Science shows that healthier relationships are linked to higher immune function, lower risk for heart disease lower risk for depression, and longer life expectancy.
MINDFULNESS-BASED RELATIONSHIP EDUCATION FOR COUPLES EXPECTING THEIR FIRST CHILD-PART 2: PHENOMENOLOGICAL FINDINGS Journal of Marital and Family Therapy; 2015
Relational Intelligence: the ability to be aware of your own and others' emotions, values, interests and needs, and use that information to guide your actions.
Esther Perel says that it helps to be mindful of your boundaries, your use of assumptions and your tendencies for wanting more closeness or wanting more distance in a relationship
Do you value security and connection or independence and freedom?
If someone values more security and connection, they might want more communication throughout the day and at night , more time to talk. They might want more collaboration. They might want to figure things out together instead of a more parallel relationship where the two people are figuring things out on their own. While, somebody who wants more space, might literally need more physical space. They might need to be out of the house more. They might need more mental and emotional space. They might want to spend more time alone when they are at home, and they might want to figure a lot of things out in their life on their own without the help or collaboration of their partner. There's pros and cons to both. If you're constantly depending on your partner to move through everything, that can come with its stresses. But if you are, completely living separate lives, that can be an issue too.
Check out the episode of The Aware Mind we released this weekend, “Relationship Expert Esther Perel's Thoughts on Overcoming Relationship Pitfalls with Mindfulness”.