Deep down where soul, spirit, heart, mind, and my will, meet, I have a magnificent gift – the instinctual, God-given, desire for intimacy. Togetherness. It comes with my humanity. 

I want to be intimate, to belong, to be part of a family, groups, teams. 

I don’t want to be alone. I want to know others and be known by others. 

This desire whispers, sometimes shouts, for recognition, especially when my equally powerful instinctual desire for autonomy has enjoyed its pleasures. 

I want to be heard and treasured as a companion and friend. I want to be an integral part of the lives of close family and friends. I want to be fearlessly open with a handful of loving friends and for them to be equally open with me. 

If I repeatedly ignore this primal, instinctual, inborn urge, this beautiful part of me, I place my emotional well-being and physical health at risk for I was ot designed to be alone. 

This beautiful gift, integral to my humanity, is inextricably part of who I am. 

Acknowledging it, respecting it, enjoying it, enhances my capacity to love myself, love others, and become fully, beautifully, more human.