There is something about the term enforced intimacy that makes me laugh. The suggestion is that I am coercing my guest into holding my hand somehow can’t help but make me smile a little. For me it suggests that I am enforcing intimacy upon myself pushing myself to have a 30 minute moment with someone everyday. It perhaps suggests a heavy weighty feeling with the action. The reality in many cases is that the action simply cannot help but offer intimacy though often with great subtlety.

This term led me on to think about the other subtle transformations that might have taken place in me through practicing this ritual everyday. It has offered space for immediate and prolonged reflection from the start of the year. I have noticed differences in the accessing of emotions. A challenge to understand the art of listening. New questions everyday and making myself aware of these. A space to validate what this is, why I might choose to do it and to not be afraid to be amused by it. Time to notice the questions of others. To watch it used by others, asked for and modified by them. To take it for granted and still wake up thinking about it.