Helpful traits in a supportive partner
- Engagement and availability: Responding to your partner and their needs and encouraging their progress and evolution.
Hurtful Traits in relationships
- Damaging presence: Behaviors such as meddling, restricting, intimidating and manipulating.
What happens in healthy relationships?
Growing and evolving as a person, becoming increasingly more comfortable in one’s own skin, addressing challenging traits, and overcoming weaknesses to become stronger occurs in the support of healthy relationships. The positive presence of a supportive partner is felt when there is reciprocity, compassion, each partners wellbeing is of primary importance. A healthy relationship dynamic is stainable when it is reciprocal, and the relationship has a bedrock of respect and trust. In a healthy dynamic partners’ shortcomings and errors are forgiven and don’t lead to a judgment of character. In such relationships your dreams and wishes matter to your partner and vice versa. Our relationship impacts our quality of life in more ways than we imagine.
Being able to be open, honest, and share deep emotions and thoughts is extremely important as it leads to emotional intimacy and trust building. These aspects impact the quality of the relationship. For connection to be felt trust must be built over time and experiences.
Feeling secure, in a connected relationship with depth of understanding and the comfort of steadfast support, is irreplaceable. This helps build the foundation in the relationship.
Lowered Anxiety
Experiencing a healthy relationship leads to lowered stress. Knowing that you have someone who cares, and is there for you through thick and thin, is interested and invested in your wellbeing can be like a balm to the soul. Reciprocally experiencing that they will in turn reach out to you and your input, advise, and presence in the same manner is important for their wellbeing is meaningful. This positively impacts self-image as well. The sense of responsibility for the other creates a shared bond and life experience. Relationships require work, input, good communication, intimate sharing and intentionally nurturing the relationship. It also goes without saying that it requires time and effort.
Healthy Communication
Fostering an environment of open sharing of thoughts and feelings leads to better understanding, compassion and in turn healthy communication. Communication is a very important relationship tool. Communicating well helps deal with other relationship challenges, or life situations the couple may have to face. The trust and intimacy in a relationship is intertwined with healthy communication, and they go hand in hand.
Active listening is a critical component of healthy communication. This means listening to understand versus listening to respond. As a listener, showing your partner that you care, you’d like to understand more, and you are there for them is oftentimes needed before jumping in with a solution. Asking questions to convey your interest, and desire to understand can encourage more and deeper sharing. When partners feel they are being heard and valued, the fulfillment in the relationship increases.
Encouraging Mutual Wellbeing and Growth
Personal growth being supported and encouraged is an ingredient of a fulfilling relationship. The freedom to express and each person’s needs and wishes being valued is immense. Creating time for each other and the relationship is key to build healthy relationship, but this may not always be possible with busy lifestyles. However, ensuring that you don’t go too long a stretch without checking in with your partner and making the time to connect is essential. Keep in mind that making this partner connection time might relieve the stress of a busy schedule and create comfort between you both.
Nonjudgmental listening, kindness, support, empathy and encouragement creates a healthy dynamic for the relationship. Plus, you must model for your partner what you want to receive yourself.
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Feeling of Contentment
With satisfied partners who feel heard, seen, valued, and supported, the quality of life improves. In healthy relationships it becomes safe to share true opinions. Even when you don’t agree on something, there tends to be understanding and compassion, taking bother perspectives into account. A healthy, positive relationship leads to contentment and a sense of security in oneself and in the partnership. When energy is not spent on fights and resentments, there is support for growth and being one’s best self.
Take a look at your relationship. Does it require intentional work and support to get it to it’s healthiest level. Consider couples or individual counseling if your relationship feels like it needs some support to get to a healthier place.