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Be Loved for Who You Really Are When we were writing our most recent book, "Be Loved for Who You Really Are," we were aware of just how apt that title and its meaning was/is for our time. Men and women are expecting more from a romantic relationship than ever before in human history. Also, never before have men and women been as free to seek love, a love that they determine to be real on the basis of their own perceptions and feelings. Almost all cultures of the world have believed that romantic feelings were dangerous to developing a family and a stable community because those feelings were out of our control. A man or woman would be "swept away," carried on a torrent of emotion, desire, lust and abandon. So in all cultures, and in many today, marriages were arranged by third parties -- matchmakers, parents, clergy. It was believed that only a third party could make a sound enough decision about who should be mated with whom. As far as the couple was concerned, there was no freedom and their only responsibility was to obey the dictates of their elders. Today we take it for granted that a relationship should:
And we, Judith & Jim, concur. A relationship can be the context for all of the above. And love is nothing if it is not free. But freedom is more than simply a matter of unrestricted choice. Freedom is always coupled with responsibility, in other words, with the impact our choices have on us and those around us. Today, we have almost limitless personal freedom to choose our mate and our lifestyle. What we lack is the training to live with the personal responsibility it takes to mine the riches available within such freedom. However, a real life relationship, based on real love freely chosen, requires lovework -- so that two people:
Being loved for who we really are is what we seek most deeply. But please keep in mind that, even though we are human and assume on that basis, and often on that basis alone, that love is something that comes naturally to us, all of us need to learn about the art of love. Loving, like anything else we do, is an art. If we are to love fully and feel love's full satisfaction, we must learn about what love requires of us and practice, practice, practice! © 2005, The New Intimacy Intimacy is spelled "in to me you see". - Stan Dale I have always made a distinction between my friends and my confidants. I enjoy the conversation of the former; from the latter I hide nothing. - Edith Piaf Husband and
wife psychology team, Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski,
are the bestselling authors of "The
New Intimacy" and
"Opening
to Love 365 Days a Year."
Their latest book is Be
Loved for Who You Really Are: How the differences
between men and women can be turned into the source of the
very best romance you'll ever
know. They provide corporate
trainings on breaking through resistance to success and
relationship workshops about The Magic of
Differences--romance based on respect and value for each
other's unique ways. As guest experts they've been on over
600 television and radio shows including Oprah, The O'Reilly
Factor, 48 Hours, Canada AM, and The View. Visit their
website at www.themagicofdifferences.com
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