Have you noticed how intimacy has started to occur in sporadic bursts? We schedule, package, and designate it for special occasions. Sometimes, even “deep conversations” are handled like calendar items, something we can only do when we finally have time. This is a reflection of a more general cultural inclination to event-based intimacy, the assumption that closeness is something created by discrete, emotionally charged moments rather than by ordinary, repeated interactions. To put it another way, intimacy is turning episodic instead of ecological. The paradox is that long-term intimacy is not developed through intensity, novelty, or even vulnerability alone, but through micro-processes. This includes moments of responsiveness, attention, and emotional attunement that are often so ordinary that we forget about them. For instance, studies by renowned relationship researcher Dr. John Gottman indicate that couples’ happiness depends less on overtures of love and more on how partners respond to each other’s bids for connection in everyday life. Yet culturally, we keep outsourcing intimacy to events. Here are three common ways we do it, and why they …