Improving Intimacy : 10 Powerful Strategies...A Spiritual Approach. - Softcover

O'Connell, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0962031828 ISBN 13: 9780962031823

Publisher: Sanctuary Unlimited, 2012

Synopsis

O'Connell offers 10 strategies for improving intimacy in order to achieve healthy, loving relationships. OA short, punchy look at love . . . commonsensical advice, along a strong spiritual thread.ON"The Journal," Toronto.

About this title

About the Author

Tom O'Connell is a Christian journalist from Cape Cod...widely recognized health writer, lecturer, educator...listed in 1995-96 Who's Who in the East...member, Secular Franciscan Order (1981--)...In 1978 left post of CEO, Massachusetts Safety Council to follow spiritual path...member, Unitarian fellowship...WRITES A WEEKLY HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE COLUMN FOR CAPE COD JOURNAL...teaches writing at Cape Cod Community College....past president, American Medical Writers Association, New England Chapter...member, Cape Cod Writers' Center...was national correspondent, U.S. Journal of Drug & Alcohol Dependence...wrote a weekly column "On Addiction" in the Cape Cod Times from Jan. 1986 to Dec.1998. Produced the TV series "Understanding Addiction" on C3TV, Cape Cod...SERVED AS COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT TO AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS...also was communications consultant to CATHOLIC CHARITIES of the Archdiocese of Boston, BEECH HILL HOSPITAL in Dublin, New Hampshire, an addiction treatment center, and FAMILY COUNSELING & GUIDANCE CENTERS in the Boston area...ON BOSTON'S CHANNEL 25, HIS PUBLIC AFFAIRS SHOW "IT'S YOUR LIFE" EXPLORED HEALTH AND SPIRITUALITY... In addition to the Sanctuary Unlimited books listed with amazon.com he is also co-author of Biomedical Communication (American Medical Writers Association 1994)...B.A. cum laude, History & Government, Boston College...M.A., History, The Graduate School, Boston University.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Pages 29 - 30...Love doesn't compete and it doesn't control. It frees. It nurtures. It gives. It receives. It celebrates and it listens. It shares. It cares. It laughs. It cries. It expresses and it trusts. It meets you. It's there for you. It risks. It opens itself. It discloses and it affirms. It validates. It understands. It knows you. It protects. It respects and it encourages. It touches. It heals. It commits. And it grows with you.

Love is a work of art created through discipline and concentration; patience and kindness; concern and faith; courage and activity; detachment, looking beyond faults, and meeting needs.

Love doesn't need to compete, and it rests comfortably in its own essence. It doesn't want to beat anybody or win anything. It doesn't want what you have. It isn't in a race. It's not driven by anxiety. And it may exhibit passion, but it is not obsessed or compulsive. It prefers cooperation to competition. Love doesn't need to control. It has no interest in dominating anybody or determining anyone else's existence. It knows that the only control necessary in life is self-control; and that challenge is enough to keep it very busy working on purifying its own heart.

Love does not need to possess or own you. It combines strength and gentleness. It gives affection without demanding or complaining. It makes room for mistakes. It may confront, but it doesn't need to force issues. It tells the truth, but its aim is not to hurt or harm. It is filled with empathy for all.

Love is a gift from God which he put into all creation. We have an abundance of it available to us. And the more we give it away the more it comes to us. The supply is infinite because God's love for us has no limits. So don't waste your energy competing and controlling. Use your energy on useful pursuits like expanding your own ability to love.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sanctuary Unlimited
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0962031828
• ISBN 13: 9780962031823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 60