Hello there,

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ME TALK ABOUT “INTIMACY CARE”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU4ptEl6tc8

As you begin your new week, I invite you to set your intentions for yourself in your intimate relationships.  Intimate relationships include any form of relationship that is significant to you.  These include parent/child; siblings; friends; lovers; significant partner/s; colleagues.

Let’s begin: I invite you to say or write something your intimate person did in the last week that made your life better, or something that you appreciate in your person. And to let your person know.

Then I invite you to write a list of “Things I love about myself”.  And if possible, I invite you to look at yourself in the mirror, really look at yourself, eye to eye.

And finally, I invite you to find the “Silver Lining”.  Silver linings can be found in moments of a day. They are moments that stir your body into awareness of joyful sensations and leave you feeling hopeful and even passionate with purpose.

These 3 practices bring you into feelings of self-love and love of the other. Practice them daily and notice the change that may occur in both your heart and mind. And in turn, notice how your behavior towards yourself and to intimate others, changes for the better.

In my daily work, I am exposed to the suffering of women and their children who are locked up with abusive partners.  And through my learning of the impact of both childhood trauma and PTSD, which occurs with gender-based violence, I am aware of the vital importance of Love as a healer or a destroyer.

Hence my call out to you today to be mindful of love in your intimate relationships.

5 x Ideas on creating healthy love in your intimate life:

  1. Boundaries – Always check in with yourself before agreeing to any intimacy, be it sexual or social: ask your body: ”What do you need right now?”
  2. Daily practice of the 3 A’s:  Expressing Appreciation, Affection, Acknowledgment to yourself, and to an intimate person.
  3. Regular, consistent, and predictable connecting with intimate people in your life.
  4. Regulate your emotions before having a difficult conversation with an intimate person. Do this through one, or a combination, of these practices, namely breathe work, journaling, a walk-in nature, dance movement, Pilates/yoga, music.
  5. Refrain from judging yourself if you are currently in unhealthy unloving intimacies. Just notice.

Feel free to reach out to me via WhatsApp. Anonymity is guaranteed.  Let me know where your anxieties, fears, and worries sit with you. Tell me what is soothing for you.  And what you need in this time of radical uncertainty.

060 890 1062

Feel free to book a teletherapy Zoom session with me right here… https://www.dreve.co.za/appointment/

For more information please contact my PA Shantel: shantel@dreve.co.za

Take care

Marlene #stayhome