Love is More Than a Four Letter Word
by Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D. and Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D
Long before it was a song, the saying was a part of our conversation - and it's especially appropriate during February, the month of love:
Love makes the world go round.
With all this whirling, love can make you feel off balance and dizzy. Sometimes it's tricky to keep your personal world turning without having it spin totally out of control. Although our focus is most often on romantic love, there are many different kinds of love that help keep us grounded. We can be fully engaged and filled with pleasure loving a friend, an idea, a place, an experience. For the essence of love in your life, think about including these:
Love who you're with . When Stephen Stills sang, If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with, he was thinking about affection and passion with a sexual partner. But you can achieve another kind of oneness with others in your life. Dear friends share emotional intimacy, commitment and trust as well as a sense of playfulness. Don't you feel loyal and loving to old friends in a way that celebrates your closeness? And family, with its roots and continuity, can provide feelings of security that allow you to open up to love. When you express gratitude to your family for what they have given you and forgive them for what they have not, you feel more connected and altruistic.
Three more ways to enjoy love >>
