You’ve heard the expression, “love is a light that brings a lamp.” There is a lot of thought that goes into falling in love. Most people spend their entire lives searching for that one special person to love them unconditionally. Love is a complex set of behaviors and emotions characterized by emotional intimacy, romance, passion, devotion, and caring. It entails emotional proximity, caring, affection, support, protection, attraction, trust, and joy. Love is frequently associated with a number of positive emotional states, such as happiness, excitement, new life satisfaction, and joy, but it can also often result in… negative emotional states such as stress, anxiety, fear, sadness, anger, jealousy, and guilt.
Emotions are powerful. They can influence our actions and thoughts so much more than we realize. A recent study on couples who were in a long term romantic love relationship found that although these couples had similar characteristics – they were actually very dissimilar in what they considered to be “loving” behaviors. One of the key factors that separated these couples was the degree of their liking someone else. In one study participants who adhered to a certain “loving” behavior were significantly more in love than those who did not adhere to this same “loving” behavior.
To make matters worse, this same study found that the couples who adhered to this “loving” behavior were more likely to stay in a relationship for longer periods of time. The difference in their relationship stability was significant. So, when you consider long-term romantic attachment, you have to take the level of intimacy and the degree of caring into account. Intimacy and caring are two very important components of romantic love. And one of the easiest ways to enhance your feelings for your partner is through intimacy and caring.
On the other hand, those who do not make an effort to create long-term bonds may also experience some difficulty in being in a relationship with someone. That’s because their attempts to create these feelings might say, “I don’t love you enough,” or, “I’m too busy with work.” A person might say, “I don’t know how I feel about you,” when they’re really saying, “I feel great about you.”
Intimacy and caring go hand-in-hand with creating long-term romantic love. In fact, intimacy and caring can have positive benefits in a relationship and in your overall well-being. When you feel loved and cared for, you tend to thrive emotionally and your physical health improves. That’s why “loving” behaviors can promote a healthy attitude about another person as well as a healthy and positive approach to romance and relationships.
It’s easy to fall into the rut of believing that the only way you’ll feel love is by having sex with that other person. However, that’s just one of the many ways you can demonstrate your feelings for another person. Being compassionate and giving your full attention to another person are the kinds of behaviors that are going to get your heart ringing with love. If you want to know what the secret of love really is, it’s all about how you are connected with your innermost self – and with another person. You have to believe that the two of you have a connection – before you can believe in the attraction part of the secret.