Aug 5, 2011 / Topic Ideas

What does love mean to you?

Topic #210:

What does love mean to you? We talk about love all the time, but rarely do we sit down and think about what it is, and how our behavior helps us get more or less of the kind of love we desire.

How does platonic love differ from romantic love? How does the love we get from a parent differ from the love we get from a friend? Or a dog? Is love a feeling or a set of behaviors?

This topic suggested by Timmer at Timmer’s blog.

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  2. Love is a very complex thing, and something that is very difficult to understand. I dont think you can define it or pigeon hole it. There is love for family, then there is love for friends, and love at first sight, and true love.

    But, one thing that gets me about love when talk about that which is between a man and a woman, love that is required to make a relationship work. Love is percieved as being all encompassing, as being able to last against all odds. I think what most people now percieve as love is simply passion.

    Love to me is an entitity that encompasses everything in a successful long lasting relationship. That is: trust, friendship, passion. Once the passion has died there needs to be something to fall back on to make a relationship work. Love does not last forever, and can not withstand all tempests.

    My Nan used to tell me that when you love someone, when you are trully in love with someone you can think about cleaning their dirty underwear without blanching. A unique philosophy, but when broken down, really all she was saying is you trully love someone when you can deal with the really bad shit as well as the good stuff. When you don’t want to change those irritating little habits, and you accept them because that is part of the person you love.

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    1. Very well said… As I read your comment, I get some points and I learn. I hope someday that i can be able to apply it in every day life

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  3. Love is a verb and it means thinking of someone before yourself, it means sharing your time and attention with someone and if love is happening that means ego and fear have taken a walk because ego and love cannot coexist.

    Platonic involves hanging out, being friendly with an absence of sexual innuendo and talking about other relationships you’re in with your platonic friend. Romantic means wooing, impressing, excellent manners and cherishing with the purpose of victory in conquest. Parental love is more unconditional than friend love…friend love is more likely to be of convenience or what’s in it for me. (i.e., being a wingman, having someone to go out with but not getting too deep, etc.)

    And love is not a feeling, it’s a verb and an action.

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    1. Very nice! it feels like I’, going back to my earlier days of being in school. There are new words that I am not familiar with like for example the word: platonic and innuendo. Its nice to know that as you read a lot you widened your vocabulary.

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    2. so what happens then when you put everyone before yourself and you share your time and attention with someone or everyone …….. i am already a loving person and have a lot of love for people in my life. but it seems that every relationship is…. hmmm… i don’t know. i think i “love” them. and then i stepped back and asked myself …. did i really love them? what is love really???? typically most relationships end for me with no answers and if it were truly love… it would have stayed together? no???? i have been researching the science and psychology of love and it has kind of left me a tad disappointed. hmmm….. i am not quite sure what to think. because when i love or feel as if i love someone i give my everything. my all. no holding back and then… bam.

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    1. My friend, let me tell you, that there is no complication in loving a person with all that you’ve got. You love with no boundaries and condition because everyone of us feels to loved and be loved by others. So, easier said than done, don’t look at love as a conflicting term but look at it on a brighter side. The good one without limits.

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  8. Love means sharing life the ups and downs through marriage. Love means getting excited when your husband comes home from work and you have been married for 32 years. Love is loving your pets who love you no matter what you look like.Love is having friends all your life.Love is sharing and helping out when you need it.

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    1. For me, sister, love doesn’t cost you a single dime or two. So, for me, it’s not free. You have to impress the one you like the most by giving them all she wants. And by then, you invest emotionally to a person and then that investment will soon then turned out to be a two-way love. So, there’s an exchange of emotions.

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  11. Love is trust. Without trust at the very foundation of any love – love will struggle to grow, progress and develop. Love is wanting to make another person feel good about themselves. There is no room or need for jealously, bitterness, hate…when you love someone truly and honestly – it is more powerful than all of these negative emotions that some people mistake for loving.
    http://the-lady-lounge.com/

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  12. The difference between Romantic love and Platonic love is: Platonic love is the ability to treat people and any living creature right because it is the right thing to do. Romantic love is a combination of the ability to treat him or her right and the emotions combined. Since love grows, The romantic love will over time grow into a joining of two hearts if watered and nurtured. Love for Children is a the love that grow under your heart for nine months and then into it once they are here, therefore for children it is unconditional. The very basic of love is a set of positive behaviors. Let’s face it a person has no standards for behavior then that person cannot love because that person is void of that understanding.

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    1. Your comment reminds me of something like a song way back in the 80’s. It is entitled, “Love’s grown deep” by Kenny Nolan. A very nice song. I just missed my family.

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  15. Love is remaining loyal and faithful even when you feel so angry you could spit fire!

    When I was married and arguments ensued, my husband would call his ex-wife/family for support. This was the most insulting and humbling thing anyone could ever do to me, I would much rather he slap me (that’s not what I really mean, because I don’t condone abuse), it was a horrible experience and I never want to feel that way again.

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  20. Love gives and never seeks any return. Love is to love those who don’t know what love is. Love never teaches anything but love. Love never knows conquering anything, even hate.
    Love is exclusive to heart.
    Love and lust are diametrically opposite each other. Love is always right.
    Love can never be wrong. Love is Life, absence of Love is absence of life. .

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  21. Love can be the most amazing thing or the most terrible catastrophe in your life. Throughout life we’re most likely to face both of them. And who better to talk about love that writers. Here are some titles which stories are based on this uncontrollabe and unbelievable feeling. I’d chose them back then in February when everything was about St. Valentines.

    Books in the times of love

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  29. Love is a simple word have many meaning like true love,stupid love, and love has a force to make people cry or happy 🙂

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  30. UUUUMMMMHHHH,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE.THE ONLY WORD THAT IS UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTABLE,BUT UNDERSTOOD BY A VERY FEW.
    IT CONSTITUTES A MASSIVE RELIEF,BORDERING ON JOY.PURE,UNDILUTED EMOTIONAL FEELINGS.
    LOVE CAN MAKE A BAD DAY INSTANTLY BETTER.IT CAN MAKE YOU LAUGH,EVEN WHEN YOU’VE FELT LIKE CRAP ALL DAY.IT BRINGS OUT A SMILE IN YOU NO ELSE CAN.YOUR FACE LIGHTS UP THE ROOM.IT’S VOICE MAKES YOU WANT TO JUST LISTEN,FOR HOURS.IT MAKES YOUR EYES LOOK ELECTRIFYING.IT’S TOUCH AWAKENS YOU FROM YOUR DEEP SLUMBER.LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL,SMART,FUNNY AND THE NICEST ‘PERSON’ I’VE EVER MET!
    BUT WAIT.HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU EVER GOING TO EXPLAIN,IN TERMS OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS,SO IMPORTANT A BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON,LIKE ‘LOVE’!

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