How to Strengthen Emotional Attachments in Your Meaningful Relationships

• 1). Invest time into your relationships. While spontaneity and leisure time are healthy parts of any relationship, it can also help to make plans and devote special times with your loved ones by marking them on a calendar. This visual cue may also prove to be valuable to children as they anticipate times reserved especially for them.
  
  
• 2). Share yourself emotionally with your friends or family members. This means making it a point to talk regularly and openly about your thoughts, feelings and experiences. This type of openness will cultivate intimacy and may allow your loved one to feel more comfortable sharing with you.
  
  
• 3). Actively listen. As your loved one speaks, maintain eye contact and focus on listening to him. Respond to what he is saying so that he knows you are giving your undivided attention and valuing what he has to say.
  
  
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  Show appropriate affection. Oftentimes a human touch conveys things that words simply cannot. If your child is welcoming of your affection, hug her frequently. Offer hugs to friends when you part ways. Hold your spouse's hand often, rub her back as you pass her, and kiss her often throughout the day. One study on kissing, covered by CNN.com, is examining the ways that kissing affects the hormone oxytocin, which "is associated with social bonding, and cortisol, a measure of stress."
  
  
• 5). Give words of affirmation and encouragement. Tell your loved one how you feel, and make a concerted effort to lift him up with your words.