The ability to receive love seems to be a much larger obstacle within many people than has been acknowledged. Most people I've encountered, including myself, don't have real love and intimacy until they are truly open to receiving it. Until that time, they consciously or unconsciously choose partners not capable of intimacy, not available in some way, or they themselves push love away or sabatoge it in some way.

Being able to receive love involves being in good relationship with the love that you are. When this is present, compassion, patience and empathy are available. These are crucial facilitators of love. They help create real pathways from that which might be destructive to love to that which takes those very same pitfalls and alchemizes them into deeper love, real love and intimacy.