About Love. And all that stuff.

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  • JessicaJS23
    JessicaJS23 Posts: 1,863 Member
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    I think love is like this -

    When love exists between a man and woman both parties will absolutely unconsciously do good towards and for the other person. People will act and communicate and all that without even thinking because doing those things is at the core of their very being. It's who they are - not what they do. But what they do and express is the result of who they are. Make any sense?

    I think this is perfect.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I think love is like this -

    When love exists between a man and woman both parties will absolutely unconsciously do good towards and for the other person. People will act and communicate and all that without even thinking because doing those things is at the core of their very being. It's who they are - not what they do. But what they do and express is the result of who they are. Make any sense?

    Yes it makes sense.

    I'm still not convinced that it can last forever though. But who knows.
  • DetroitDarin
    DetroitDarin Posts: 955 Member
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    I guess we'd have to define forever. If forever is 'until the next chapter' or 'as long as you walk that path'? Yeah...I dunno either. Right now I'd love not-forever...just for....for awhile. Ya know?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I guess we'd have to define forever. If forever is 'until the next chapter' or 'as long as you walk that path'? Yeah...I dunno either. Right now I'd love not-forever...just for....for awhile. Ya know?

    Well I suppose it's easier to have short term love for sure. But I hear you!
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I think love is like this -

    When love exists between a man and woman both parties will absolutely unconsciously do good towards and for the other person. People will act and communicate and all that without even thinking because doing those things is at the core of their very being. It's who they are - not what they do. But what they do and express is the result of who they are. Make any sense?

    Yes it makes sense.

    I'm still not convinced that it can last forever though. But who knows.

    In many cases it doesn't (and it's always ok to move on). I have been in love with my husband for 18 years. It's hard to imagine not loving him after all these years. But, it doesn't really matter. I appreciate our lives together in the past and present. I will always value that, even if things somehow changed in the future.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I think love is like this -

    When love exists between a man and woman both parties will absolutely unconsciously do good towards and for the other person. People will act and communicate and all that without even thinking because doing those things is at the core of their very being. It's who they are - not what they do. But what they do and express is the result of who they are. Make any sense?

    Yes it makes sense.

    I'm still not convinced that it can last forever though. But who knows.

    In many cases it doesn't (and it's always ok to move on). I have been in love with my husband for 18 years. It's hard to imagine not loving him after all these years. But, it doesn't really matter. I appreciate our lives together in the past and present. I will always value that, even if things somehow changed in the future.

    That's the thing for me... I see all those people on FB who celebrate their 10th/16th/whatever anniversary and post on how lucky they are.. and I just get jealous! So I don't know if I just changed too much or what... or if I'm just unable to love someone so long, or if it just wasn't really love or the right person? I just wish I could feel that again...
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Heartisalonelyhunter Posts: 786 Member
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    Within an adult man-woman relationship: If love is not really-good, it's not love. My favourite quote about love - and this might cost my man-card - but my favourite line is from the movie Midnight in Paris - this scene.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YEstLmzyvI

    Within love - within relationships - the number one killer is compromise. Compromise ensures neither the man nor the woman get what they need - they settle for less. In the little aspects that's fine - things like where to eat dinner, what colour to pain the living room, etc. But in the bigger aspects compromise leads only to hurt and loneliness and unfulfilled wants and needs. Compromise says "Oh..I know you really enjoy a snuggle, but - that's not really me, so...you can just be next to me and hug this pillow okay?" or "I really don't like to hold your hand, so...how about I hold your hand for just the next hour?" - crap like that.

    Love therefore should be stupidly-easy and should be the baseline for a successful relationship. Love should be the non-negotiable.

    Signs the relationship is not love-based? If either of you ever say stuff like "...after everything I've done for you! THIS is how you treat me?"

    Nope. that's not love. Love isn't selfish nor does love keep score.

    If either says "Well, if you love me, you will (insert chore or task)!"

    Love isn't tranasaction-based - love (affection, sex, etc) is not a currency.

    Love is not "Do this to show me you love me" - love is "Because I love you I can't help but be a certain way around you; because I love you of course I am kind and thoughtful - but being kind and thoughtful is not necessarily love.


