I know, I know this is a given. But, Cosmic Reader, not necessarily. Some people define the word more as a noun.
Love is one of those words that is individually defined and rarely communicated. I know what I mean by ‘love’. But we can even use the same words to define it and mean different things. That’s why I always looked to the behavior to see if there was any congruence between the spoken word and the accompanying actions. I became determined as a young person that if I did love someone, that I wanted to demonstrate it before I said it.
Part of the dilemma is that I may mean one thing when I say “I love you” to my parents and different again when I’m talking to a friend and an entirely different meaning when I’m talking to my fiance’, which was different when he was my boyfriend. The definitions vary and the accompanying behaviors differ. The Greeks recognized this predicament and came up with 3 different words to describe/define love – we English-speaking people don’t have that luxury.
Love is so special and so important that it’s important for you to know your own definitions and behaviors and to not expect that the object of your affection may feel the same. So many hurt feelings and disappointments have occurred because of misunderstandings/different definitions that it really is critical, especially in marriages, to talk about love. Love requires transparency and opening oneself to another and this is risky. The alternative, though, is pain.
