#intimacy

#intimacy

My wife suffers from health issues that make sex painful. I never pressure her, and her wellbeing is always my top priority, so for years I've "taken care of myself." However, she also isn't a "touchy-feely person," while I love cuddles, holding hands, and kissing. As the years have gone by, I've grown resentful. I feel undesired and unloved. I no longer initiate any sexual moves.

Located in the vibrant neighborhood of Bali, Sipat & Sauh Villa redefines the idea of a rental property by bringing the intimacy and warmth of a private home into a hospitality setting. The client's brief was simple yet challenging: to design a pool villa for rent that feels deeply personal-"homey"-while still making a strong architectural statement. The design began with an exploration of what was missing from most rental villas on the island: the sense of familiarity, softness, and spatial intimacy that makes a house feel lived in rather than staged.

It is impossible to talk about cancer without invoking another Big C: cliche. Illness and pain, journeys and battles, finding appreciation for life while reckoning with death these are the building blocks of cancer stories, at once uniquely devastating and devastatingly common. The poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley, romantic partners for over a decade, took divergent approaches to the Big C. As a writer and editor, Falley strived to eradicate cliche; Gibson, as Falley put it, would instead double down.

Aphids toiled brittle stems as we met the dike to rob snakehead buds of their fruit. I gathered persimmons, podgy maypops. You puckered, sucked seeds, tannins, the half-ripe pulp half-glossy, sicksweet. Down lying in crowds of dry grasses, your warm legs pile beads of sweat. Even our silken fruits offer their wet to afternoon sky. Oh darling, this impartial land has grown strange in our rocky

"Parallel play is when two people do unrelated things together in one space at the same time without really talking to each other," Monica Lynne, a relationship and sex therapist with the dating app Flirtini, told HuffPost. "In romantic relationships, it shows two partners can be in the same space, do their own thing and remain connected through attunement to each other."

Sometimes I wear fluffy cat ears and crawl under Zach's desk while he's writing his thesis. He'll stroke me and say, Do you like that? Do you need anything? It's a way for me to feel safe and turn off my brain for a little while. We live with Zach's grandparents as their carers, and once I forgot to take the ears off.

It looks effortless when done well: hips swaying, bodies gliding in sync-the kind of chemistry that makes onlookers swoon. But take one class, and you'll quickly realize: Oh...this is a masterclass in feeling inadequate. First, there's the proximity issue. You're asked to step into a stranger's arms, chest to chest, and breathe normally. Easier said than done. You become hyper-aware of everything: your posture, your scent, whether your hips are doing that figure-8 thing, up-back-and-down, or more of a "confused washing machine" motion. It's like mindfulness with a side of mortification.

But let me tell you a secret: Sexual problems are rarely about sex itself. They're about the silent scripts we carry: those insidious beliefs, 10 or 12 of them, all variations on the theme of "I'm not good enough." These internal narratives, like shadows in the bedroom, shape how we show up, or fail to, in the dance of intimacy.

"How does it feel?" D'Angelo asks that question - worries it, caresses it, plumbs its unseen depths - no fewer than two dozen times in what might have been his signature hit. A meticulous, slow-to-boil ballad from the R&B singer's 2000 album "Voodoo," "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" is basically a seduction in seven minutes: The song opens with D'Angelo asking a woman to come closer, which because the groove is so spare and his voice such a murmur, she can't help but do.

Ed and Sheena were about to have sex for the first time after their third miscarriage six weeks before. Sheena had recently felt Ed being distant towards her. This made her wonder if Ed's disappointment about their most recent loss was turning into anger. Did Ed silently blame her for their losses? After all, her body had failed to carry through the pregnancies. She hoped that the two of them getting intimate with one another that night would bring them closer together.

The exhibition gathers three strands - haircuts, still lifes, and a storefront - into a single season, a climate of attention for small, ordinary acts. In the haircut series, intimacy is staged at close range: a pair negotiating blades and trust, one seated in vulnerability, the other holding the shears. The vertical format elongates the encounter, turning an ordinary trim into something ritualistic, even a little dangerous. Flesh tones are chalky, almost earthen, as if the body were drawn from the ground.

