Emotional Intelligence For Dummies®

Chapter 14. Creating Emotionally Intelligent Relationships

In This Chapter

• Evaluating your intimate relationship

• Knowing how your emotions affect the relationship

• Relating to your partner

• Putting emotional intelligence to work in your relationship

• Enjoying positive social relationships

So, how's your relationship? Are you intimately involved with someone? Do you feel a closeness in your relationship? Do you want to feel closer?

Mary and Jeremy had been together for three years. Their relationship started off like most romantic relationships do. For the first several weeks, they were infatuated with each other, always wondering what the other would think of one thing or another. Being together was exciting, and they were always on their best behavior. But now, they seem to have hit a rut. They take each other for granted. They're busy with their respective work responsibilities and pressures, and they have little time for each other.

What changes relationships in this way? These changes often happen over time. Any relationship can have difficulty maintaining the original romance. Partners gradually begin to take each other for granted. The communication changes. Emotional intelligence, especially the ability to be aware of and manage both your own and your partner's emotions, has a lot to do with keeping the flame alight in a relationship.

Of course, you can have many different kinds of relationships. You have intimate relationships with the people you relate to most closely and most frequently. ...