My partner Jeff and I are currently reading the book “Where To Draw The Line” by Anne Katherine, which discusses boundaries. We found a great checklist of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” in the chapter about boundaries that protect intimacy, and we wanted to share it with you.
If you want to have a truly intimate relationship, it takes effort, care, and empathy. Breaching boundaries can erode intimacy and cause the good things about a trusting relationship to fall apart.
We found the advice in this book so helpful that we’re printing out the checklist and putting it on our refrigerator. We hope it can help you too.
Intimacy Skills:
- Notice when others extend themselves for you
- Appreciate gifts of time, effort, money, energy, attention, and thoughtfulness
- Take responsibility for communicating your needs
Boundaries are more than just a list of rules, but having a starting point like this list can spark important conversations with the people you’re trying to be intimate with, or with a therapist. I highly recommend reading the entire book by Anne Katherine.
For more on boundaries, I’m releasing an unpublished manuscript called The Boundaries Handbook for my paid subscribers on Substack. You can read more about boundaries and support my writing for as little as $5/month. Thank you for your support!
