Content

• To step
• Tips
• Warnings

"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
- Albert Einstein

Love is difficult to define. How can you avoid confusing it with love or lust? Philosophers and psychologists alike have attempted to define love, or at least how love differs from infatuation and lust. If you are looking for love, the following observations may be helpful.

Love is much more than a risk, but it is a risk that one can take, hold on to and plunge through it into a deep abyss, or dig a deep hole for oneself to hide in and where one can alone. crawls out when one has overcome one's own emotions.

How can one truly define what love is? Not even an experienced person can fully understand or explain the true and deepest meaning of it love. Its concept is an endless story from an open book of experiences. But love is in people's hearts, in the same way that memories are nothing more than languishing shadows in the soul. Love gives someone else the power to break your heart, and gives you the confidence that they won't.

To step

1. Define love by thinking about what it means to you. If you want to, boldly write down all your feelings and thoughts about love. The dictionary defines love in the different ways we use this word. For example, love is:
   • A strong positive feeling of affection or joy; so something like, "His joy at her affection for him"
   • An object that you feel affectionate for, are devoted to or love: "The theater was her first great love". "I love French cuisine".
   • Beloved: beloved, dear or dear; used as pet name.
   • A strong sense of desire or physical attraction; eg, "She was his first love" or "She loves her husband."
   • Physical love: intercourse between two people; eg "They made love."
2. Watch how the ancient Greeks divided love into four categories. Think about the category in which the love you feel for the people around you falls.
   1. Agape is unconditional love. It is love that you "choose" for, even if you are not happy about something. A good example is "God loves us despite our mistakes."
   2. Philia is charity or love for our fellow man, indicated by what we love or by healthy and unhealthy ones needs and desires. This is why Philadelphia has been referred to as the "City of Charity".
   3. Storge is the word for family love and the physical expression of "affection," the need for physical contact. Sometimes it is also the love between two exceptional friends (the movie Grumpy Old Men for instance).
   4. Eros is the physical, "sexual" desire, intercourse. It is the root of the word for eroticism and erotic.
3. Be aware of the times when you feel love for someone or something.
4. Think about why you love that person. Is it real love that you feel or a connection that can easily disappear? If you have something to gain from it, you may be attracted to it and confuse the desire for it with love.
5. Think about how you would have the same feelings for a person if their appearance changed. Isn't it more than physical attraction?
6. Express your feelings in a metaphor, poetry or song. "Love is like ..."
7. Define love as a psychologist: Divide love into three components.
   1. Passion is the underlying physical desire, sexual behavior and arousal. This is the physical side.
   2. Intimacy is the emotional aspect: being close together, being connected and the warmth of friendship.
   3. Commitment is the conscious decision to stay together for the longer term: are you willing to take that step?
8. Ask yourself if love is forever. No matter how much time passes or what obstacles in the future arise in the path of true and true love, love will never pass away. This may be a far cry from reality, but it is a soothing fantasy for many people.
   • While this is a much more pleasant way to believe in love, there are always situations where love stops. All too easily, this can be attributed to love that is not true or where two people are mistaken about each other (when lovers appear not to be meant for each other, but have found each other).
   • Love can cause wars; in the case of religious love and the love of money can drive people to steal and murder; it can lead to suicide and tear up marriages and families, it can spread disease and be at the forefront of evil.
   • In philosophical terms, nothing is eternal, not even love. Nothing has ever been forever since the beginning of time, nor will anyone ever know whether it will be true for anything. This is a paradox because we pledge eternal fidelity, although eternity by definition cannot have an end. Even if the human mind could somehow last an eternity, human nature still dictates that anger, boredom, and / or irritation will end any relationship, if there is enough time.

Tips

• Unconditional love does not mean that you are only there for the other. It means balancing your own happiness with that of the other in a way that will make the lives of both of you better.
• For inspiration, read Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous poem, "How Do I Love Thee?" and reflect on the famous line from a Shakespearean poem: "Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds" (Sonnet 116)
• Love is being aware of its existence and design, a chemical cocktail that derives its power from the evolution of our species, understanding its function, where we all have the freedom to seek out the usefulness of love and the hope of getting more out of it, in a way that can change us physically and mentally.
• If some aspect of your loved one's behavior hurts or irritates you, have the courage to make it clear to them and give them the opportunity to change before your love for that person is definitely over.

Warnings

• People can start to love or stop loving someone, so if your "true love" turns out to be abusive or making you sad rather than happy, end the relationship and find a healthy person to love.