Why is emotional intimacy important to close relationships?
Are you close with your partner? Do you feel like you can tell them anything, and they won’t judge you? Do you feel like you can be yourself around them without feeling like you have to put up a front?
If so, then you’ve achieved emotional intimacy in your relationship. This is a key ingredient to any close relationship, whether it’s with a friend, family member, or romantic partner.
So why is emotional intimacy so important? Let’s take a look.
What Is Emotional Intimacy?
Emotional intimacy is about more than just being able to share your thoughts and feelings with someone. It’s also about feeling safe, accepted, and understood by them.
It’s the ability to be vulnerable with someone without feeling like you’re being judged or rejected. And it’s the knowledge that they’re there for you, no matter what.
You don’t have to hold back when you have emotional intimacy with someone. You can be yourself without feeling like you have to put up a façade.
This level of intimacy allows you to be vulnerable and share your deepest thoughts and feelings with someone. In turn, this deepens the connection you have with them.
Why Is Emotional Intimacy Important?
When building a happy, healthy relationship, finding something to be unhappy about is easy. For example, even if you and your partner have a stellar sex life, you might not feel that sex is a key aspect of your relationship because you “have everything you want” sexually. However, when you look beyond sex to what lies deeper within, you may feel satisfied in other ways. Sometimes that has to do with how much you give to your partner, but at other times it may have to do with your ability to be more intimate with them.
It’s a Key Ingredient to Any Close Relationship
If you want to have a close, meaningful relationship with someone, then emotional intimacy is a key ingredient.
It Allows You to Be Yourself
When you have emotional intimacy with someone, you don’t have to put up a front. You can be yourself around them, without feeling like you have to put up a façade.
It Deepens the Connection You Have With Them
Emotional intimacy allows you to share your deepest thoughts and feelings with someone. In turn, this deepens the connection you have with them.
It Makes You Feel Good
“Emotional intimacy isn’t just for the sake of feeling good. Research has shown that it reduces the risks of heart disease and helps people cope with life stress,” says Dr. Robert Feinberg, a clinical psychologist and relationship expert.
The benefits of emotional intimacy go beyond simply boosting a couple’s quality of life. In addition to helping a couple’s relationship, it has beneficial effects on their health and well-being.
When you have emotional intimacy with someone, you feel good. You feel accepted, understood, and valued. This level of intimacy can increase your overall well-being.
How to Build Emotional Intimacy in Relationships?
Although it takes time, effort, and patience to develop emotional closeness, it is a crucial component of establishing a lasting and satisfying relationship. We will go through various doable strategies for increasing emotional closeness in partnerships.
Practice active listening
Active listening is one of the most crucial elements of creating emotional intimacy. Giving your partner your complete attention while they speak, following up with open-ended enquiries to elicit further details, and thinking on what they say are all examples of active listening. Refraining from interjecting, passing judgement, or attempting to address their issues is crucial. Instead, please give them a sympathetic ear while attempting to comprehend their viewpoint. This facilitates the creation of a secure environment where both partners feel at ease discussing their emotions.
Share your feelings
It’s necessary to express your emotions to your partner, especially when you’re feeling strongly. Sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings with another person can make you feel vulnerable, yet doing so is an essential part of developing emotional connection. Your companion may better understand you if you let them into your world by talking about your feelings. Also, it gives your spouse a chance to help you out and be there for you when things go tough.
Dirty Talking Technique
When you’re dating someone, you usually have to talk about how you feel and how your relationship is going. Doing this can help you learn more about who you are and how to get along better with others.
But what if there are things you want to talk about with your partner that you don’t feel comfortable talking about in person? This is where people can use dirty talk. Dirty talking can be very useful and helpful because it lets you talk to people without feeling awkward or embarrassed about them.
With dirty talking, you can talk about things you want to say but don’t necessarily want to say to the person you’re talking to. You can talk about things you don’t want to say in person or are afraid to say because you might feel awkward.
Conclusion
A healthy relationship requires mutual respect and care from the people involved. And, of course, it requires having good communication. But emotional intimacy is built on an unspoken expectation that you and your partner will be available to support and connect with one another.
