To know that there is at least one person in this world that always holds YOUR best interest at all times provides a confidence in that person that is comforting.  To know that your partner consistently shows that he or she takes action to make you feel good about yourself is golden.  This includes when you are not with your partner. 

It is important to know that your partner puts his/her interests at the same level as their own.  A committed relationship is a team that has the same shared goals.  Just as the goal of a football team is to score as many points and to win.  The team knows their weaknesses and relies on their strengths.  The team nurtures the weaknesses, but goes deep with the star Wide Receiver.  As a parallel to relationships, you know your partner’s flaws, insecurities, and vulnerabilities.  You don’t expose those to other people.  You taught your partner’s strengths.  That is the comfort of knowing that your partner has your best interest at heart. 

Breathing Emotional Intimacy Into The Relationship

It is important to know that your partner puts his/her interests at the same level as their own.  Committed relationships is a team that has the same shared goals.  Just as the goal of a football team is to score as many points and to win.  The team knows their weaknesses and relies on their strengths.  The team nurtures the weaknesses, but goes deep with the star Wide Receiver.  As a parallel to relationships, you know your partner’s flaws, insecurities, and vulnerabilities.  You don’t expose those to other people.  You taught your partner’s strengths.  That is the comfort of knowing that your partner has your best interest at heart. 

To know that your partner considers you in every interaction that includes something that impacts you is comforting and breathes life into emotional intimacy.  An example may include you hating your job and come home every day stressed.  If your partner has your best interest at heart, he/she will be concerned with how you are feeling.  Maybe a hug.  Maybe talking to you how you are feeling.  Maybe strategizing how to get a new job.  Sometimes it is just simply listening.  The essence is “I have your best interest at heart”.  It conveys that I’m hear for you when you need me.  It means that person considers how you would feel with every decision that is made.  Knowing that your “person” considers you without having to think about it, that it is just automatic that we are a team, empowers a relationship. It builds security to know that even when you aren’t around, your interests are always considered.  Having someone’s best interest at heart eliminates the question of what someone’s true intent was.  It’s a component to the puzzle of peace.

Without Best Interest, Erosion Occurs

When a person feels like you don’t always have their best interest at heart or their interests are often self-serving, it erodes the connection and intimacy in the relationship.  It will often make you start to question your value to your partner.  Am I not important to him/her?  Does he/she not see me as special or someone he/she is proud of?  Does he/she see us as two separate people instead of being a team, a partnership?  Knowing that your partner holds that “best interest” is foundational for a healthy relationship.  When you have certainty that your partner doesn’t have to even think about what would be in your best interest because it is just automatic, that it’s just the lens through which he/she sees life, now we have something special to build upon.