Love is a doing word meaning

Asked by: Alfonzo Christiansen

Score: 4.8/5
(49 votes)

Relationships grow stale when people live in the same house, even—even when they make love heartlessly—when there is no more doing, no more verb. … there is no relationship, and there is no love. Love is a verb. Love is a doing word.

Is love a word or action?

It’s not just words. You’ve probably heard the saying that «love is a verb», and there’s a lot of truth behind that. … Love isn’t something you can just say; it’s something that you need to do. Therefore, love is action.

Is love a verb or a feeling?

Because love is not a one-time thought or feeling. … Love is a verb.

Is love a verb or an adjective?

love (verb) love–hate (adjective) love affair (noun) love child (noun)

Can love be used as a verb?

Love can be a noun or a verb.

41 related questions found

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• #1

Ciao,
Una canzone dei massive attack dice:
«Love is a verb / Love is a doing word».
«Doing word» è un’espressione che non avevo mai sentito prima… Qualcuno sa dirmi come potrei renderla in italiano?
Grazie!

Last edited: Aug 8, 2008

• #2

Ciao,
Una canzone dei massive attack dice:
«Love is a verb / Love is a doing word»
«doing word» è un’espressione che non avevo mai sentito prima..
Anch’io
qualcuno sa dirmi come potrei renderla in italiano?
grazie!

Testo originale —
http://www.w9fz.com/radiobruno/radiobrunooct99.pdf

In questo consteo indica qualcosa del genere:
L’amore è una cosa che (chiede l’azione)(chiede da fare)

• #3

In un blog in lingua inglese ho trovato l’espressione usata in questo modo:

I have come to realize that the word love is a doing word and not just a noun! Ma ancora non mi sono schiarita bene le idee..

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 8, 2008

• #4

in un blog in lingua inglese ho trovato l’espressione usata in questo modo:

I have come to realize that the word love is a doing word and not just a noun!

ma ancora non mi sono schiarita bene le idee..

It’s not commonly used (it’s in a song) but it means…love is something you have to work on…it doesn’t just happen because you say it.

• #5

Thank you for your help!

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 8, 2008

• #6

Vuol dire che «love» è «amare» e non solo «amore».

Tristano

• #7

Hi there
Basically, although you all understand perfectly, I would like to point out that all verbs are «doing words». Years ago this is how we were taught at school. If you can «do» it, it is a verb. I don’t know the particular song, but it is just emphasising the fact that love is a «doing» word. (Of course, how to translate to Italian is another matter!)

Ciao
Leo

“Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!”

Moulin Rouge – a movie all about love with their well-known quote, “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return”. The movie perfectly portrays how two people who were not allowed to be together would do everything in their willpower to love each other till they take their last breath.

That’s probably the general view of loving someone unconditionally that you would do everything and anything to be together. However, with over 7 billion people on this planet, not everyone will have the same definition. Love is a very diverse term. Everyone needs it in some way or another, and therefore, everyone has their own definition to what ‘love’ means to them.

Haikal, 12, Romantic, Adventurous

In my opinion, love is not how much you say ‘I love you’ but how much you can prove it’s true. It’s about how patient and kind you are, it does not include boasting, it is not how arrogant and rude you are.

Love means accepting a person with all their failures, stupidities, and their imperfection. For example, love means there is no more busy world, it’s always about priorities. You will always find times you feel the most important about.

So in conclusion, I think love is a variety of different feelings; it’s about accepting someone for who they are and have feelings and do whatever it takes to have their forgiveness or even their heart.

Joseph, 21, Withdrawn Over-Thinker

I don’t believe in love at first sight. Attraction at first sight, yes. Affection at first sight, perhaps. But love?

Love, to me, rests on the same cline as companionship. And companionship is the foundation of love. Respect, understanding, and enthusiasm are the pillars on which this foundation is built – not initial attraction, not initial perception.

I suppose I am, to an extent, a victim of the ‘mere-exposure effect,’ in which a preference for someone or something comes with familiarity. I was close friends with my girlfriend for seven years before ‘asking her out,’ and I truly think that this friendship has served as an excellent point of reference over the last two years.

