‘How can you have intimacy without hearts speaking to each other?’ — Rumi

How is it possible to have intimacy with anyone without speaking from your heart?  Listen to your heart. Enjoy music that touches your heart. Feel your heart beating and speak from your heart when in conversations with others. You will see quickly whether the other person is present with you. If not, move on to those who can join you in true honest conversation.

Daily situations give rise to human intimacy. For example, when the person at the drive through hands you your coffee, you can make eye contact and thank the person from a place of gratitude, remembering he or she is a human being with feelings, family, and fears just like your own. A quick exchange like this can be intimate because the source is the heart of humanity.

In your more intimate relationships such as those with your family and life partner, if your hearts stop speaking due to fear, anger, anxiety, greed, resentment, or disappointment, you may become distant and your hearts will yearn for that connection. I believe we search for that connection and that is why we smile at newborn babies, play with puppies and kittens, and enjoy beautiful soulful poems or songs.

We are human beings with beating hearts. Let us not forget that, especially in a time when we look for role models in this country who speak from their heart and soul with honest integrity. We are challenged to do this now. Come back to your heart. It is beating. It is alive. It is the source of love and life.