Here’s a secret: emotional connection is essential for building a solid and healthy relationship. A lack of emotional intimacy can damage your romantic partnership, causing partners to fall out.
Once lost, restoring emotional security and trust in a relationship can be tricky. But it’s not impossible to rebuild a healthy and emotionally fulfilling relationship! At Dietrich Institute, we believe that building a deep emotional connection is the key to a successful relationship.
For this reason, in this blog, we’ll discuss what an emotional connection means for your romantic relationship and why it matters. Further in the article, we’ll dive into the top seven ways you can boost emotional intimacy in your romantic partnerships and signs of an emotionally secure relationship:
What Emotional Connection Means in Your Relationship
Emotional intimacy is closeness, where partners trust each other and communicate openly. In an emotionally secure relationship, people feel comfortable and secure.
Moreover, when you’re emotionally close to your significant other, you can learn everything about them, including their dreams, fears, preferences, hopes, and dislikes. In fact, research shows that high levels of emotional intimacy lead to stronger sexual desire and long-term happiness.
Why Does Emotional Connection Matter?
Emotional intimacy and security are crucial for feeling more connected with your partner, allowing you to express your feelings, feel vulnerable, and grow trust. Fostering emotional connection promotes open communication through which you can learn the intricacies of your significant other.
Through caring communication, you learn what makes your partner happy, what brings them to tears, and what frustrates them. That way, you can feel empathy, share emotions, and discuss difficult things with your loved one without risking your relationship.
But if your relationship lacks emotional security, you or your partner might feel unsafe, unloved, and disconnected. It will likely affect your physical intimacy and create instability in your romantic relationships.
Signs of a Strong Emotional Connection
Although everyone experiences love and emotional intimacy differently, there are several universal signs of a powerful emotional connection. These include:
- You feel comfortable in each other’s presence
- You enjoy sharing funny or strange things that happened during your day
- You don’t hesitate to share bad days when you feel down
- You are willing to discuss your childhood dreams and current aspirations
- Your conversation flows without the awkwardness
- You feel at ease despite the silence
- You share things with your partner without fearing they’ll flee
Seven Effective Ways to Build Emotional Intimacy
Fostering a solid and long-lasting emotional connection is an ongoing process requiring work from both parties. While it may take time for you to establish emotional intimacy, there are several things you can do to forge a supportive and emotionally stable relationship.
Here are seven ways to help you strengthen emotional intimacy:
Work on Yourself
You can’t build emotional intimacy if you’re struggling with self-assurance and self-confidence. The fact is that when you feel bad about yourself, the insecurities block you from solving conflicts, worsening arguments, and making it impossible for you to respond positively to your significant other.
So, the first step to creating an emotional connection is to do things that improve your self-confidence, self-worth, and happiness. You may join your local gym, pick a new hobby, go for therapy, or learn a new skill. Remember, the happiest couples live individual lives with distinct interests and feel self-satisfied.
Give Words of Affirmation
People love receiving and showing affection in a budding relationship, but with time, many couples suffer from a fraying connection. Giving affirmation and loving words is crucial to strengthening and repairing your emotional connection.
Show your partner you care by wishing them good luck in their interview, sharing a hug before work, or holding hands in public. You can reignite the fire in your relationship by giving compliments and kisses!
Spend Quality Time
Another excellent way to boost emotional intimacy is to reevaluate how you spend your time. The amount of time spent with your partner is as essential as how you spend it.
While you might view spending quality time with your partner as snuggling on the couch and watching a TV you and your partner enjoy, your significant other might not count it and prefer going out for lunch. So, carve time for your loved one to grow your connection and show them you care.
Grow a Sense of Trust
You can’t create emotional intimacy without developing a sense of trust. But remember, you can’t build trust overnight; it takes time and effort to feel secure and comfortable around another person.
Allow these feelings to flow naturally, and focus on making your partner feel loved and appreciated.
Be Vulnerable with Your Partner
Breaking down your walls to allow someone can be challenging. But you can’t foster a relationship built on trust and emotional security unless you try to be vulnerable.
Moreover, when you go out of your way to be emotionally vulnerable with your significant other, you show that it’s safe for them to be who they are and share their feelings. You can try sharing something that happened at work, expressing a complex feeling, or revealing a fact no one knows about you.
Learn to Problem-Solve Difficult Feelings
Identifying and understanding the emotions you or your partner feels might come easy to you, but it might not be the case for your partner. So, when things get tough, be there for your significant other.
Start by asking broad questions, allowing them to feel their emotions without forcing them into a one-size-fits-all box. If your partner struggles to express their emotions, you can try engaging in a gentle conversation or use emotion wheels.
Try Different Intimacy-Building Exercises
While spending time apart is essential, sharing activities with your loved one is crucial. If you believe you and your partner need a nudge in the right direction, you can try the following intimacy-building exercises:
- Conversational connection
- Gazing
- Hugs like there’s no tomorrow
- Memorizing by touch
The Bottom Line
Relationships require continuous work. It’s easy to fall into the daily cycle, ticking off items from your to-do lists without remembering to appreciate your partner.
So, take stock of your relationship and ask yourself whether you’re satisfied with the emotional intimacy and security. If not, it’s time to put a little effort into repairing and strengthening your emotional bond.
Sources
- Gould, Wendy Rose. 2020. “4 Things You Can Do Right Now to Build Emotional Intimacy with Your Partner.” NBC News. February 6, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/how-build-emotional-intimacy-your-partner-starting-tonight-ncna1129846.
- “15 Effective Tips for Repairing Emotional Intimacy.” 2018. Marriage Advice – Expert Marriage Tips & Advice. April 19, 2018. https://www.marriage.com/advice/emotional-intimacy/repairing-emotional-intimacy/#15_ways_to_improve_emotional_intimacy.
- “How to Build an Emotional Connection.” n.d. EverydayHealth.com. https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/how-build-emotional-connection/.
- “Emotional Intimacy: 12 Ways to Get and Give More of It.” 2021. Greatist. January 28, 2021. https://greatist.com/connect/emotional-intimacy.