Therein lies the crux of my contention: love is not the gunshot signaling that the race has begun, but nor is it the feeling of crossing the finishing line. Love is the race – the journey – itself. Cliché? Yeah, sort of, but I do think it holds that the muddy concept of ‘love’ cannot be confined to the claustrophobic space of initial meeting, and this casts heavy doubts over the idea of love at first sight.

I respect but can’t identify with the desire for ‘one night stands’ or ‘wicked hooks,’ or whatever lingo is being used these days to denote seemingly frivolous dealings with a significant (or not so significant) other. It simply isn’t in my personality to consider such physical interaction to be so detached from emotional connection.

Of course, that’s not to say that love is static; it is an ever-changing construct, arbitrarily named and largely blurred at its edges. For some people, love at first sight might both exist and be fruitful, and I’m totally fine with that. In fact, let me make an amendment to my opening statement: I don’t believe in love at first sight for me.

Love exists outside the realm of human relationships, but I think nuanced meaning clouds its existence. I love coffee, I love the fresh air, and I love poetry, but I’m not in love with them.

I am in love with my girlfriend.

Kirsty, 23, Secretly Sentimental

An important element of love is to love yourself. Accept yourself and embrace the parts of yourself that you don’t necessarily like about yourself. This is an important lesson in how to love someone else. If you love yourself, you can be more generous with the love you give to others. You find yourself feeling more fulfilled and more loved than you could possibly imagine. You’ll find yourself smiling at the thought of whoever it is that you find you love. Love means seeing flaws and accepting them as positive traits. You’ll feel a sense of completeness that you never knew you were lacking in the first place, and no matter how long you’ve been apart whether it be hours or months you’ll feel like you’re coming home.

Luke, 21, Avocado Enthusiast

To possess a true love for something, some place, some ideology or someone and feel the reciprocation is often perceived as a final hurdle on a pathway to utopia, ‘a hypothetical place or state of things where everything is perfect.’

If I were to use something as simple as an “avocado” as a representation of any human, object or place capable of being truly loved; love can be defined to me as the feelings you are overcome with when you stumble across one of these wonderful green oval-shaped specimens, one that is of perfect ripeness, far superior to any avocado you’ve found on the shelves before. So flawless that as your knife pierces through the delicate skin effortlessly leaving you two immaculate halves not only does your heart and mind constantly discover new boundaries of excitement but a level of contentedness and satisfaction settles in.

With a little feta cheese to accompany, all spread over the finest sourdough toast, and experienced in your own personal paradise, each bite brings forth feelings of invincibility and superiority that not a thing in the world can overcome the sheer happiness. I love avocados.

Sarah, 14, Open-Minded and Exciting

What is love to me? Love is something unconditional and can’t really be explained in words. Of course, I’ve never experienced it yet, but it’s something I wish to feel in my lifetime.

The best way you can really say it is, it’s a feeling that you can’t shake, no matter how hard you try. The feeling when you love that special someone or something you can never live without. The feeling to need them and protect them.

Love is when you look at that person, and your heart accelerates, you get goosebumps. Every time you touch them you feel the electricity radiating off the both of you. You can never feel selfish with them and sacrifice anything or everything if it means you can be with them for the rest of your life. It’s when that person makes you happy no matter how you’re feeling. No matter the gender, ethnicity or person.

But love isn’t easy, it comes with consequences and sacrifices that if you are willing to make you know you’ve found the right someone/something.

I know very few people who are truly, deeply, and madly in love with each other, and let me tell you every time I see that it gives me the shred of hope that there actually might be someone out there for me.

So that’s what love is to me. How bout you?

Sharvin, 19, Dog Lover

Everyone at a pinnacle point in their life has experienced love regardless if they were loved or have been loved. It’s an inevitable feeling that captures the heart with full on passion, infatuation, and desire. It comes in all sorts of forms like with family, friends or an intimate love. In my experience, love “feels so good but hurts so bad”, I went through many amazing memories of my life with the women I love but at the end, it will either end up a fairytale or just like a wrecking ball being swung at you at immense pace.

My love generally lies in the animal kingdom. Such exquisite creatures roaming on our planet for millions of years and have been proven a predominant significance. Dogs are my favorite, especially pugs, golden retrievers, shih tzu, and corgi’s! I have a pet dog that, in all honesty, feels like another younger sibling. Their presence is a remedy for sadness or stress; they will be there through your ups and downs, which clearly defines the term, “dogs are a man’s best friend”. They may be a little annoying at times when it comes to barking or pooping all over the house but hey they are not as privileged as humans to have an intellect.

