2 Keys To Connect Emotionally With Others

Interpersonal relationships have the potential to enrich our life experience. Getting along with others, feeling valued, managing to maintain special relationships … All these situations are a part of everything that makes our existence worthwhile. However, unfortunately we are not born knowing how to do it. Therefore, in this article you will find some strategies to connect emotionally with others.

Thus, taking care of the relationships that unite us with our loved ones is a skill that can be trained, learned. Contrary to what it may seem at first, we can all become charismatic people. Therefore, if you are interested in improving in this area of ​​your life, keep reading: this article is made for you.

1- Practice active listening

One of the keys to connecting emotionally with others is making them feel heard. In general, when we have a conversation there are distractors that compete for our attention beyond the mere exchange. Also, we may be too busy thinking about what to say next. Who has not happened?

Therefore, only by directing your attention to what the other shares, you will be taking care of the bond that unites you. The key to achieving this goal is to focus on the present moment. Achieving it can be complicated at times, but practicing disciplines such as mindfulness can help us a lot in this regard. In addition to this, there are several actions you can take to achieve this:

• Avoid judging the other person.
• Don’t interrupt unless necessary. If you cut the pace of a conversation,  your interlocutor will have the feeling that you are not interested in what he is telling you. On the other hand, when you intervene, try not to make a too long speech.
• Instead of giving advice,  just listen. Many times when we counsel, we are just projecting our beliefs onto the other person.

2- Change your body language

Some studies say that body language transmits up to 80% of all the information we communicate. Although it is not entirely clear if this number is tight,  it is clear that mastering our non-verbal expression is one of the best strategies to connect emotionally with others.

Generally, we are not aware of what we do with our body when we participate in a dialogue. Our attention shifts to what we say with our speech, forgetting the body. Thus, diverting a small portion of our attention to this, you can follow the following guidelines:

• Maintain a relaxed posture. If you show yourself in tension, your interlocutor will detect it and will not feel comfortable. Your mirror neurons will send you the message that danger is imminent; And therefore, it will be very difficult for him to open up emotionally to you.
• Adopt open body language. For the same reason, keeping your arms crossed or with your back turned towards the other shows that you are not comfortable with him. If you want to improve your connection, try to position your body as if you were talking to a lifelong friend.
• Use proper eye contact. The eyes are one of the most expressive parts of our body. Maintaining good eye contact can make the difference between someone feeling connected to us or not. To achieve this, the trick is as follows: look him in the eye while he talks to you, and for 80% of the time you are answering. Only for 20% of the remaining time can you look the other way.

• Create rapport. A very useful technique to create emotional connection with another person is to use rapport. It consists of imitating their body language in a subtle way. In this way, his brain will receive the message that he is safe with you and that he can trust you.

These two keys to connecting emotionally with others can help you begin your path to conversational mastery. However,  there are many others that can be useful to you. Research, try new techniques and you will end up finding those tools that best connect with your way of being.