Emotional Intimacy: The Key Ingredient That May Be Missing In Your Relationship

What if the secret to stronger, deeper relationships was within your grasp? Pack your emotional bags and join me as we embark on a journey to unravel the mysteries of emotional intimacy. We’ll venture into the heart of your relationships and unearth the transformative power of emotional intimacy. We'll take a closer look at your relationship with yourself, the vital first step in fostering stronger connections with others.

In this enlightening episode, we'll share practical steps you can take to build emotional intimacy, including active listening, regular sharing of feelings, creating quality time, displaying appreciation, embracing vulnerability, and more. We’ll also challenge the conventional belief that setting boundaries can prevent emotional intimacy and illuminate how the right boundaries can deepen your connections. If you're yearning for more meaningful relationships, tune in for reassuring guidance and tips to transform your connections today.

Check out our brand new website for the podcast HERE.

Reach out to be added to the Waitlist for Empowered Boundaries Bootcamp, a 90-minute 1:1 Intensive with me on creating, setting, and maintaining healthy boundaries without the guilt and fear!

Interested in taking a Healthy Boundaries Quiz to assess your boundary-setting skills?  It also includes Reflection questions to help you gain deeper insights. Click HERE to access.

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Corissa is a Holistic Trauma-Informed Coach & Narcissistic Abuse Specialist™ who empowers women after they’ve endured narcissist trauma to rediscover who they are, reclaim their power, and find the clarity and courage to move forward and live a life they love. Corissa is also a recovering people-pleaser and codependent who has endured way too many narcissistic relationships to count! She coaches not only from her knowledge and training but also from the wisdom she has gained from her own healing journey.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome to the Stepping Into Meaningful Relationships podcast. I'm your host, carissa Stepp. I'm a relationship and human design coach, and this podcast is designed to help you create a stronger connection to yourself so you can transform the relationships around you, whether that be with your partner, a friend, a parent, a child or your business. We will be looking at relationships through the lens of human design, and my guests and I will bring you the tools, tips and tricks to create deeply meaningful connections with others. But first let's start with you. The most important relationship you have is the one with yourself. Thank you for tuning in. Now let's get to today's episode. Welcome back everyone to another episode. Today we're going to be exploring a topic that is crucial to any relationship Emotional intimacy. Emotional intimacy is a term that we hear often, but what does it really mean? Well, let's break it down At its core. Emotional intimacy is about feeling deeply connected with your partner. It's that warm, secure feeling that comes from sharing your innermost thoughts, fears and dreams with someone who truly understands and supports you. But you know what? It's not always easy to recognize when emotional intimacy is missing in your relationship. Many women that I've worked with didn't even realize that they were missing that deep emotional connection until they started to take a closer look. So if you're in that tough place right now, wondering if you can establish this type of vulnerable intimacy in your relationship, I'm here to tell you that it is possible. Now let's just be clear that this is only going to be possible if you are in a healthy relationship. If you're in a relationship where there is a power imbalance or there's some sort of toxicity in the relationship, then this, most likely, is not going to be the episode for you. Check out some of my other episodes instead. But if you are in a good, healthy relationship and you feel like you might be missing this key ingredient in your relationship, then continue tuning in.

