What is love and how does it impact our lives? How do we know if we are in love?
Love is a feeling. Unconditional love is a decision. The feelings usually come from what a person DOES for you. Unconditional love also gives you the feelings, but the feeling comes from being excited by a person simply being them. It’s outside of you, but obviously a reflection of you. Which is why self-love is so important.
Anyway, lets have some fun of examining what true love really is.
Here are 7 research-based indicators that can tell you what you are feeling is, in fact, love.
1) You Can’t Get Enough of Them
Every relationship has what is called a “honeymoon” phase. This is the phase in which the conversation is hot, sex is amazing, and even an afternoon nap feels super good. Everything is lit with passion and heat. You can’t get enough of them. When they’re not around, you stare at picture of them. You can feel the cute obsession mounting.
But is that love? According to Theresa DiDonato, Ph.D., you know you are in love if you continue to long for this person even after the honeymoon phase has passed.
A deep love endures many stages of a relationship and the changes that people go through as human beings.
Couples who successfully stay together continue to want to be in each other’s presence and talk to each other on a regular basis, even when times are tough.
They know that closeness helps strengthen the relationship.
2) You Want Everyone to Love Them
When you think you love someone, you are excited and nervous about introducing them to someone else.
You often view your loved one as a direct representation of who you are as a person and a physical representation of your life’s choices.
So, it’s understandable why we hesitate to take our partners home to our mother or our parents. We want everyone else to love them just as much, and see how amazing they are. For many relationships, this moment of truth is important because it helps an individual decide if the relationship is worth further pursuit.
While many people will say they don’t care what others think about the person they love, some people find it important to choose a partner that gets along with the rest of the family. Some on the other hand, know their family is a lil crazy, and yeah….
Meeting family and friends can play a big part in the success of a relationship. The opinions of their family and friends have swayed the relationship choices of many a soul. Sometimes your family is right. Sometimes they are wrong.
3) You Are Their Biggest Cheerleader
Regardless of how well you are doing in life, if you love someone, you cheer them on throughout their wins.
When your loved one wins, it lights you up. You’re happy for them. You feel only pride and triumph for this person. This is a sure sign that you are in love because you can put your own feelings aside and focus on another person’s victories.
If your relationship wasn’t as strong as you had hoped, you might find yourself being jealous of your partner’s new promotion. Some even experience an inferiority complex, which can tear a relationship apart before it ever has a chance to blossom. ( You play on the same team. A win is a win. It’s not separate from you, as long as you are doing you, and still playing to win. Besides someone else’s win is always a victory for you.)
4) You Like Them – Which is Important to Love
You can love someone and not like them. You probably experience this phenomenon with some of your family members.
You may have been told “I love you, but I don’t like you.” Not liked because your determination for success was misunderstood as being too “different” along with the attitude you displayed. But alas, life is good afterall. we can’t choose our families, but we can choose our partners.
When you have deep feelings for someone and you like them as a person, you could be in love.
If you love someone, but you are always fighting with them or feeling unhappy at the end of the day, it’s likely that you still love them, but don’t like them. Or you’re simply incompatible, because you’re not like them.
5) You Want to Tell Them Everything
When you love someone, you want to share everything with them. You don’t even dream of keeping secrets, and you want them to know how you are feeling.
While others find it difficult to talk to someone a lot. It happens quite naturally when fear isn’t leading the relationship. If you find yourself unable to get enough of someone, and wanting to talk to them more and more, then Yes, it could be love.
6) You’ve Become a Better Person
When you are in love, you show up differently than if you weren’t “feeling” a relationship. You want to do better and be better for this person.
People these days don’t want to be changed. They want people to love them as is. However when you’re truly in love, they change your life. They motivate you and inspire you to walk into the highest version of yourself. If you aren’t sure about how you feel about someone, pay attention to how your life has changed since you met them.
Are you striving for better things? It could be a sign that you are in love.
7) You Worry About Them
There is no need to worry about a mate. But of course, at times, you worry about them. When you are in love, it is like you a part of that person.
They are encoded into your soul. You carry a piece of them around with you, and they carry a piece of you.
It gets to the point where you can’t imagine life without them. You may worry about what life would be like without them, but you know it’s better to keep visualizing what life will be like with them. And that’s how you know for sure that you are in love.
True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is light, joy, equal and pure. ~ Kissy Denise