Marina, 20, Classic and Eclectic

To me, love is the most powerful thing on this planet. It can make you go crazy, feel every emotion a human ought to feel all mixed together, it can make you sick, and it can also make you feel more alive than anything ever can. Whether it’s loving yourself or loving someone else (or even loving an idea or a thing), it will consume you and make you feel infinite.

To me, I know that love is the greatest thing out there – that without it, we are nothing. Something that pushes you to achieve it, no matter what others say or who stops you. It’s the happiness it can bring you when you’re feeling down and once taken away, that’s when you feel like everything has gone to hell.

To be frank, it is dangerous to love, but it’s a risk you should be willing to take. Love so deeply it overwhelms you. Once you fall in love with something or someone, you’ll know it. Trust me on this. It may take time, but it’ll be worth it. You just need to find your star.

Featured photo credit: Susanne Nilsson via flickr.com

A relationship comprises friendship, sexual attraction, intellectual compatibility, and, of course, love. Love is the glue that keeps a relationship strong. It is deeply biological. But what is love, and how do you know if you are truly in love? 

It isn’t easy to define love because everyone’s perception of real love can be dramatically different. People often get confused between lust, attraction, and companionship. Hence, there is no one best definition of love.     

However, love can be summarized as an intense feeling of euphoria and deep affection for someone or something. This love definition or love meaning might only encompass some of the emotions that comprise how you feel when you are in love.      

Is love an emotion? Yes. 

Can abstract emotions such as love be defined in specific terms? Maybe not. 

However, there are certain words and actions that fall in the realm of love, while others do not. 

Some gestures can be termed love. On the other hand, some other emotions and feelings can be confused for love, but people soon realize that they are not true love. Here is to understanding more about love and the feeling.

What is the real meaning of love?

If you want to define love in one sentence, love is one of the most profound emotions humans experience. It is a combination of attraction and closeness. The person we feel attracted to or close to is the person we are usually in love with.            

Such a person can be a friend, parent, sibling, or even our pet. Such love is based on a feeling of attraction or affection.

The full meaning of love can be seen in different ways because there are different types of love. The answer to the question, “What is love for you?” can differ for everyone, depending on the relationship in context. 

As per the Cambridge dictionary, love is defined as liking another adult very much and being romantically and sexually attracted to them or having strong feelings of liking a friend or person in your family.

While this is a more literal definition, love can be defined in many other ways.

How to describe the romantic meaning of love? 

Feelings of love can be defined as an amalgamation of various other emotions. Love is caring, compassion, patience, not being jealous, not having expectations, giving yourself and other people a chance, and not rushing. 

What does love mean, then? You ask. Love has often been used as a noun, but love is a verb in practice. It is about what we do for others and how we make others feel loved and cared for.

The history of love                         

Like most things around the world, love has also transformed over the years and centuries. Love was not always the way we know it now. 

Research shows that back in the day, love was secondary or not even considered when it came to a union between two people. Marriages, which in some cultures and parts of the world are known as the ultimate goal of a romantic relationship, were mostly transactional. 

People marry based on whether or not the marriage would bring them any benefits in terms of wealth and power.

However, if we look at art forms such as poetry, love is an old emotion – something people have been experiencing for a long time. 

What does real love feel like?

Love is a holistic feeling. It involves many elements, words, and actions which define love. What love means to you depends on how it makes you feel and the experiences it brings into your life.  

Many people may wonder what is the meaning of love in a relationship. The answer lies in the elements of love.

1. Care

Care is one of the primary elements of love. 

If we love someone, we care about them, their feelings, and their well-being. We may go out of our way to ensure they are okay and even compromise and sacrifice our needs and wants to give them what they need.

Related Reading: Simple Steps to Take Care of Your Relationships

2. Admiration

Admiration is very crucial in love and relationships. 

Admiration can be for their physicality or even for their mind and personality. Liking someone for their external and internal self and respecting their thoughts is an essential element of love.

3. Desire

Desire is both sexual and physical and mental. 

