How do you describe a feeling of connection? What makes you feel connected to someone? For me, I think it’s when someone makes you feel seen and heard- but how do people do that? Is it listening intently and actively during a conversation? I wonder if sometimes i have too high of expectations of wanting to feel a certain way after a conversation- either to be inspired, in awe, an immense amount of joy etc- but that is not necessarily guaranteed in every convo you have with someone that you speak to in a everyday capacity. Yet it’s still something I crave.

Today I chatted with Tina about her challenge with identifying, feeling, and knowing her emotions. She said she has learned to know what the “right” thing to say is (e.g. say I love you back when her bf says I love you) but she might not actually necessarily KNOW she is missing someone until she is actively doing something about it.

This was hard for me to grasp from a receiving end because how is the other person supposed to know? As someone who feels strongly and is keenly aware of what I’m feeling, it’s easy to think it is somehow “easier” for the person who is not “feeling” it, but could it be that it is a much later realization for them? How do we start to entertain accepting a reality that is different from ours, without wanting to someone to be more like us?