Ever notice how intense the drive toward ever greater intimacy is as a couple is first getting to know one another? Most songs and movies focus on this phase. That’s because there is so much energy expending it getting to know one another, getting closer to one another, opening up and exploring each other’s mysteries. It’s an exciting time.
In many ways, this phase is similar to going to Disney World. It’s very exciting, but you can’t live there. Eventually, you will have to ‘come home’ to the real world, experiencing the daily routines of life.
Unfortunately, for many couples, as the excitement of those early encounters begin to wane, the thought emerges that love is also waning. This would be true, if love was all about emotion. But maturing love is so much more than emotions, which have a tendency to ebb and flow for everyone.
Maturing intimacy, similar to maturing love, is something that unfolds over time, as a couple is able to draw closer and explore more deeply those things that really matter to each of them.
This growing intimacy is most robust in an atmosphere of trust. Trust is the critical fertilizer that allows intimacy to grow.
In many ways, this phase is similar to going to Disney World. It’s very exciting, but you can’t live there. Eventually, you will have to ‘come home’ to the real world, experiencing the daily routines of life.
Unfortunately, for many couples, as the excitement of those early encounters begin to wane, the thought emerges that love is also waning. This would be true, if love was all about emotion. But maturing love is so much more than emotions, which have a tendency to ebb and flow for everyone.
Maturing intimacy, similar to maturing love, is something that unfolds over time, as a couple is able to draw closer and explore more deeply those things that really matter to each of them.
This growing intimacy is most robust in an atmosphere of trust. Trust is the critical fertilizer that allows intimacy to grow.