Couples who are in a deeply loving relationship don’t always feel lovey dovey; that would be unnatural. Being in a caring relationship with another person means that you both experience feelings within the boundary of a safe partnership.
The range of emotions that you experience as a couple can range from feeling exhilarated over a positive event like a promotion, to feeling sorrow when one of you loses a loved one. Being there for your partner in good times and in bad is what a strong, loving relationship is all about.
5 Feelings Couples Experience In A Loving Relationship
1. Trust
“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair” – Unknown
The feeling of trust is perhaps the most important one for couples in a loving relationship. Loving couples feel that they can rely on their partner not only to be honest but to provide a safe environment, protect their feelings, be reliable and build an intimate emotional bond.
Trust is key to a healthy sex life since this is the most vulnerable that couples can be with their physical selves and their feelings. Marriage and couples counselor Dr. Richard Nicastro says that “During sex, the stakes are always elevated because sexual intimacy is inherently risky emotional business – that is, the level of emotional vulnerability evoked with someone you deeply care about presents both the potential for intimate sharing and authentic contact and, when things go awry, emotional wounding and withdrawal.”
2. Concern
When one partner hurts, the other half of the relationship often hurts for them. This concern for the feelings of your partner is part of your loving bond. Feeling concern means that loving couples care and feel empathy for their partner.
When one partner is worried, couples in deep love feel the stress together. Because the relationship is a partnership, they work together to solve problems. Loving partners also feel concern when partner is dealing with recovery from an illness.
3. Frustration
Although anger is something that partners feel, more often couples feel frustration over miscommunication. Feeling frustration is usually a result of one partner’s expectations not being met. Either your partner didn’t know what you expected or they knew and didn’t follow through.
If one partner has said “I’m not a mind reader!” it’s probably because the partners aren’t good at communicating their needs. Loving couples all experience this and because they care, they work on clearly communicating their needs to their partner.
If one partner didn’t do what was expected, loving couples handle these multiple ways. The easiest is to just let it go. Whatever caused the frustration is in the past now so a loving spouse will forgive and continue to feel deep love for their partner in spite of their faults.
Or, partners may decide to confront their spouse and express that they let them down this one time. They explain what they would like them to do differently next time, and thank them for listening.
4. Hope
Loving couples are supportive of their shared hopes and aspirations. They have a long future ahead of them and they are have a positive outlook. They can see what they’ve been able to overcome in their relationship this far and they feel hopeful for what’s to come.
Loving couples expect the best, but plan for the worst. Everett L. Worthington Jr., author of Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling: A Guide to Brief Therapy says that the focus on hope is a focus on solutions to problems. Worthington says that hope-focused counseling counters negative patterns and replaces them with a positive focus of hope which shows couples how to mutually value each other.
5. Devotion
Of course loving couples feel romantic love for each other, but devotion to each other is so much more. Partners who are devoted feel loyal to their partner. They are kind and supportive. Devoted couples are supportive of their partner’s decisions. They will be there through good times and bad.
Loving couples with feelings of devotion are deeply committed to their partner. Not only would they never cheat, they envision the next 50 or more years with their love. This is a characteristic of the deep, true love that passionate, romantic, couples feel.
According to Dr. Terry Orbuch, author of 5 Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great, unlike what Hollywood films make us believe, passion in a loving relationship can fade over time, but it can be rekindled. Orbuch says: “Passionate sex is a byproduct of sustained emotional intimacy along with a continuing sense of adventure and exploration and sense of playfulness.”
Over the course of their relationship, couples who are deeply in love will strengthen their emotional bond. The shared feelings that they experience bring them closer together.
