5 Ways Relationships Help You Heal Emotionally

Relationships are our most powerful healers.

Dr. Waldinger, a researcher at Harvard, has followed more than 700 men since they were teenagers in 1938. Dr. Waldinger collected their health information, conducted brain scans, took blood samples, and asked them questions about their work and home life, and their emotional/mental wellness. Researchers also interviewed their spouses, children and loved ones.

He discovered that relationships are so important.

Dr. Waldinger found that relationships are important for a few reasons.

  1. Social connections are good for our health.

  2. Loneliness and isolation lead to health declines, decrease in brain function, and shorter life expectancy.

  3. Living in conflict is bad for your health.

  4. Good relationships protect our brains well into our 80’s.

At The Collaborative, we are passionate about relationships and our ability to #HealTogether.

Human connection is primal and necessary. We literally need relationships to survive. A growing body of research shows that the need to connect socially with others is as basic as our need for food, water and shelter. This means becoming more socially connected is essential to our survival. It is not the number of social relationships that determines whether people feel lonely. Rather, it is the emotional and cognitive reactions the individual experiences in relation to these connections that play a role in experiencing loneliness.

Here are some tips to improve your relationship quality and create more human connection:

  1. Be with the person your with

  2. Use people’s names

  3. Spend time around people that fill you up

  4. Work on your own inner world

  5. Set boundaries

  6. Listen

  7. Ask creative questions

  8. Be vulnerable when it feels safe for you

  9. Practice

  10. Make an effort to keep in touch

  11. Get out of your own head

  12. Talk about things that matter to you

If you’d like to work on your relationships and learn how to co-regulate with the people that you love, the Heal Together course may be a great option for you.

The Heal Together Course is an online course to help you heal your past and transform your relationships. Learn more, here.

Whitney Goodman