    What do you think? I think I'm right - but I could be full of crap because that happens too - sometimes on a road trip where I have to literally spring out into the woods...search the forum for THAT story...
    Within an adult man-woman relationship: If love is not really-good, it's not love. My favourite quote about love - and this might cost my man-card - but my favourite line is from the movie Midnight in Paris - this scene.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YEstLmzyvI

    Within love - within relationships - the number one killer is compromise. Compromise ensures neither the man nor the woman get what they need - they settle for less. In the little aspects that's fine - things like where to eat dinner, what colour to pain the living room, etc. But in the bigger aspects compromise leads only to hurt and loneliness and unfulfilled wants and needs. Compromise says "Oh..I know you really enjoy a snuggle, but - that's not really me, so...you can just be next to me and hug this pillow okay?" or "I really don't like to hold your hand, so...how about I hold your hand for just the next hour?" - crap like that.

    Love therefore should be stupidly-easy and should be the baseline for a successful relationship. Love should be the non-negotiable.

    Signs the relationship is not love-based? If either of you ever say stuff like "...after everything I've done for you! THIS is how you treat me?"

    Nope. that's not love. Love isn't selfish nor does love keep score.

    If either says "Well, if you love me, you will (insert chore or task)!"

    Love isn't tranasaction-based - love (affection, sex, etc) is not a currency.

    Love is not "Do this to show me you love me" - love is "Because I love you I can't help but be a certain way around you; because I love you of course I am kind and thoughtful - but being kind and thoughtful is not necessarily love.


    What do you think? I think I'm right - but I could be full of crap because that happens too - sometimes on a road trip where I have to literally spring out into the woods...search the forum for THAT story...

    I have to say, I don't think you can apply these rules to love. Or any rules, really, because each relationship has a different dynamic. Relationships are about compromise. My husband plays football. I don't enjoy watching football but I go and watch because I love him and it makes him happy. Does it mean I love him less because we don't enjoy all of the same things or agree on everything?
    I understand you are talking mainly about compromising on a partner for fear of being single (or not divorcing a partner for the same reason). But it does seem that you are demonizing compromise when no partnership can operate without it. No one is a perfect fit. You will never have exactly the same tastes and opinions on everything as someone else and that's actually healthy.
    Recently there have been a lot of threads about people who have been denied sex/intimacy in their relationship. And even some people who admit to withholding sex from their spouses. I do completely agree with you that withholding sex/affection is emotional abuse and not something that can be compromised on at all.
  • Libertysfate
    Libertysfate Posts: 452 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    :D I over-think a lot. Being inside my brain can be tiring. Thanks for reading - and your spot-on comments, Louise. :) Except you used the dreaded C-word. I think the best relationships - nobody has to compromise anything because we naturally love exactly what the other person offers. Make sense?

    I agree with this. I'm just not sure that most of us will actually have that kind of love. I know that I haven't. But I've been in love with people that I loved completely, faults and all... just never got to pursue those relationships... so I can't tell you how it would have ended (and it really broke my heart each time). And unfortunately, my current relationship is not one of those.

    I'd wager that the probability that two people feel that strongly for each other is very slim. And that's why a lot of long term married people end up unhappy, IMO... or have to compromise a lot to make it work... or they go from relationship to relationship hoping for 'the one' but are unlikely to find it. Because it's extremely rare.

    Those old couples who still love each other after 40 years are extremely lucky, I think.

    For the longest time I thought the same way. I didn't date for 6 years because I wasn't convinced love wasn't just something we has emotional creatures made up in our head and it's all psychological. Prior to that I've been in my share of relationships that lasted years, kept waiting for something, anything...that signaled this was "it." Clearly that never came because all those relationships ended because I just wasn't in love and couldn't see a future with them.

    I work in a field where I get to meet lots of people and I've spoken to many couples who've been married over 50 years and still just as in love as when they first met. Some were fortunate to meet their love young and others, took them later in life. But what I took away from their stories was that they both understood that love takes work, communication from both partners, and that relationship is a partnership. Plus, they all said they married their best friend.

    About 8 months ago I unexpectedly met my current boyfriend and well, my feelings on love has changed.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I think love is like this -

    When love exists between a man and woman both parties will absolutely unconsciously do good towards and for the other person. People will act and communicate and all that without even thinking because doing those things is at the core of their very being. It's who they are - not what they do. But what they do and express is the result of who they are. Make any sense?

    Yes it makes sense.

    I'm still not convinced that it can last forever though. But who knows.

    In many cases it doesn't (and it's always ok to move on). I have been in love with my husband for 18 years. It's hard to imagine not loving him after all these years. But, it doesn't really matter. I appreciate our lives together in the past and present. I will always value that, even if things somehow changed in the future.

    That's the thing for me... I see all those people on FB who celebrate their 10th/16th/whatever anniversary and post on how lucky they are.. and I just get jealous! So I don't know if I just changed too much or what... or if I'm just unable to love someone so long, or if it just wasn't really love or the right person? I just wish I could feel that again...

