What Radical Emotional Intimacy Means to Me

What it is and is not

I first came up with the phrase “radical emotional intimacy” while brainstorming taglines with a dear client-friend of mine (who eventually decided not to use it).

It really hits home for me as the best way I can come up with to help people who have never experienced what I experience be able to imagine what I’m talking about.

In a way, what I mean is just “radical intimacy” or even just “intimacy,” but it’s hard for people not to think about sex when we talk about intimacy, and the degree of emotional intimacy that I share with people IS radical in our current culture.

(In this article I’m going to use the term “partner” to describe the other person in a relationship. This is indicative of the degree of emotional intimacy, not necessarily a definition of the form of the relationship.)

What Radical Emotional Intimacy is NOT:

It’s not sex. Sex is a form of intimacy, but there is certainly sex to be had that is not emotionally intimate for either party.

It’s not radical honesty. From what I understand, radical honesty is where you just say whatever’s on your mind in whatever form it comes. While honesty, transparency and authenticity are some of my strongest…