What is Love?

Can anyone define it? I don’t think so; not perfectly at least. I am sure each one of us has a different definition to this emotion or rather “feeling”. Growing up, I always thought it would be like a perfect fairy tale: Girl meets boy– tingling– eyes meet– tingling– hold hands for the first time– tingling– First kiss– tingling! Do we actually feel this way? I thought I would marry the first boy I meet and fall in love with (Its an Indian thing to always think about marriage). Of course it didn’t end that way.

I am playing a totally different ball game today! I’m sure most of you are too. Some of us who actually have felt the “tingling” are just plainly lucky. So, for most of those who find that one person, spend most of their time pleasing them. No one wants to upset their loved one or even do anything to lose them. I have seen couples who spend their entire lives pleasing each other. They lose themselves; their own identity in doing so. What kind of a life would you be living if you din’t enjoy it with the person you love, right?

I observe so many couples around me. Some are really happy with each other, others, not so much. They ‘make do’ with their situations. That’s not love, is it? May be it is. Then you meet couples who are extremely compatible, who don’t need the presence of others. Then I question: Is compatibility a sign of love? I do believe that compatibility does ignite some level of attraction between two people, but is it enough to be in love? I never got to answering that.

We are made to believe that love is always about the other person. But is it really?. One of my friends once told me, “Love is about how the person you love makes you feel”. Let’s all think about this for a second. Hmmm, did you ever ponder over it that way? Its true though. That is when you truly concentrate on yourself, being happy, making your loved one happy. And happiness is what we all desire, don’t we? I have seen people spend years finding happiness in what they do. Let me tell you this, it always starts with yourself. I feel that everyone is accountable for how they feel (remember the tingling?).

When I started being okay with myself, all my relationships; be it with my partner, my family, my friends, all were okay. More than okay! I began noticing the changes, the love I always wanted to feel with all of them.

Today, love is my comfort and faith. Is it yours?