    It's definitely not because there is anything wrong with you. And it probably was really love. I don't know why some relationships work out longer term and others don't. But probably just depends on how good of a match they are together. If you grow together or grow apart. And there isn't anything wrong with that. And some people don't want to be in long monogamous relationships (from listening to people talk), and that's ok too. But, I hope you find what you want and will bring happiness. Thanks for opening up. You definitely aren't alone in these thoughts and feelings. I see/hear people talk about it.
  • ARGriffy
    ARGriffy Posts: 1,002 Member
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    Timshel_ wrote: »
    Sorry, love it's about always wanting to be happy and living some bliss.

    I've told my wife 100's of times that I love her but that doesn't mean in every step of that I've liked her. We have had some VERY low low's and some amazing highs. What makes it love is, she is the one I want to have both of those experiences with. It is not emotional though, because you will have the gamete of emotions.

    Affections can come and go (pun intended), but love still remains. It is not physical, but it will manifest itself in wanting to be physical often.

    Love is a commitment to allow all of the highs and lows, good and bad, passion and passiveness, all of that be what it is with the person BECAUSE it is part of them. And you love them for who they are.

    Of course you settle because NO ONE is the best of everything. Maybe they are an amazing person and treat you like the world, but the sex life isn't as passionate as that one person you dated years ago (but treated you like crap). Maybe they aren't very good at emotional connection but everything else is AMAZING.

    It is sad how many times I hear couples talk about everything their spouse isn't, when truly being blessed with someone is loving them for everything they are.

    All of this. Love this, so accurate for me and my husband :smiley: apart from the passion bit...pleanty of passion here

  • JG1984
    JG1984 Posts: 12 Member
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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Timshel_ wrote: »
    Sorry, love isn't about always wanting to be happy and living some bliss.

    I've told my wife 100's of times that I love her but that doesn't mean in every step of that I've liked her. We have had some VERY low low's and some amazing highs. What makes it love is, she is the one I want to have both of those experiences with. It is not emotional though, because you will have the gamete of emotions.

    Affections can come and go (pun intended), but love still remains. It is not physical, but it will manifest itself in wanting to be physical often.

    Love is a commitment to allow all of the highs and lows, good and bad, passion and passiveness, all of that be what it is with the person BECAUSE it is part of them. And you love them for who they are.

    Of course you settle because NO ONE is the best of everything. Maybe they are an amazing person and treat you like the world, but the sex life isn't as passionate as that one person you dated years ago (but treated you like crap). Maybe they aren't very good at emotional connection but everything else is AMAZING.

    It is sad how many times I hear couples talk about everything their spouse isn't, when truly being blessed with someone is loving them for everything they are.

    But again, love is not something you can force to feel. You're saying that love remains. I'm just saying it's not always the case. And being with someone who loves you when you don't feel the same way in return doesn't make you feel 'blessed'. It makes you feel guilty because you can't return it.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    But again, love is not something you can force to feel. You're saying that love remains. I'm just saying it's not always the case. And being with someone who loves you when you don't feel the same way in return doesn't make you feel 'blessed'. It makes you feel guilty because you can't return it.

    I understand. I just believe that if you focus on feeling in love, as you mention above, you will just be on a road of serial monogamy looking for the next person to make you feel it when that feeling starts to fade...and it always fades...and even disappears at time. That is when love - commitment and caring for a person - becomes more real.

    Simply a different perspective and focus for me.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    @DetroitDarin , I think you are single. I await with bated breath your advice on parenting.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Different people are going to have different experiences. We each can understand and have insight into and learn from our own experiences. People can share their experience and what they have learned. We can share and listen. Not expect everyone to have the same experiences. I have insight into my own experiences and others into theirs. And it's interesting to share and hear sometimes. What works for one, is different for another. What one wants is different from another. And different people might even describe a similar experience differently. Internet communication is hard enough to understand. But, I always appreciate when people open up about things.
  • success84
    success84 Posts: 11 Member
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    Are you single? Lol just kidding but seriously I love this post And following threads. Add me and I will chat more on the subject :)
  • Shana67
    Shana67 Posts: 680 Member
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    My all time favorite quote from a movie about love, and it is so fitting for my life and I think many of us:

    "People call these things imperfections, but they're not, aw that's the good stuff. And then we get to choose who we let in to our weird little worlds. You're not perfect, sport. And let me save you in suspense. This girl you met, she isn't perfect either. But the question is: whether or not you're perfect for each other. That's the whole deal. That's what it's about."

    - Good Will Hunting