What Is Love?

Love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust. It is associated with a range of positive emotions including happiness, excitement, life satisfaction, and euphoria, but it can also result in negative emotions such as jealousy and stress

Romantic love is made up of three elements:

Attachment: Needing to be with another person and desiring physical contact and approval

Caring: Valuing the other person’s happiness and needs as much as your own
Intimacy: Sharing private thoughts, feelings, and desires with the OTHER person

History of Love

Only fairly recently has love become the subject of science

In the past, the study of love was left to the creative writer to depict for us the necessary conditions for loving
Research on love has grown tremendously since Freud’s remarks
Early explorations into the nature and reasons for love drew considerable criticism
Despite early resistance, research has revealed the importance of love in both child development and adult health

Types of Love

Friendship: This type of love involves liking someone and sharing a certain degree of intimacy

Infatuation: This is a form of love that often involves intense feelings of attraction without a sense of commitment; it often takes place early in a relationship and may deepen into a more lasting love
Passionate love: Passionately, it often involves an idealization of the other person and a need to maintain constant physical closeness
Compassionate/companionate love. This is marked by love marked by trust, affection, intimacy, and commitment
Unrequited love

Cultivating love

Try loving-kindness meditation

Communicate
Help others feel loved through words and deeds
Tackle conflict in a healthy way
Focus on hashing out issues in ways that are healthy in order to move a relationship forward in a positive way

Is Love Biological or Cultural?

Some researchers suggest that love is a basic human emotion, while others believe that it is a cultural phenomenon that arises partly due to social pressures and expectations

Potential Pitfalls

While love is associated with a host of positive emotions, it can also be accompanied by a number of negative feelings.

Some of the potential pitfalls of experiencing love include: Anxiety, Depression, Increased stress, Jealousy, Obsessiveness, Possessiveness and Sadness

How to Practice Love

There is no single way to practice love. Every relationship is unique, and each person brings their own history and needs.

Some things that you can do to show love to the people you care about include: Be willing to be vulnerable, be willing to forgive, do your best, listen to what they have to say, prioritize spending time with the other person, recognize their good qualities, share things about yourself, show affection, and show unconditional love