Just wanting to spend more time with someone, being around them, and wanting them – are all parts of the desire you feel when you are in love with someone. 

12 telltale signs of love

Love is an emotion, but people do show signs of being in love. You can tell if someone is in love with you by the things they do for you, their words, and how they behave with you.

Here are some signs that can explain “What is love” in an informed manner:

1. Love is generous

In a truly loving relationship, we give to the other without an expectation of return. We need to keep an account of who did what for the other. Giving pleasure to our partner gives us pleasure, too.

2. We feel what our partner feels

The true meaning of love is to feel a sense of joy when we see our partner happy. When we see that they are sad or depressed, we feel their blue mood, too. With love comes empathy for the other person’s emotional state.

          

3. Love means compromise

The real meaning of love in a relationship is to willfully compromise your needs to accommodate your partner’s needs or desires.

But we don’t sacrifice ourselves in doing this, nor should the other person require us to sacrifice ourselves for their gain. That’s not what love is all about in a relationship; that’s control and abuse.

4. Respect and kindness

What is true love?

When we love, we act respectfully and kindly toward each other.

We do not intentionally hurt or denigrate our partners. When we talk about them in their absence, it is with such warmth that the listeners can hear the love in our words. We do not criticize our partners behind their backs.

Related Reading: Niceness Vs Kindness in Relationships-what Matters the Most?

5. We act with ethics and morals

Our love for the other person enables us to act morally and ethically with them and in our community. Their presence in our life makes us want to be better people so that they will continue to admire us.

6. We guard each other’s solitude

With love, we never feel lonely, even when alone. The very thought of the other person makes us feel as if we have a guardian angel with us at all times.

7. Their success is yours as well

What is true love in a relationship?

When our partner succeeds at something after a long effort, we beam with joy as if we were the winner, too. There is no feeling of jealousy or competition, just pure pleasure at seeing our beloved’s success.

8. They are always on our mind

Even when separated for work, travel, or other commitments, our thoughts drift towards them and what they might be doing “right now.”

9. Sexual intimacy deepens

With love, sex becomes sacred. Unlike the early days, our lovemaking is now deep and holy, a true joining of bodies and minds.

10. We feel safe

The presence of love in the relationship allows us to feel protected and safe, as if the other person is a safe harbor for us to come home to. With them, we feel a sense of security and stability.

Watch this video to learn more about creating a safe relationship:

11. We feel seen and heard

Our partner sees us for who we are and still loves us. We can show all our positive and negative sides and receive their love unconditionally.

They know who we are at our core. Love allows us to bare our souls and feel grace in return.

12. Love helps fight without fear

What is love all about? It is a sense of security.

If we are secure in our love relationship, we know we can argue and that it will not break us apart. We agree to disagree and don’t hold grudges for too long because we don’t like to hold bad feelings toward our partner.

8 different types of love 

There are eight different types of love, according to Greek mythology. These include –

1. Family love or Storgy

This refers to the type of love we share with our family – parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, and others.

2. Marital love or Eros

This is the type of romantic love  we feel with a partner who we wish to marry or have already married. 

3. Love by the principle – Agape

This love is not based on emotions but on principles. It is referred to as the love for people we do not like, the love for the unlovable.

4. Brotherly love – Phileo/Philia

As the name suggests, brotherly love is love for our close ones, who we hold as dear as family. These people, however, are not our family by blood.

5. Obsessive Love – Mania

Obsessive love, also known as Mania, is an obsession with one person or a certain way of loving them. Such love hinders your growth and can interfere with your personal and professional life.

6. Enduring love – Pragma

Enduring love is the kind of deep, true love that people in long, meaningful relationships experience.

7. Playful love – Ludus

Playful love, also called young love, is what you feel when you think the whole world has conspired for the two of you to be together. This love, however, comes with an expiry date and might die down with time.

8. Self love – Philautia

This type of love has been talked about quite a bit, especially recently. It talks about appreciation and care for yourself before you set out to give it to someone else.

Related Reading: 30 Ways to Practice Self-Love and Be Good to Yourself

Impact of being in love

Love is a very powerful emotion. Therefore, it can have both positive and negative impacts on us. These effects of love can range from physical, emotional, and even psychological. True feelings of love can change us.

• The positive impact of love

Love is known to have a very positive impact on our well-being, body, and mind. 

