Interpersonal relationships are essential to our lives. Nobody can live isolated on her/his own. Relationships are masterpieces. And those who mould them are the artists. It needs skills to build a meaningful and fruitful relationship. Two qualities are basic for this to happen: closeness and intimacy.

By closeness we mean the experience in which a person is more aware of the other than her/his own needs. While it is encouraging that one is more focused and tries to lovingly respond to the other's needs, ideally speaking it would be more beneficial if there would be a balance between the giving and receiving between the persons involved in the relationship.

On the other hand, a relationship evloves into intimacy when the two persons are together and each one of them becomes more aware of herself/himself than they actually are of the other person.

Intimacy invigorates and deepens one's self in the presence of the significant other. The power of an intimate experience rests with the fact that you are more conscious of who you are within the parameters of that relationship than outside of them.

When taken into a balanced mode the twin solid grounds of any meaningful relationship, namely closeness and intimacy, help us more to live a thriving life, precisely by caring for ourselves and others.