Nothing is more precious than the rare, exquisite, and utterly unrepeatable essence that is you. When you offer yourself to another human being-by revealing yourself, by disclosing your fears and dreams, the losses that have shaped and transformed you-you give the greatest gift that you can, the gift of your unique essence.

Far from being selfish, true self-disclosure is a miracle of intimacy, for in revealing our tender, intricate inner self, we allow the person to whom we are speaking, to see not only us, but also to see himself, to discover that she is not stranded, all alone with her feelings, lost in the human condition.