The feelings of unconditional love, non-judgment, independence, and security that come with a healthy relationship can boost self-esteem and confidence. It also reduces stress, which is a common denominator for various mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression. 

Couple therapy shows that some of the positive impacts of love include the following –

• • Reduced risk of heart diseases
  • Less fatality risk due to heart attacks
  • Healthy habits
  • Increased chances of a long and healthy life
  • Lower stress levels
  • Reduced risk of mental health issues like depression.

• The negative impact of love

Unhealthy, unrequited love and bad relationships can negatively impact your body, mind, and well-being. 

Bad relationships that are toxic from the beginning or turn toxic with time can lead to insecurities that develop deeper than just the relationship and affect a person’s mental health and future relationships. 

The feelings of not being good enough, not doing things right, and being unable to meet expectations can make one feel less of themselves. People leaving without explanations, cheating, and lying can lead to abandonment issues that last longer than the relationship.

The negative impacts of love can be as follows.

• Increased risk of heart diseases
• Spiked risk of heart attacks
• High levels of stress
• Slower disease recovery
• Poor mental health

How to practice love

As mentioned above, love is an amalgamation of various factors and feelings. To practice love healthily and make the people in our lives feel loved, we have to be open to love. 

There is no sure-shot step-by-step guide on how to practice love, but these points may help.

• Be more compassionate, take care of the people you love
• Be vulnerable, let your guard down and open up to your partner/parent/sibling
• Be willing to accept your flaws
• Accept your mistakes and realize how they affect the other person
• Apologize
• Forgive the people you love when you can tell they are genuinely sorry
• Listen to your loved ones
• Prioritize your time with them
• Make sure you are there for the big days
• Reciprocate their words, gestures, and feelings
• Show affection
• Appreciate them

Some commonly asked questions

Love is an emotion based on which many poems, movies and songs are made. However, there are still many questions that it raises.

• What is the deepest form of love?

The deepest form of love is the one that encompasses within it feelings of empathy and respect. It is not just focused on selfish pursuits but changes the focus to look out for the well-being of the person you love. 

The deep meaning of love encompasses other emotions that show how much you value and care for the one you love. 

• Can you love two people at the same time?

Yes, it is possible for people to love multiple people at the same time. However, the elements of love for each person might be different. 

Studies have shown that people can love two people at the same time. One in six people interviewed in the study admitted to feeling attracted to and attached to more than one person simultaneously. 

The bottom line

If you have often asked yourself, “What is love in a relationship?” this article may have given you some insights. 

The bottom line is that certain feelings such as care, patience, respect, and others are what is love all about in a relationship. 

Factors such as wanting and needing love, how we love, and the importance of love are essential to understand when answering the question, “What is love?”

Love is a complex emotion and can differ from person to person. Even if you feel you need clarification about what is love and what it’s like to be in love, you will most likely figure it out with time. 

Love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust. Love can vary in intensity and can change over time. It is associated with a range of positive emotions, including happiness, excitement, life satisfaction, and euphoria, but it can also result in negative emotions such as jealousy and stress.

When it comes to love, some people would say it is one of the most important human emotions. Yet despite being one of the most studied behaviors, it is still the least understood. For example, researchers debate whether love is a biological or cultural phenomenon.

Love is most likely influenced by both biology and culture. Although hormones and biology are important, the way we express and experience love is also influenced by our personal conceptions of love.

How Do You Know?

What are some of the signs of love? Researchers have made distinctions between feelings of liking and loving another person.

Zick Rubin’s Scales of Liking and Loving

According to psychologist Zick Rubin, romantic love is made up of three elements:

• Attachment: Needing to be with another person and desiring physical contact and approval
• Caring: Valuing the other person’s happiness and needs as much as your own
• Intimacy: Sharing private thoughts, feelings, and desires with the other person

Based on this view of romantic love, Rubin developed two questionnaires to measure these variables, known as Rubin’s Scales of Liking and Loving. Whereas people tend to view people they like as pleasant, love is marked by being devoted, possessive, and confiding in one another. 

