Saturday, April 30, 2022
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Love at first sight is easy to understand. It’s when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle. — Sam Levenson
True intimacy introduces us to ourselves. A loving relationship is the greatest therapy. When we first fall in love, we are filled with optimism. We cling to all the best qualities of the person we fall in love with, and we look past those things we don’t like. But an intimate partnership takes us further than we’ve been before.
Most of us fall in love and soon find ourselves in over our heads. We haven’t had experience in sustaining openness and vulnerability. We may gradually begin to feel too exposed. The relationship tests our ability to trust someone who has this much access to our inner self. We become cranky or overly sensitive. We may test our partner’s love by asking, “If you love me, will you do such and such?” We begin to try to control our partner so we don’t feel so vulnerable. All these temptations are holdover behaviors from our less mature selves. So we must reach for our more mature selves and trust that we can survive being so vulnerable.
Today, I will turn to my Higher Power for guidance in going forward in trust while being vulnerable.
Hazelden Foundation
