Intimate Relationship

How much of your attention and energy is spent on an intimate relationship? If you have a relationship you may be devoting a lot time on your partner, and if you do not have a partner your longing might be taking up even more time. Many of us of have incurred our greatest pain in relationships. I just watched "The Notebook" again for about the third time. In short the film is about a wife who has dementia and a husband who is devoted to her remembering so he recites a book about their love story. She remembers. 

I spent some time thinking about why my heart felt so connected to this story, and ALL love stories, and why I wept for what they shared. As with most love stories they shared playfulness, devotion, loyalty, conflict, passion, and a person who will be there until the very end. The interesting thing about what they shared is also available to us through the love of a child, the love of a friendship, the love of an animal, the love of clients, etc...the feelings are not reserved for an intimate relationship. Pick up the classic "The Art of Loving" to see the authors various categories of love. The shift to thinking in a broader sense allows us to be fully present to all of life's happenings. And just when you are loving who knows what or "who" can show up.