Love and relating are core issues in one’s life, yet they often create confusion, pain, and reticence. The roots of these can be found in one’s conditioning during childhood and puberty through biology, family, religion, culture, and society. This influence on one’s early sexual encounters and experiences sets the foundation for one’s capacity for intimacy. The tendency is either to copy and conform or to rebel and react; leaving part of one’s authenticity, integrity, creativity, trust, and freedom behind in the process.