A significant part of living a life of holistic health is having a healthy spiritual, emotional, intimate relationship with your life partner, husband, or wife.
Emotional intimacy is a closeness that goes beyond the ordinary fondness felt for friends and family. The degree of emotional intimacy is an excellent barometer for evaluating the health of a relationship.
Emotional intimacy is also connected to the spiritual. It is developed when both partners are intuned with their divine essence. It is also the process of opening your hearts (the core aspects of yourselves) to each other as you open your hearts to God.
It’s challenging to have a good relationship with poor emotional intimacy or a poor connection with a high degree of emotional intimacy.
Grow your emotional intimacy and strengthen your bonds of Divine love:
Develop a spiritual relationship: Developing and maintaining a spiritual relationship is when you and your partner experience harmony, understanding, and peace. Emotions come deep from within the core of the heart, physically and mentally. This relationship can be compared to having a soul mate.
Exercise together. We maintain intimate relationships with those with whom we share challenging times, whether surviving a horrible boss or training for a marathon. Spend time training together at the gym. Sweat and suffer together. Your bond will grow.
Let go of your past. Most of the obstacles to being more intimately connected are rooted in the past. Learn from the past and be done with it. Everyone has been hurt at some point. That’s not a valid reason to spoil today. Let it go.
Share your appreciation for each other. Before turning off the light for the night, share what you each appreciate about each other. List something you appreciated that day. It could be something small like folding your clean pants or stopping by the store for milk.
* You’ll be amazed by what happens. You’ll spend the day looking for things to appreciate about your partner. You’ll eventually think that your partner has changed into an even more amazing person. But the truth is that you’re the one who’s changed.
Touch each other daily. Sex counts, but focus on different types of touch, too. That skin-to-skin contact triggers the release of certain hormones associated with pleasure and bonding. Give each other a massage or snuggle together on the couch. Hold hands.
Be a positive experience for your spouse. Studies have shown that we’re more sensitive to negative experiences than we are to positive ones. The ratio is roughly 5:1. It takes five positive experiences to negate the impact of one negative experience.
* Try to deliver at least ten positive experiences for each negative experience, so your bond is ever-growing.
Be a better listener. We adore the people in our lives who take the time to listen intently to what we have to say. You might not care about the great deal she got on the pair of heels she’s been eyeing for weeks or the fact that his new carburetor finally arrived in the mail. But you get at least as much as you give when you’re a good listener.
* Look your partner in the eye when they’re speaking to you.
* Turn off the TV.
* Put your cell phone away.
* Avoid interrupting.
Explore something new together. Take a class or hike in a new location. Read the same book and share your thoughts. Attend a concert together. Take a trip to someplace new. Be creative and share a recent experience.
Be the best possible version of yourself. By being at your best, you’ll have more to give. Please have a few goals and spend time each day striving to achieve them. Take care of yourself physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
Show an interest in your partner’s life. This goes beyond being a good listener. Be inquisitive and ask your partner about her day. If he just got home from playing golf, ask him about his game. Show a genuine interest.
It’s easy to be emotionally intimate at the beginning of a meaningful relationship. The other person is just so perfect and exciting! Emotional intimacy can be more challenging after ten years have taken their toll. Emotional intimacy must be encouraged to grow, or it will die. Make emotional intimacy a priority in your relationship.