Types of Love

Not all forms of love are the same, and psychologists have identified a number of different types of love that people may experience. These types of love include:

• Friendship: This type of love involves liking someone and sharing a certain degree of intimacy.
• Infatuation: This is a form of love that often involves intense feelings of attraction without a sense of commitment; it often takes place early in a relationship and may deepen into a more lasting love.
• Passionate love: This type of love is marked by intense feelings of longing and attraction; it often involves an idealization of the other person and a need to maintain constant physical closeness.
• Compassionate/companionate love: This form of love is marked by trust, affection, intimacy, and commitment.
• Unrequited love: This form of love happens when one person loves another who does not return those feelings.

Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

Specifically, psychologist Robert Sternberg developed his well-regarded triangular theory of love in the early 1980s. Much research has built upon his work and demonstrated its universality across cultures.

Sternberg broke love into three components—intimacy, passion, and commitment—that interact to produce seven types of love.

Is Love Biological or Cultural?

Some researchers suggest that love is a basic human emotion just like happiness or anger, while others believe that it is a cultural phenomenon that arises partly due to social pressures and expectations. 

Research has found that romantic love exists in all cultures, which suggests that love has a strong biological component. It is a part of human nature to seek out and find love. However, culture can significantly affect how individuals think about, experience, and display romantic love.

How to Practice Love

There is no single way to practice love. Every relationship is unique, and each person brings their own history and needs. Some things that you can do to show love to the people you care about include:

• Be willing to be vulnerable.
• Be willing to forgive.
• Do your best, and be willing to apologize when you make mistakes.
• Let them know that you care.
• Listen to what they have to say.
• Prioritize spending time with the other person.
• Reciprocate loving gestures and acts of kindness.
• Recognize and acknowledge their good qualities.
• Share things about yourself.
• Show affection.
• Make it unconditional.

Impact of Love

Love, attachment, and affection have an important impact on well-being and quality of life. Loving relationships have been linked to:

• Lower risk of heart disease
• Decreased risk of dying after a heart attack
• Better health habits
• Increased longevity
• Lower stress levels
• Less depression
• Lower risk of diabetes

Tips for Cultivating Love

Lasting relationships are marked by deep levels of trust, commitment, and intimacy. Some things that you can do to help cultivate loving relationships include:

• Try loving-kindness meditation. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is a technique often used to promote self-acceptance and reduce stress, but it has also been shown to promote a variety of positive emotions and improve interpersonal relationships. LKM involves meditating while thinking about a person you love or care about, concentrating on warm feelings and your desire for their well-being and happiness.
• Communicate. Everyone’s needs are different. The best way to ensure that your needs and your loved one’s needs are met is to talk about them. Helping another person feel loved involves communicating that love to them through words and deeds. Some ways to do this include showing that you care, making them feel special, telling them they are loved, and doing things for them.
• Tackle conflict in a healthy way. Never arguing is not necessarily a sign of a healthy relationship—more often than not, it means that people are avoiding an issue rather than discussing it. Rather than avoid conflict, focus on hashing out issues in ways that are healthy in order to move a relationship forward in a positive way. 

Potential Pitfalls

As Shakespeare said, the course of love never did run smooth. No relationship is perfect, so there will always be problems, conflicts, misunderstandings, and disappointments that can lead to distress or heartbreak.

So while love is associated with a host of positive emotions, it can also be accompanied by a number of negative feelings as well. Some of the potential pitfalls of experiencing love include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Increased stress
• Jealousy
• Obsessiveness
• Possessiveness
• Sadness

While people are bound to experience some negative emotions associated with love, it can become problematic if those negative feelings outweigh the positive or if they start to interfere with either person’s ability to function normally. Relationship counseling can be helpful in situations where couples need help coping with miscommunication, stress, or emotional issues.

History of Love

Only fairly recently has love become the subject of science. In the past, the study of love was left to «the creative writer to depict for us the necessary conditions for loving,» according to Sigmund Freud. «In consequence, it becomes inevitable that science should concern herself with the same materials whose treatment by artists has given enjoyment to mankind for thousands of years,» he added.

Research on love has grown tremendously since Freud’s remarks. But early explorations into the nature and reasons for love drew considerable criticism. During the 1970s, U.S. Senator William Proxmire railed against researchers who were studying love and derided the work as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Despite early resistance, research has revealed the importance of love in both child development and adult health.

