Being in a loving connected relationship is something that adds tremendous value to our lives. Yet, often, over time, our relationships with a significant other or life partner start to feel stale and less connected. By putting these relationship tips into action, you’ll notice a deeper level of closeness with your partner.
While there are numerous ways to foster a deeper connection with your life partner, the relationship tips below will help at a foundational level.
These will act as an anchor for other habits and behaviors that may develop…so use these as your base. These are simple to implement. Yet, they nurture and fulfill some universal needs and desires that will truly enhance your connection.
Love Yourself First | Relationship Tips
A deeply connected and healthy love with someone else is only possible when you love yourself first.
If you tend to focus on your insecurities or things you don’t treasure about yourself, that energy (whether articulated or not) detrimentally affects your partner and therefore your relationship.
So focus on taking care of YOU – inside and out.
Love yourself first: Honor and nurture your body, mind, and spirit.
The idea is not to seek perfection, but to embrace and appreciate the qualities that are special about YOU. And, to challenge yourself to improve the things you don’t like. (If you’re unable to change something, own it – embrace it – and learn to love it as something unique to you.)
Be Present | Relationship Tips
Being truly present with your partner is one of the strongest foundations that fosters a healthy and satisfying long-term connection. And it begins simply with intention. An intention to be more mindful, more self-aware, and more present.
We all have distractions in our lives, so it’s imperative that, as often as possible, we set aside the distractions. We connect with ourselves and our partner by removing distractions and offering our full attention.
When you decide that it’s more important to be there for someone else and be fully present in that very moment – one moment leads to the next, and the next.
When being present, you are less aware of swirling and racing thoughts and more aware of what’s going on inside. You experience a heightened awareness of what you are feeling so that you can express yourself honestly.
The more often you are fully present in your relationship, the greater bond you and your partner will enjoy.
“When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Practice Deep Listening | Relationship Tips
This dovetails with the previous tip of being present. Listening – TRULY listening – is a skill that takes practice, yet the rewards are eye-opening.
In today’s world, we have shorter attention spans. We are inundated with information and stressful activities coming at us from all directions (smart phones, computers, televisions, traffic, work, etc.)
When your partner is talking to you, give him or her your full attention by really listening.
Indeed, listening deeply demonstrates respect to your partner. When we feel “heard,” we feel valued.
A common habit is that when one person is talking, we “half listen” while thinking of what we want to say next. Or worse, we interrupt. Or, we’re distracted and not really listening at all.
So STOP. Stop your thoughts from racing. Open your mind. And LISTEN. Listen for longer than feels natural. (This really takes some getting used to.)
When you practice and make a habit of deep listening, you’ll notice your partner being more willing to open up. This is one of the simplest ways to deepen your connection.
Feeling “heard” is actually a rare and special gift you can give – just by focusing on how deeply you listen.
Respect, Appreciation, Trust, and Communication | Relationship Tips
Here, I’ve combined four areas that, along with the three over-arching ideas above, work together to strengthen your relationship connection. While each of these tips could really be written about extensively on their own, here are some key points:
- Respect: Recognize that respect is an important key to healthy relationships. That means respect in your communications (no name calling or degrading remarks); your body language (no eye rolling or looks of disgust about what your partner is communicating); and attitude. It extends to little things, as well, that we don’t intend as being disrespectful at all. So pay attention to the things you say and how they’re received. In this way, you’ll learn “respect triggers” about your partner you may not have been aware of.
- Trust: Without trust, a deeply connected love cannot flourish. Often, our insecurities are what lead us to mistrust our partners, and things tend to deteriorate from there. Always offer the benefit of the doubt and trust your partner unless you have reason not to. This relates beyond infidelity and speaks also to his or her capabilities, intentions, reasoning, and many ways that we don’t realize. Realize that trust is another important key to a healthy relationship. If you have trust issues between the two of you, seek ways to strengthen that aspect of your connection.
- Communication: Your words, body language, and your overall energy are communicating to your partner every time you connect. Be mindful and aware of what you’re communicating to ensure it’s received with the love and authenticity you intend. A common relationship habit is expecting the other person to “just know” what you’re feeling, want, or need. Yet we’re not mind-readers, and men and women think and communicate differently. Realistic expectations and honest communication are both helpful in strengthening your relationship connection.
- Appreciation: Appreciate your partner OFTEN. Tell him or her how much you value things they do and say, what it means to you, and how it makes you feel. The more things about your partner you recognize with sincere and thoughtful appreciation, the more things he or she will want to do for you. There’s no down-side here!
Being intentional in our connections and aware of how we’re relating to our partner is the first step. By implementing the relationship tips above, your relationship will become more firmly rooted, deeply connected, and will reach new heights at the same time.