I invite you to practice intimacy. You may think, does he mean “practice making love?” Yes, but not with your body. I invite you to practice making love with the way you listen. How? Locate the center of your listening, which will be in the softest part of your heart. Go there and open the center of your listening like a window, so that whatever you listen to can enter you and touch you. For to practice intimacy is to practice letting things touch you. It begins with opening and receiving. What flows from being this open is showering what you listen to with care, attention, and acceptance. These efforts—to open and receive, to care, attend, and accept—renew our kinship with other life, which is always there. To be intimate with life is to love everything out of hiding.
A Question to Walk With: Describe what intimacy means to you. Do you have enough true intimacy in your life? How would your describe the intimacy you with yourself, with a loved one, and with life itself?
This is from my book coming out in Sept, Falling Down and Getting Up.
You can follow Mark on Facebook and Instagram.
For more information about Mark’s books and upcoming events, visit MarkNepo.com and ThreeIntentions.com.
Information about his upcoming webinars, can be found at Live.MarkNepo.com.
Sept 8-10: Mercy by the Sea, Madison, CT, Falling Down and Getting Up: The Practices That Keep Us Human. (web link)
Sept 15-17: The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, Falling Down and Getting Up — Discovering your Inner Resilience and Strength. (web link)
Nov 9-12: Santa Sabina Center, San Rafael, CA, Four-Day Retreat, Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity. (web link)
Jan 7-13, 2024: Global Journeys, Guanacaste Costa Rica, Saying Yes to Life: The One Life We’re Given — A Weeklong Retreat. (web link )
Feb 5-10, 2024: Modern Elder Academy, Baja, Mexico, Falling Down and Getting Up: Discovering Your Own Resilience and Strength (web link)
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