May 16

Here is my daily meditation from Answers in the Heart:

• MAY 16 • I’m going to turn on the light, and we’ll be two people in a room looking at each other and wondering why on earth we were afraid of the dark. — Gale Wilhelm

Once we honestly acknowledge that our addiction to sex robbed us of our ability to be intimate, we are faced with the task of redefining intimacy and rethinking our attitudes and values about sex. Then we have to meet the challenge of restoring our sexuality to its rightful place in our life and forming intimate relationships. There are many levels and kinds of intimacy. We used to think the only kind that mattered was sexual, but now we know we have a deep need to be intimate with ourselves, with God, with other people, and with life itself. Our part in being intimate is simple; it’s the ability to relate appropriately to the circumstances at hand. If we’re working, we do our best. If we’re talking with someone, we give that person our full attention. If we’re hungry, we eat healthily. Intimacy is participating fully, and in the present, in whatever it is we’re doing. It means opening ourselves to all of our emotions, to joy, to reality. It means opening ourselves to life.

I can be intimate as much as I give myself wholeheartedly to the present.