Love and relationships are important entities in human life from the beginning of time. A relationship is composed of several things. It encompasses friendship, Mental and Emotional compatibility, sexual attraction, and most importantly- love. Be it the tender touch of a mother, the helping hand of a father, an affectionate touch from a sibling, a passionate kiss of a soul mate or even some compassionate support from a friend, love is ubiquitous in all kinds of relationships. However, there is a lot of conflict over its definition as each one of us experiences it from divergent angles.
So What is Love?
Love is a sublime experience and is intimately related to human relationships. Trying to explain love is difficult as it involves a complex set of emotions, behaviours and beliefs that are associated with strong feelings of affection, warmth, care and protection. Love also means having respect for another person in the relationship. It is not just about physical inclination, but willingness to prioritize your partner’s well-being and happiness above your own. It causes an intoxicating rush of feel-good chemicals in one’s system and is essential for a long-lasting relationship. Real love is an unconditional flow experience and cannot be explained in its true nature.
How does love, play an important role in any relationship?
Let us understand some of the key points about love and relationships and how they are interrelated.
1. Love creates mutual respect
Love means you value each other despite all your differences. It sees no demarcation between a man and a woman and commands respect at both ends for one another. You listen to each other’s opinions. In cases where there is conflict, love teaches you to find a midpoint and agree to work it out. The warm feelings of adoration towards each other keep you happy in your relationship.
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2. Love eliminates Selfishness
Being selfish does not get you as far as you would think it does. And especially never in a relationship. That is where love comes in and saves the day. It is a two-way street and love is the only partnership. It helps you to not be selfish and also respect each other’s wants and needs. It helps you work on togetherness in the relationship. It is all about two people who are united as one in their heart, mind and soul.
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3. Love helps to build honesty and truthfulness
Lying is never an option, in love or even otherwise. There is never any gain that arises out of a lie and love helps you be truthful to yourself and your partner. Honesty is always practised where you do not want to intentionally cause hurt to your loved ones and this act of faithfulness becomes a habit in yourself as well as your relationship. It trains you to be as righteous as you possibly can.
Read More: Why Liars Are Less Attractive
4. Love makes you feel Invincible
Life is not always rainbows and sunshine and it has its fair share of downsides too. The feeling of being loved and adored changes your approach to life, making it brighter and happier. You find the courage within you to take up new challenges to do the things you thought you were not capable of doing. The ability to have an intimate and affectionate connection with another person keeps you solid.
5. Love builds a Bright future
Love is more than just a happy emotion. It helps you aim for a future that is a combination of your and your partner’s dreams. In other words, it is a support structure for you to construct your ship on. It boosts confidence and you want to work twice as hard because somewhere you are certain that no matter what, you know that you have someone by your side who will always believe in you, trust you and want to see you succeed.
6. Love weaves a path to Self-discovery
It is exceedingly hard to find love without loving yourself first. Even though love is always attached to emotions of compromise and sacrifice, it has more significance and reflects on one’s own life. It can reveal a lot about yourself and make you realise things you may not have already known. By being in constant contact with another one where you try to put their feelings ahead of yours, you understand your preferences, morality, tastes, thought processes and instinctive reactions better. Love reveals a lot about one’s character because it brings you to situations you may not have been in before.
7. Love makes you Optimistic
Without hope, it feels as if there is a certain heaviness that is weighing your body down. In today’s age and time, where giving up is an option that precedes even trying, hope is the most fragile element. Love helps you gain confidence and makes certain that your hope and faith will not go in vain. It gives you a forward momentum helping you open up to new challenges. You know that there is someone who believes in your capabilities and you have a better understanding that the issues are situational and not permanent.
Read More: Why you should be Optimistic?
8. Love brings us Closer
Many people strongly believe that long-distance relationships never work out. However, where love blooms, distances fail to bring destruction. Being of your strong feelings of likeliness towards each other, distance from one another does no harm to the relationship. No one says that it is easy to live miles apart, however, your feelings and attachments make it achievable. It keeps you going and makes you stronger. In times when your patience is tested, love is what keeps you sailing through all geographical and emotional barriers.
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9. Love reinforces our Relationship
If you wish for your relationship to stand the test of time, it needs to have one underlying point on which the bond can survive. And that very foundation is love. Some people have trouble sustaining relationships because the very reason for being together is missing. They do not feel affected in any way because they do not possess the very feeling of likeliness towards the other person and hence, there is no fear of loss. Love helps you find your way back to each other and takes you a long way because you get your mind to accept and forgive the doing and focus on the greater good of the relationship.
Read More: The Psychology Behind the Fear of Abandonment
10. Love makes you Value people over Wealth
The very feeling of attachment to a human makes you value them over materialistic pleasures. You start to value emotions and not financial profit alone. Hard-earned money is easily exchanged in return for your lover’s favourite thing and you choose the state of happiness that is emotional rather than that obtained from monetary gains. Love also makes you humble and keeps your ego in check to not hurt another based on their economic status. Just like love sees no barriers of age, sex, caste and creed, it overpowers money as well.
To conclude, love is the most powerful & magnanimous emotion & feeling that has no boundaries and it is intimately connected with all human relationships, where life starts. To be more precise love is synonymous with a true relationship.