Some people have no problem saying, «I love you.” It just comes out perfectly natural for them. But, for others, love isn’t easy; they struggle to get the words out, even just once, to the person they love. But whether it comes easy to you or not, the important thing to understand is that love is action.

Love is not simply a feeling or an emotion. Love is powerful, it’s not just words. You’ve probably heard the saying that «love is a verb», and there’s a lot of truth behind that. Love isn’t something you can just say, such as «love you to the moon and back», it’s something that you need to do. Therefore, love is action.

The Overuse of the Word «Love»

We live in a society that overuses the word love. You hear people say it all the time. We love ice cream. We love dogs. You love having a 3-day weekend. You love the way the sand feels between your toes.

We have used the word love so much, and in ways that it wasn’t meant to be used, which has lessened the meaning of the word to some extent. Simply saying that you love someone may not mean as much to them when you also say, in the next breath, that you love pizza or the smell of bacon.

Ads will also utilize the word or concept of love to sell products and services. Ads agencies learned long ago that emotion-based ads and content increase the effectiveness of selling their services or merchandise, so now they use the word a lot in their ads to appeal to a certain market. It can all make love seem so much simpler than it is in reality.

Some people also struggle with being too quick to say the word love to other people. They may not know if they love the person or not, but they don’t want to lose what they already have going. So, to try to keep the person they tell them that they love them. This is a common phenomenon in partners who are young or do not have much experience with relationships. It could also be a sign of low self-esteem.

What Does «Love Is Action» Mean?

So, what does the phrase “love is action” really mean? How are you supposed to show someone that you love them?

This can mean different things to different people. That’s what makes it so challenging to show someone that you love them. Different people think different things show love. For example, you may feel loved if someone spends a lot of time with you. If they make sure that they do your favorite activities with you or spend the holidays with you. When they go out of their way to do the things that you want to do with them, instead of doing the things that they would rather do. These actions make you feel loved.

But for other people, it may be something completely different. Some people want to receive love through words of affirmation; or through sending love words for her or him. They want to constantly be told why you love them and not just that you love them. To them, this is a way to put love into action instead of just simply saying that you love them.

The best way that you can show someone love is to find out directly from them what makes them feel loved. They may be able to tell you right off the bat, or they may not have any idea. It’s something that a lot of people have never really thought about. They may know that some things make them feel loved and others don’t, but they may have never put it into words before. This is another reason it can be so complicated to express your love to someone else.

Ways to Show Love

Just like there are different words for love, there are also different ways to show love. So, if you want to put love into action, here are some ideas on ways that you can show love. Remember that it’s always best to find out what speaks the most to a person, and then do those things. But if you don’t know, or if the person isn’t able to tell you, these things will give you a great start.

Prioritize What They Like to Do

People are naturally selfish. We like to do the things that we like to do. But when you want to show someone that you love them, you need to prioritize what they want to do over what you want at times.

This doesn’t mean that you need to become a doormat, or that you can never do the things that you want. It simply means that you work to make sure that you’re including activities that the other person would like to do. Or that you are participating in activities that you might not want to do on your own just so you can spend time with them.

An example of this would be going to a baseball game together when you can’t stand the sport. Or hanging out at the mall when you hate shopping. You aren’t doing the activity because you would choose to do it—you’re doing it because the person that you love likes doing it. Understand that selflessness and compromise are some of the most effective ways to show love in action. When you choose to put their desires or needs first, you show the true measure of active love.

Tell Them in Creative Ways

It’s easy to just get in the habit of telling someone you love them at certain times of the day. It may be when you’re getting ready to end a phone call or getting ready to go to bed. But it can communicate to someone that you love them when you show them that you’re thinking about them throughout the day.

This could be sending a simple text message or relationship quotes in the middle of the day to let them know that you love them and are thinking about them. Aside from love quotes, it’s always great to include a compliment because everyone loves to receive compliments.

You could also leave a note in lipstick on the bathroom mirror, a sticky note in their car, or write a note on a napkin in their lunch for work. There is no limitation on how creative you can get in doing this.

Look for Ways to Help Them

When you love someone, do your best to try to anticipate what their needs are. This can be a great way to show someone not only that you love them but that you truly know them as well.

