#Intimacy

One Memory Against the Weight of Oblivion

Broader literature echoes this logic. In One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), García Márquez’s insomnia plague erodes memory until townspeople label objects—proof that forgetting threatens reality itself. Borges’s “Funes the Memorious” (1942) warns, by contrast, that total recall is a prison; meaning requires selection and care. Proust’s madeleine in In Search of Lost Time (1913) shows how a single, vivid recollection can restore a self. Murakami’s line aligns with these witnesses: the right memory, held by the right person, anchors existence. [...]

How Simple Living Clears the Path to Love

Building on this, evidence links external clutter to internal strain. Saxbe and Repetti (2010) found that overwhelmed home environments predicted elevated cortisol and lower mood across the day, the very states that fray intimacy. Likewise, ego depletion research (Baumeister et al., 1998) shows that excess decisions drain self-control; decision fatigue makes patience and curiosity harder to access. A small, human example clarifies it: a couple who halved their weeknight commitments discovered they no longer argued about chores near midnight. The chores did not change—only their mental load did. With less noise, they could meet each other with humor, not hurry. Simplifying space and schedule reduces the background stress that sabotages affection before it has a chance to speak. [...]

In a Corner of the Soul - Anonymous

This quote underscores the lasting impact that moments of love and affection can have on a person, suggesting that such moments are preserved and remembered forever. [...]