Speaker 1: 2:21

You see, cultivating emotional intimacy starts with self-awareness, so it's important that you take time to reflect on your own emotions and experiences and understand your own triggers and patterns that might be affecting your ability to connect on a deeper level. Communication is also key. Open, honest conversations are the bridge to emotional intimacy. Share your thoughts, even the vulnerable ones, with your partner, and remember that it's a two-way street, so encourage your partner to share as well. It's through these conversations that you can build trust and closeness, and don't be afraid to be vulnerable. Right, vulnerability, as we've said before, is not a weakness, it's a strength. So being open with sharing your fears, your insecurities, your dreams, your desires is really important, because when you let your guard down, you create space for your partner to do the same.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Now what if you feel like emotional intimacy is missing in your relationship? Right First, take a deep breath and know that you're not alone. Many couples go through this and it's a journey that can lead to incredible growth. Building emotional intimacy takes time and effort, so be patient with yourself and your partner. Small steps can lead to profound changes in your relationship. So let's walk through how you can start building emotional intimacy in your primary relationship.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Tip number one practice active listening. When your partner is speaking, really listen. Put away your phone, turn off the TV and give them your full attention. Ask opened-ended questions to encourage them to share more. Tip number two share your feelings regularly.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Don't wait for a crisis to open up about your emotions. Make it a habit to share your thoughts, even the small ones, with your partner. This builds trust over time. So many of us will wait until we let the emotions and the feelings fester and build up, and then we just explode, or then we just start to share everything else that went wrong that day or whatever it might be. So it's really important that you're not waiting until that buildup gets to a breaking point or until the pressure cooker is about to explode to share how you're feeling. So make sure that you're doing that on a regular basis.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Tip number three create quality time. Life can get busy, especially if you're married and have kids and even maybe a full-time job on top of all of it, but it's crucial to set aside dedicated time each week for each other, whether it's a weekly date night or simply a few minutes of meaningful conversation before bad. These moments really can strengthen your connection. Tip number four show appreciation, express gratitude for the little things your partner does. It can be as simple as thanking them for making you dinner or running a quick errand for you, or even just acknowledging their support. Small gestures of appreciation go a long way. So many women I talk to feel like they are completely underappreciated by their partners. So if you can start doing this by expressing gratitude to your partner first, then hopefully it opens up those lines of communication and your partner will reciprocate.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Tip number five embrace vulnerability. Don't be afraid to share your fears and your insecurities, your dreams and your desires. When you open up, you end up actually, in turn, invite your partner to do the same thing. They then feel comfortable and they feel safe to share with you what their fears are, their insecurities, their deepest desires, and that vulnerability builds deep connections. Tip number six prioritize self-care. Emotional intimacy begins with a healthy relationship with yourself, so be sure to take care of your physical and emotional well-being so that you can show up fully in your relationship. When we can take care of ourselves by doing the things that make us happy, by filling our own cup, we're able to give more to the people around us without depleting ourselves and burning ourselves out. So those are just a few of the practical tips that you can start implementing today to build emotional intimacy in your primary relationships.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Now I want to challenge a common belief. The belief is that setting boundaries can prevent emotional intimacy. In reality, though, when done right, boundaries can actually deepen your connection, because your boundaries are not barriers to keeping your partner out. What they are are guidelines for creating a safe and respectful space for both of you. Healthy boundaries let you express your needs, desires and limits while respecting your partners. So how can boundaries really help build emotional intimacy? Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Number one boundaries foster self-awareness. When you set boundaries, you become more in touch with your own needs and emotions, and this self-awareness becomes the foundation for emotional intimacy. Number two boundaries encourage open communication. When you and your partner are clear about your boundaries, it becomes easier to have honest conversations. You can share your feelings and your concerns and your desires without fear. Number three boundaries build trust. When you respect each other's boundaries, the trust naturally grows right. You feel safe in the relationship when you know that your partner is going to respect your boundaries and likewise you are going to respect theirs, so that safety becomes really important, right and trust is a fundamental component of deep emotional intimacy. So number four boundaries create that safe space for vulnerability. Knowing again that your boundaries are respected, you can let your guard down and be truly vulnerable with your partner. That vulnerability leads to a deeper emotional connection.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Number five boundaries prevent burnout. By setting limits on what you can and cannot do, or what you're willing and not willing to do, you protect your emotional well-being. This means you have more emotional energy than to invest in your relationship. So if you feel like emotional intimacy is missing in your relationship. Consider how setting healthy boundaries can be a powerful tool to deepen that connection Again. Boundaries aren't about keeping people out right that would be a wall, not a boundary. They're about letting the right ones in closer to your heart.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Thank you so much for joining me on this very short episode as we explored the beauty of emotional intimacy and how to nurture it in your relationships. If you found this helpful, please feel free to share it with a friend who you think might benefit from it. Also, one last thing, in case you may not have seen it on my social media I am about to open up the doors to the Empowered Boundaries Bootcamp. This bootcamp is a one-on-one, 90-minute intensive with me, and I'm offering this to five women who are eager and motivated and self-aware, who are looking to improve their ability to set clear and healthy boundaries and maintain them. Of course, we've been talking a lot about boundaries and why it's so important and how it can actually impact your life for the better, how it can improve your relationship with yourself and how it can help you create more deeply meaningful relationships with others.

Speaker 1: 10:12

If you're interested, please feel free to reach out to me on my socials or to email me. The podcast also has a brand new website where you are able to send me an email, send me a voicemail or reach me through my website. Also, of course, see all of our previous episodes and search by key terms in order to find episodes that might be more relevant for something that you might be looking for support on. Feel free to check that out. There will be a link in the show notes and then it also will be as part of the information on the podcast as well, so you can reach out to me there. Feel free to DM me the word Empowered if you are interested in claiming one of these spots before I even open it up to the public or until I actually have my whole back-end system set up to take in appointments for this intensive. So if you're interested, you want more details? Again, just DM me Empowered or leave me a voicemail, and I hope to hear from you.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Thanks so much for tuning in everyone. Until next week, be well. If you're hearing this message, that means you've listened all the way to the end, and for that I am truly grateful. If you enjoyed this episode and found it valuable, would you mind leaving us a review wherever you listen to podcasts and sharing it with others. If you'd like to connect with me for one-on-one coaching or human design reading, you can find me on my website or on social media. Also, if you have a topic you'd like me to discuss on a future episode, please DM me. Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Stepping into Meaningful Relationships.