From the Book “Come Here Go Away, Stop Running From the Love you Want”
by Dr. Ralph Earle & Susan Meltsner
Follow these five prerequisites for intimacy with your spouse:

1. Trust – Trust is the foundation of intimacy. It is the firm belief in others honest and reliability. It counteracts the fear of being hurt by another person.
2. Self-Worth – The belief that you are inherently lovable, capable and entitled to happiness and assumes others are too. Enables you to appreciate what you have to offer to others.
3. Positive Regard for Others – the flip side of self worth, but for others. Willingness to view others as lovable and capable.
4. Interdependence – The give and take in relationships; the balance that enables one to act independent and operate as a team.
5. Tolerance for conflict, ambiguity and imperfection. If you are able to be tolerant and flexible enough to compromise, you can resolve conflicts in a way that allows others to be themselves even if it’s not the way we wish them to be.

For more information on healthy communication with your spouse or marriage counseling, contact me.