Saturday, February 04, 2006

Challenges of long-distance love and intimacy

For Beliefnet, Thomas Moore responds to How to keep intimacy alive when work calls for two different countries? The letter writer and her husband have been married for two years and see each other every six months for about one or two months. In his response, Moore includes,
"You might also consider that when people who are intimately involved with each other have to communicate at a distance, fantasy has a lot of room to cause mischief. People begin to imagine all kinds of things about each other."
He says,
"Clear, stark, honest, plain language, even if it is about your confusion, may clear up some of the tangled feelings and provide the emotional basis for making some practical decisions."
Moore concludes,
"You can have complicated feelings and still speak clearly. You can be loving and also firm."
Readers are invited to post their reactions to the question and Moore's response. Be the first.