It may seem like a contradiction: Being friendly and kind, yet guarding your... Read more
What’s the secret of desire and temptation in a long-term relationship? Relationship expert Esther Perel knows all about it.
In an ideal relationship, we expect our partner to be both our best friend and an irresistible bed partner. The ideal lover tempts us, understands us, and brings stability. But according to relationship therapist Esther Perel, this list of demands often brings us trouble.
She says great sex fulfills two opposite needs: Our desire for safety and our desire for “the unknown” – and we look for both these components in one person. “In the paradox between love and desire, the ingredients that fuel love –reciprocity, safety, care, responsibility for the other – are sometimes the very ingredients that suffocate desire,” Perel says.
But what is the secret to desire and temptation in a long-term relationship? Perel’s book “Erotic intelligence” is all about this question. She says a great sex life doesn’t come automatically with a healthy relationship; you have to keep working on it as a couple.
An aching desire for each other doesn’t just appear from nowhere. According to Perel, time, attention and dedication are necessary for a good sex life. Try to block a night for sex, just like you would for a night out.
Couples with a healthy sex life know that foreplay has nothing to do with the five minutes of “playing time” before the real action: “Foreplay starts at the end of the last orgasm.”
“Create a space where you leave your job, stop being a good citizen who takes care of things, and who’s responsible. Responsibility and desire collide. They don’t go well together.”
According to Perel, the safety of a relationship is the ideal place to experiment. Because you trust your partner completely, you feel free to experiment together, express your desires, and talk openly about your sex life.
“Erotic couples know that passion increases and decreases. It’s like the moon, every once in awhile, there’s an eclipse. But they know how to revive it because they have broken through a big myth: The myth of spontaneity, that told us desire comes falling out of the sky while you’re folding laundry,” Perel says.
It may seem like a contradiction: Being friendly and kind, yet guarding your... Read more
Our mental state influences our physical wellbeing – that’s nothing new. Yoga,... Read more
Theoretically, the days of your weekend are days without obligations. But in reality,... Read more
At the start of a relationship, everything seems to run smoothly, but after some time... Read more
While marriage is celebrated extensively, there’s often not much more to divorce... Read more
How do you forgive a loved one? How do I get myself to accept my pain? How can I... Read more