch her wings
and imagining the possibility of flight
-
Full Moon
if you loved me
as the sun loves the moon
I too would sail high in the sky
shining with pride
for all the world to see
-
Eternal Heart
if I love you
I will lose you
by loving you
I have already lost you
and by loving you
I will carry you eternally in my heart
and never lose you
"The Eskimos had 52 names for snow
because it was important to them.
There ought to be as many for love."
Margaret Atwood
"A consort is someone who initiates us, through intimate
contact,
into certain mysteries we could not penetrate as readily on our
own....
The function of a consort is to help us awaken to the fullness
of our
being...."
John Wellwood, "Journey of the Heart"
"The best and most beautiful things in this world
cannot be seen, or even touched -
they must be felt with the heart."
Helen Keller
"For one human being to love another,
that is perhaps the most difficult task of all...
the work for which all other work is but preparation.
It is a high inducement to the individual to ripen...
a great exacting claim upon us,
something that chooses us out and calls us to vast things."
R. M. Rilke
"When you work, you are a flute,
through whose harp
the whispering of the hours
turns to music.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth."
Kahlil Gibran
"Love increases the mystery of the self and the other.
In love, we learn to respect and adore
what is beyond understanding, grasping, or explanation."
Sam Keen, "Fire in the Belly"
"I have loved, and I have been loved,
and all the rest is just background music."
Estelle Raimi
Bodywork is a specialized type of intimate relationship consisting
of nurturing, non-sexual touch. It requires trust and may include
an emotional bond between therapist and client.
Massage and energy work don't just feel good - they are beneficial
for the psyche, good for sore muscles and joints, nourish the
skin, stimulate circulation, and enhance the immune system. It
is well known that human beings and other mammals need nurturing
touch for physiological and
psychological health. For single people, bodywork can help to
alleviate touch-deprivation. For people with partners, it can
provide a type of touch that may not be available within the context
of the partnership.
My work is to provide therapeutic, relaxing, and
nurturing touch in an atmosphere of safety, confidentiality, and
respect.
Spiral
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