Love is a favorite subject of many of us and other experts in various fields like scientists, writers, poets, and philosophers. People use the word “love” for religious beliefs, principles, ideas, animals, and non-humans. Today, we’ll discuss what is love; its types, impact, how to know, how to express, tips and suggestions for cultivating, and drawbacks.
What is Love?
Love is an integration of behaviors and emotions specified by commitment, passion, and intimacy. It comprises traits like trust, affection, attraction, protectiveness, closeness, and care. The intensity of love can change and transform over time. It has a connection with various positive and optimistic emotions like euphoria, life satisfaction, excitement, and happiness. It can also cause negative emotions like stress and jealousy.
Many people say that love is the most powerful, important, and strong human emotion. Various researchers have conducted studies to explain this human emotion and behavior, but the mystery still exists and is least understood. For instance, the researchers have been a debate the question of whether love is cultural or behavioral.
Many cultural factors and human biological drives influence love. The hormones in our body are the biology. They have their significance in terms of experiencing and expressing the feelings of love.
Like, Love, or Being In love
Many psychologists have conducted various research studies to comprehend the differentiation between liking someone, loving someone, or being in love for the past more than 50 years. Liking someone is when you appreciate someone’s company and have positive feelings and thoughts. When you like someone, then you would feel closeness and warmth.
When you love someone, it’s the state when you like someone and experience positive feelings, emotions, and thoughts. You would have a deep sense of commitment and care. Being in love is the state when you have deep sexual attractions and arousal feelings. It’s important to mention it here that different people view lo.ve differently, and that’s why not all lo.ve types are the same.
Love vs. Lust
When the relationship is new, then it is difficult to differentiate between the feelings of lust and love. It’s because both of them have the traits of strong physical attraction and a great desire to be closer to the other person. But love has the capability to last longer than lust.
Love cultivates and grows over time in terms of sharing life experiences and getting to know the other person. It comprises mutual acceptance, trust, time, and commitment. However, the sexual sensation is the main derive behind lust, and the urges bring them closer to procreating. It involves idealism, infatuation, and hormones
How to Know Love or Signs of Love
Some of the main signs of love are as follows;
- Attachment: a strong desire to be with the person and wanting approval and physical contact
- Caring: you value and take care of the needs and happiness of another person
- Intimacy: sharing your private desires, feelings, and thoughts with the beloved person
Types of Love
As I said earlier, not every feeling and emotion of lo.ve are the same, they’re different. Some of the main types of love are as follows;
- Unrequited Love: it’s not a mutual lo,ve, where you lo.ve someone, but the other person doesn’t lo.ve you back
- Compassionate Lo.ve: it’s a love comprised of commitment, intimacy, affection, and trust
- Passionate Lo.ve: it’s a form of lo.ve comprising intense feelings of attraction and longing, it comprises of idealism, and you’d like to have physical closeness
- Infatuation: it is a type of lo.ve that has great attraction without any commitment, it’s usually the early stage in the relationship, and it grows and tends to last longer
- Friendship: it comprises of liking the company of someone and having feelings of intimacy
Love is Cultural or Biological
Some researchers say that lo.ve is a biological human emotion like anger, happiness, jealousy, etc. The others suggest that it’s a cultural phenomenon because of family influence/expectations and social pressures.
Researchers say that lo.ve is a strong biological and emotional component, that’s why it exists among various cultures across the world. Psychologists suggest that it’s a human need that we desire and seek out. However, cultural influence is equally significant in terms of how people think, feel, experience, and express their feelings of lo.ve.
How to Practice or Express Love
Every relationship is unique and different based on their culture/historical background and needs. Lovers and partners express and practice their feelings of lo.ve differently. You can express and practice lo.ve by following ways;
- Expressing and showing unconditional lo.ve
- Showing affection
- Things about your life, share it
- You should acknowledge and recognize their qualities and traits
- Responding to the kindness act and lo.ve gestures
- Give priority and time to the other person
- Pay heed to whatever they say
- Tell them that you care about them deeply
- Be apologetic when you make a mistake
- Forgive when it comes to it
- Show your vulnerable side
Impact of Love
Affectionate feelings, deep attachment, and lo.ve have a great impact on the mental health and physical well-being of a person’s life. Some of the benefits of lo.ve are as follows;
- Low risk of diabetes
- Fewer chances of depression
- Low-stress level
- High longevity
- Healthy habits
- Low risk of heart attack or dying from it
- Fewer chances of getting heart disease
Suggestions for Cultivating Love
Intimacy, commitment, and trust are the main elements of a long-lasting relationship. Some of the main tips that you should keep in mind for cultivating a long-lasting relationship are as follows;
Resolving Conflicts in Healthier Way
It’s not a good sign of a healthy relationship if partners and lovers aren’t arguing. It means that they’re avoiding their issues rather than talking about them. You shouldn’t avoid conflict or any issue. Instead, you should resolve the conflict in healthier ways and take the relationship to the next level.
Communicating
The needs and wants of every partner are different. In order to know and meet the needs and wants of your partner, the lovers should communicate and talk things out. They should talk about their lo.ve through words and actions. You can do so by making your partner feel special and doing things in order to show your lo.ve.
Love-Kindness Meditation
The lo.ve kindness meditation technique helps you to lower the stress level, amplify self-acceptance, improve relationships, and promote positive emotions. It comprises of thinking about a person that you lo.ve or care about while meditating and focusing on their happiness and well-being.
Drawbacks of Love
There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. Disappointments, misunderstandings, conflicts, and problems occur in the relationship, and it results in the form of stress and heartbreak. In case of a breakup in the relationship, then you would experience negative emotions like;
- Sadness
- Possessiveness
- Obsessiveness
- Jealousy
- High-stress level
- Depression
- Anxiety
The negative emotions have also got associated with lo.ve, and they distract your attention in performing the routine functions. The negative emotions outweigh the positive emotions.
Conclusion: What is Love? How to Practice & Express – Types, Impact
After an in-depth study of what is lo.ve; its types, impact, drawback, signs, and tips, we’ve realized that lo.ve is a very strong and powerful emotion. It offers you the energy to face the various challenges of life.
Ahsan is an accomplished researcher and has a deep insight in worldly life affairs. He goes Live 3 days a week on various social media platforms. Other than research writing, he’s a very interesting person.
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