Seven months before I met Viv, my marriage had just ended and I was having the best sex of my life with a good friend. Mindblowing, incredible sex where I discovered that I was into being demeaned and flogged. The depth of trust required made me feel really safe, turned on and even cared for. Things ended with that friend when she moved abroad. I was still grieving the loss when I matched with Viv on Tinder.

During penis-in-vagina sex, he usually comes within less than 30 seconds of penetration. This has been the case since our very first hookup. When he came so quickly the first time, I was surprised, but he was a "PIV virgin," so I didn't catastrophize. I assumed that with time and desensitization, he would last longer in bed. Well, he hasn't. Ten years later, he still comes within just a few thrusts, and that's when sex ends.

Because I haven't slept with anybody else for decades, my sexual skills don't feel transferable; they are specific to Lisa Lisa and I met at university in 1996, when we were 19. Since I've known her, she's grown from a willowy teenager into a middle-aged woman and I've become a middle-aged man with a belly and a bad back. But a 30-year relationship isn't about how you look.

First figure out what exactly is making intimacy difficult. Is it sheer aesthetics? Is your fear that this person is living an unhealthy lifestyle distracting you? What is the real issue here? She is a grown woman who is allowed to care for herself and her body however she sees fit. Through observations, you have made certain inferences, but if you haven't really had conversations with her about her views on what constitutes fitness, you're just supposing that something is awry.

For many years, Esther Perel has been saying, " Sex isn't something you do; it's a place you go." So far, so good. Absolutely! Sex isn't a "doing" thing, it's a "being" thing. I've been saying this for years. But I've also been adding to her quote: "Sex isn't something you do; it's a place you go. Hopefully together." Because sometimes one person goes to that place and leaves the other behind. There's a disconnection. And that's a problem.

A previous post summarized the many myths about desire differences and the sex- therapy approach to resolving them-using either self-help or professional therapy. The sex-therapy program helps many couples-but not all. Recently, Canadian researchers reported an effective new approach, eight weeks of group therapy that produced significant benefits. It's based on reimagining lovemaking to facilitate sex worth wanting. What if Low Desire Is a Reasonable Response to Lackluster Sex?

Charlotte nearly gets hit by a taxi, Trey swoops in, and-charmingly-asks the cab driver to stop the meter while checking on her. For them, this moment becomes "love at first sight," a fairytale beginning they revisit again and again. It isn't just nostalgia -it's a shared story that anchors their relationship, a romantic origin myth that they both cling to.

But it was in the principal's office that I met the school counselor who changed my life-because among her various interventions on my behalf, she invited me to join a weekly "rap group" made up of fellow students who met in her office, under her direction, to talk about our lives and study our own behavior. It was an invitation I jumped at because I knew a lifeline when I was being thrown one.

This practice is about listening to the body as a source of wisdom and engaging it as a resource for resilience and responsibility. I needed a way to make money that would add energy to my art practice rather than depleting me. Working with others keeps my heart open and informs my artwork subconsciously,

She is currently dealing with serious health issues related to endometriosis. This condition not only affects her physically but has also taken a toll on her emotional well-being. I've been as supportive as possible. I've attended doctor's appointments with her, am helping manage her medications, and have taken on additional responsibilities to lighten her load. I want to be there for her, and I care about her comfort and happiness.

"Working from home doesn't just mean joining meetings in your pajamas and pretending to be productive while online shopping - it also means that spontaneous sex is just a hallway away."

To experience desire for another person, you must feel sexually confident in yourself. Sexual confidence includes having a positive body image and perceiving yourself as a person who could attract others.

The fleeting yet visceral memories Yuhan shared with people they met and the places they came to root in are captured in the dusky, softly fading tones of Kodak Portra 400 and Ultramax.

Marriage requires meeting emotional and practical needs, emphasizing that unmet needs lead to frustration and distance in relationships.