[ Matt nods in turn, brightening. And he considers both the answer to the question and how best to phrase it. ]

In terms of what I've noticed ...

I'd say I have what you might call breakthroughs, or maybe affirmations, when I've been really working with my rose quartz. Things like "people don't have to understand me perfectly for me to open up to them" or "the world won't end if somebody betrays my trust." Just little things. Assumptions I don't even know I'm making.

[ He lifts his glass for another prolonged sip. In some ways, saying any of this out loud to another person he doesn't know that well is, itself, a sign of his enhanced ability to trust. What he isn't quite willing to voice is that he's never had a problem giving unconditional love. It's receiving love--or figuring out when not to receive it--that's been the hard part. ]