Successful Relationships Reading Corner
This week, we said it’s important to feel the connection in your relationships. These authors examine what constitutes emotional connections, and how to sustain them.
The Importance of Connections on Our Well-Being “Making healthy connections goes beyond simply avoiding feelings of loneliness and isolation. Our relationships impact all dimensions of our well-being, including physical and mental health and our ability to flourish at work and in every other facet of life.”
How to build emotional connection in relationships ”An emotional connection is a special bond that we have with those we know or admire. It’s more than talking about surface level topics, like the weather or what you had for lunch. An emotional connection is about sharing feelings, being vulnerable, seeking to understand each other, and meeting one another with trust. Having an emotional connection isn’t just about talking either, it’s about feeling close, valued, and cared for by the other person. It’s that comforting feeling you get when you know someone’s there for you, truly listening, and being willing to understand your emotions. Being emotionally connected to a person is about being there for each other through the good times and the hard times. This connection builds trust in a relationship, making it stronger and more meaningful.”
Relationship Connection: 3 Choices that Make or Break It “When partners are emotionally available and are able to discuss both the good and bad things in life, the couple’s attachment bond creates a safe haven that makes both partners feel safe, calm, and emotionally connected. This loving relationship gives us a secure base to expand our sense of self and increase our confidence… When our partners are emotionally unavailable or verbally attack us, our hearts begin to panic. Our thoughts make movies of our partner abandoning or rejecting us… As a result, our attachment alarm goes off, and we either demand they meet our needs or withdraw from the relationship, putting the bond into a toxic tailspin of panic and insecurity.”