Ava the baby was born love... not in love, or giving or getting love, but as love. This baby/love didn't express herself as a smile, a kiss or a hug. Those are expressions of the language of love we learn as our intellect develops. But love precedes intellect, and somehow as we gain the power of thought and speech, our language sets up an interface and to some extent actually separates us from the core of what we are: love.

Then, as we come in contact with rejection, guilt, blame, frustration and anger, we are further separated from what we are: love.

I look at love using my meager tools of thought and words, groping for feelings through a fog of fear, setting myself the task of returning to love. The baby is my teacher, my goal. I know I'll never get back to that love I was as an infant... the love I sense when in the presence of Ava. But I'm more excited by the voyage than the expectation of arrival.

So what takes me out of love, and what brings me closer? Powerful questions. Safety is fundamental. I can find safety in isolation, in erecting walls and defenses. But that kind of safety separates me from love. How can I create for myself a safety that embraces love? How can I find ways to trust AND be vulnerable?

There are skills I can acquire... noticing skills, communication skills, skills to identify ways I abandon my needs, ways I'm unclear about my boundaries, ways I forego my responsibility for myself and take on responsibility for others... and skills to improve.

These are some of the issues The Human Awareness Institute (HAI) deals with, and are the main issues examined in a two and a half hour mini-workshop I lead called "Introduction to Intimacy". It is comprised of a handful of communication exercises designed to offer a sense of what a HAI workshop is. Hundreds of people have taken this free introduction, and since HAI came to Canada three years ago many have gone on to attend the HAI Level One held in Stouffville, Ontario each Spring.

Diana and I will be leading an

Intro this Sunday, February 10th up here in the Hockley Valley. We'd love you to participate. It starts (promptly) at 2 PM and goes to 4:30. It's a gentle, loving, and for many a powerful experience of exploration and discovery. The atmosphere is deeply respectful and non-manipulative. Participants are at choice, from moment to moment, 100% of the time. How could it be otherwise if we're to explore what intimacy and love mean for us?

If you'd like to attend the Intro, please call me at 519 925 2157 or email eric@ericnagler.com. It's open to anyone fourteen or over, singles, couples, whatever. eric@ericnagler.com