01. Generous Distributors of Intimacy.
Updated: Jun 1, 2020
Welcome to first Red Ink Revival blog post!
Intimacy (both platonic and romantic) is our most fundamental human need.
While modern concepts of LOVE can be limited to CARING FOR someone, INTIMACY is specifically about CONNECTING WITH someone. The ancient concept of LOVE, expressed in Scripture, includes the focused emphasis of our intimate connections.
EPHESIANS 3:19 AMP [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God.
Our psychological, emotional and physiological health is catalyzed by our continued and hopeful experience of intimate connections with God, people and ourselves. Addictions, as well as all maladaptive behaviors, originate in intimacy disorders. Amazingly, without a healthy sense of intimacy we lose the power to execute our desired choices. With a full sense of intimacy, the power to execute choices becomes more “natural” and less conflicted.
Something profound happens when we are generous distributors of intimacy. The same neuropathways are strengthened when we love God, love ourselves and love others. In other words, when we despise others, it will affect the neuropathways of freely loving God. When we ignore God, it will affect our neuropathways of freely loving people. When we fail to express compassion and empathy to Self, it will affect our neuropathways to freely love God and people.
When we are generous with dispensing love, it strengthens the anterior cingulate, a part of the brain that resides in the emotional limbic system. The anterior cingulate has the unique ability to calm the brain’s amygdala, which is where stress, rage and panic are triggered. It also connects to the pleasure centers of the brain giving a emotionally laden sense of contentment, happiness and fulfillment. The three biggest releases prompted by the anterior cingulate are compassion, empathy and gratitude. These aren’t conceptual; they are emotionally experiential.