A relationship is composed of friendship, sexual attraction, intellectual compatibility, and, of course, love.
Love is the glue that keeps a relationship strong and solid. It is deeply biological. But what is love, and how do you know if you are truly in love?
It is difficult to define love because everyone’s perception of real love can be dramatically different. People often get confused between lust, attraction, and companionship. Hence, there is no one best definition of love.
However, love can be summarized as an intense feeling of euphoria and deep affection for someone or something. This love definition or love meaning might not encompass all the emotions that comprise how it feels when you are in love.
Is love an emotion? Yes.
Can abstract emotions such as love be defined in specific terms? Maybe not.
However, there are certain words and actions that fall in the realm of love, while others do not.
Some gestures can be termed love. On the other hand, some other emotions and feelings can be confused for love, but people soon realize that they are not true love. Here is to understanding more about love and the feeling.
If you want to define love in one sentence, love is one of the most profound emotions humans experience. It is a combination of attraction and closeness. The person we feel attracted or close to is the person we are, usually, in love with.
Such a person can be a friend, parent, siblings, or even our pet. Such love is based on a feeling of attraction or affection.
Love can be defined in different ways because there are different types of love. The answer to the question, “What is love for you?” can differ for everyone, depending on the relationship in context.
As per the Cambridge dictionary, love is defined as liking another adult very much and being romantically and sexually attracted to them or having strong feelings of liking a friend or person in your family.
While this is a more literal definition of the word, love can be defined in many other ways.
How to describe love?
Feelings of love can be defined as an amalgamation of various other emotions. Love is caring, compassion, patience, not being jealous, not having expectations, giving yourself and other people a chance, and not rushing.
What is love, then? You ask. Love has most often been used as a noun, but in practice, love is a verb. It is about what we do for others and the many ways we make other people feel loved and cared for.
What is the true meaning of love, according to the Bible
As per John 15:9-10, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”
If you set boundaries and abide by them, there is nothing purer and holier than love. Like God had made certain rules to adhere to, if we do, he loves us absolutely, completely. This is the meaning of ‘what is love.’ According to the Bible, love is pristine and sanctimonious.
However, the first love mentioned in the Bible is not romantic, but paternal love (Genesis 22.) It refers to the unconditional actions that a mother or father is willing to perform for their child. This is also where the idea of love being an action comes into play.
History of love
Just like most things around the world, love has also seen a transformation over the years and centuries. Love was not always the way we know it now.
Back in the day, love was secondary or not even under consideration when it came to a union between two people. Marriages, which in some cultures and parts of the world are known as the ultimate goal of a romantic relationship, were mostly transactional.
People married based on whether or not the marriage would bring them any benefits in terms of wealth and power.
However, if we look at forms of art such as poetry, it seems that love is an old emotion – something people have been experiencing for a long time.
Love is a holistic feeling. It involves many elements, words,, and actions which define love. “What is love, and what isn’t?” is a very common question we can find ourselves asking.
Many people may wonder what is the meaning of love in a relationship. The answer lies in the elements of love.
1. Care
Care is one of the primary elements of love.
If we love someone, we care about them, their feelings, and their well-being. We may go out of our way to make sure they are okay, and even compromise and sacrifice our needs and wants to give them what they need.
2. Admiration
Admiration is very crucial in love and relationships.
Admiration can be for their physicality or even for their mind and personality. Liking someone for their external and internal self and respecting their thoughts is an essential element of love.
3. Desire
Desire is both sexual and physical and mental.
Just wanting to spend more time with someone, being around them, and wanting them – are all parts of the desire you feel when you are in love with someone.
As we discuss the elements of love and what is love, it is also important to know what love is not.
We can often confuse some other emotions or feelings for love, but sooner or later, we realize that what we feel for a certain person is not love.
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Love is not lust
Despite the phrase “it was love at first sight,” love is not something we feel right away.
That strong feeling of attraction, like a magnet pulling you towards that person you’ve just met? That’s infatuation and sexual chemistry.
Mother nature gives us a big dose of infatuation to get us together initially.
Love does include sexual chemistry, but it differs because it is an emotion that takes time to build. Lust can appear in an instant; love evolves over a period of time as you get to know the other person inside and out.
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A relationship does not mean you are in love
You may be immensely sexually attracted to your partner, but that does not mean you understand the true definition of love.
If you haven’t developed a base of loving feelings with your partner, you will become bored once the sexual spark dies down.
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Love is not instant
How to explain love and relationship?
A loving relationship is not built in a day. The threads of love take time to weave together to form a strong bond.
It is only as you and your partner share your thoughts, fears, dreams, and hopes that love takes root. So trust the process and don’t rush love. It has its own timetable that needs to be respected and not hurried.
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The one true love
We talk about soul mates, but humans are built with the capacity to love over and over again. Thankfully so, or we would never recover from our high school crush or losing a partner to divorce or death.