Better Humans

Better Humans is one of the largest and oldest Medium’s publications on self-improvement and personal development. Our goal is to bring you the world’s most helpful writing on human potential.

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The 3 Types of Intimacy & the Science on How to Tap Into the Deepest One

May Pang
Better Humans
Published in
11 min readMar 20, 2025

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Created by the author on Midjourney

Something odd happened to me a few years ago, I met three different people named Damien in the same week.

As I telling a friend about each of these encounters, she kept getting them confused. So, I spontaneously came up with a nickname for each one which ended up being Robot Damien, Sensual Damien, and Empath Damien.

As we chuckled over the nicknames, I couldn’t stop wondering why my brain had chosen those specific words to describe each person. I had experienced a deep sense of intimacy in each of those connections, but they felt wildly different.

Eager to understand how I could recreate all three experiences, I applied my biomedical science training and dove into the research.

What I learned completely transformed the way I connect with people. I discovered that each of those interactions had activated a distinct neural pathway — and that I didn’t have to find these connections, I could recreate them at will.

Importantly, the science confirmed what I had intuitively sensed: one of those connections was significantly more powerful than the others, not just emotionally, but…

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Better Humans
Better Humans

Published in Better Humans

Better Humans is one of the largest and oldest Medium’s publications on self-improvement and personal development. Our goal is to bring you the world’s most helpful writing on human potential.

May Pang
May Pang

Written by May Pang

Combining Storytelling with Science. Communication & Connection Coach. Would love to hear from you!💗may@mojomint.com 💙 www.mojomint.com. Based in Boulder, CO.

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