Love covers a wide range of positive and strong emotional and psychological states, from the sublime ideal of human freedom, to the deepest personal pleasure, to the most playful thrill. It’s not all about sex, however. Love involves an inner journey through yourself, in addition to a outward journey through the universe. Your inner journey can be long and arduous, but it will be rewarding, ultimately. There is no greater reward than knowing you have loved and cared for someone, without condition, all your life.
You may experience intense feelings when you are loved, but you can also have intense feelings of love for a variety of other things. When you fall in love with your mother, for instance, you experience love that transcends mere physical connection, but you might fall in love with her because of her kindness, or her ability to nurture you when you were younger. If you felt truly cherished as a child, you might yearn to be loved as a child again, even if it has been decades since you have been able to fondle yourself or tickle your little sister.
While physical touch is an important part of the love bond, it’s certainly not the only component of the quality time you should be spending with your partner. Emotional connection is just as important. People vary in how intensely they connect with their partners in different ways. There are five love languages: Physical, Mental, Creative, Intellectual and Family, and each language carries its own unique connotations with the love you feel for your partner.
When you are in physical love, you are experiencing feelings of joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and security. You are connected with another person and enjoy the benefits of shared physical proximity. Physical love provides an immediate quality of security that emotional love does not, because you are connecting physically and not emotionally. On the other hand, romantic love takes longer to develop and is more complicated than simply feeling light, security and delight.
In mental love, you are looking for ways to make your partner feel good about them. Perhaps you find them funny, intriguing or charming. If you want to feel like you are truly loved, you need to connect with a positive emotions that come with your partner rather than negative, sour or angry feelings. By learning to connect with your partner in positive emotions, you can also learn to feel like they love you in return.
Intellectual love relates to intellectual stimulation and the pleasure you get from being with another person. As you become more connected with them, you start to feel like they are an authority on something or offer a kind of advice or insight that you seek. This type of emotional connection is more intimate and passionate. If you want to feel loved deeply and passionately in different ways, you may need to work on the qualities of romantic love rather than just focusing on physical intimacy. It’s important to remember that you will find yourself loving someone differently than you did when you first met them.