Relationships are all very unique. You may have experienced many different relationships and each of them tasted different from the rest.
Though our love and feelings may vary in every relationship, there are certain facts about relationships that bind them together. One of them is the stages of a relationship; the stages which are common within almost all of them!
To know the state of your relationship and its health and future success, you need first to identify and assess the stage of your relationship.
Whether you are married, just started dating or thinking about taking your relationship to the next level, you need to know the stages of a relationship as well as which stage you are in right now in order to see where you are heading to.
Although these stages might not happen in order, they often come along from the lower to the higher or from grosser to more refined.
The Physical Interaction
The first stage among all the stages of a relationship is the physical level that is considered the lowest level. At this stage, the main reason that holds the relationship together is to answer the physical needs, such as the need for sex and shelter.
You might get attracted to someone mainly to provide you with your physical needs. It often doesn’t yet involve emotional attachments, love and understanding, but is merely confined to the needs of the physical body.
A common example is when you get attracted to someone because of his/her body and later you realise that you don’t have anything in common with that person; you don’t understand each other and in the worst case scenario, you feel like you are living in different worlds. So what attracted you to each other in the first place was only physical in origin!
The Emotional Interaction
In this stage your interactions are more than merely physical. The need to be loved, to have a companion and someone to love brings the relationship to the second level.
Now you can feel each other and communicate through emotions. Feeling love, sweetness and kindness happens at this stage.
When you interact on the emotional level, you get sensitive towards the other person’s needs. You can sense the needs of you partner. You can sense if he/she is happy, sad or disturbed and you have the ability to make them feel better.
The Mental Interaction
The third stage takes place when you start understanding each other and interacting at the mental level. You seem to have a common language and a deeper level of communicating.
You know each other and can understand each other well. You have the ability to have deeper conversations, express your ideas freely and listen to your partner’s view points without getting bored.
In this stage you share a common ideal. Your values, beliefs and perspectives are understood and taken into consideration. You enjoy being with each other as you respect each other. Therefore you can engage yourself in similar activities that both enjoy; such as watching movies that both of you like, discussing about topics that you are both interested in, having hobbies that you both can participate and in general spending time in activities that both enjoy.
The Spiritual Interaction
Fourth stage is the realm of the divine. It happens when your interactions are at the soul level. When the fourth stage is achieved you can say, my beloved and I are one. You don’t see any separation between you and your partner, as you have merged in each other.
In this stage you experience a certain level of oneness with your partner. Therefore the shape, look and character of your beloved matter no more since you are dissolved in each other. You look at yourself as well as your partner as a soul, not a body.
Once this stage is achieved, being together becomes blissful.
This stage is the highest level of interaction among all the other stages of a relationship and is considered sacred and spiritual. Practicing the Soul Affirmation together, is one of the means of achieving this stage.