Think about what they might need to get ready before a busy day that they have planned, or something that they might need from the store that they haven’t asked you for. Look for ways to do little things that will help them out throughout their day. This can go a long way in communicating love to your significant other.

For example, you can visit the grocery store or do other errands for them to ease up their day. Or you can help them with chores or other tasks they have on their to-do list. For example, if they need to bake biscuits for a bake sale but don’t have much time, help them make biscuits or help them with their other tasks.

Be Close to Them

There are ways that you can physically show people that you love them in appropriate ways. And this isn’t about sex. Make sure that you sit next to them when you can, even if it’s just on the couch watching TV. Offer to rub their shoulders for them if they’ve had a stressful day. Hold her hand as you walk down the street.

Foot rubs and back massages go a long way in communicating love after a long day of work.

Remember What You Used to Do

Love can be an easy thing to show in the early stages of a relationship, but as a relationship progresses, things can settle in. When the newness of a relationship wears off, it’s easy to get set in habits and routines. If you want to make sure that you’re continuing to show someone that you love them, think about the things that you did at the beginning of your relationship.

People are great at showing love when they’re first interested in someone. It’s completely normal to forget about yourself and do the things that you like to do. We put our best foot forward all the time. If they need help with something, we jump in to help them. We don’t even hesitate because we want them to know that we love them.

If your relationship has been a long-term one and you still have too much love for your partner, you may need to look back and analyze to see if you’re doing a good job of showing it to your significant other. If you find out that you’re not, go back and think about those things you did in the beginning and start doing them again. It’s a great way to sweep your significant other off their feet once again.

Action That Does Not Equal Love

It’s important to address that while it’s great to show love as an action in relationships, there are some limitations and things that you should think about with this concept.

For example, having sex is not the same thing as love. If you’re in a new relationship, do not trick yourself into thinking that if you have sex with the person, they will know that you love them or that they will love you. People can have sex without being in love. So, don’t fall for the lie that someone loves you because they’re showing you physically. This is not what love is action means.

Do You Struggle With Showing Love?

If showing love is a struggle for you, it may be something that you want to talk to a therapist about. There may be a specific situation from your past that makes you uncomfortable in communicating your love to someone else. There could be any number of reasons why it’s a struggle for you.

First of all, be compassionate with yourself if this is the case. Accept your feelings and that your past may be affecting your relationships. This does not make you a bad partner or make you unable to deliver authentic love. When you accept your experience and work hard to maintain love, the results can be rewarding.

Working with a therapist or similar mental health or relationship services can help you get to the bottom of why you may have difficulty expressing love. You can learn other important communication skills that you can use to improve your relationship. And you can learn important tips and strategies on how to shield yourself in relationships as well.

You may have seen BetterHelp’s ads and web content and wondered if online therapy services are effective in helping with intimacy and relationship problems. The good news is that yes, online therapy services and content are just as effective as traditional therapy.

Studies have shown that online therapy can aid people who have difficulties expressing themselves because of a social phobia or similar issues. For example, a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that online cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was a useful method of treating individuals with social anxiety. The results of the study indicate that symptoms associated with social anxiety were significantly reduced, even at a follow-up five years after the program. Many people widely accept CBT as a form of therapy that works by helping participants reframe the unhelpful thoughts that often lead to difficulty in certain situations, such as social interactions or romantic relationships. 

As mentioned above, online therapy content is there when you want to better express yourself, physically or emotionally, with your partner. With BetterHelp, you can speak with a licensed therapist from the comfort of your own home. Just send a message when you are having trouble communicating with your partner, need to ask a question, or simply want to chat. The qualified experts at BetterHelp can guide you and your partner toward a more loving relationship. Read below for counselor reviews, from those who have experienced similar issues.

Counselor Reviews

“I always look forward to my therapy session with Donna. She helps in concisely clarify my thoughts and allows me to express myself more. The way I think tends to spiral into a cycle and chatting with Donna helps me to identify the signs of this to escape the cycle before it overly affects my well-being.” 

“Sarah had helped me to feel more confident about myself and what I want to activate. Also, make me feel confident again to be able to express myself without feeling scared to be judged. Thank you!!” 

Conclusion

Love isn’t simply just a word. And it’s not just a feeling. Love is a choice and showing that love means choosing measured actions that communicate it to your significant other. Love is action.