How To Know If A Boy Likes You

How to Know What It Means to Love Someone

Know that you focus on someone else's happiness, not just your own, when you are in love. Being in love is about connecting with another person emotionally, caring for their happiness as if it was your own. When you love someone their fate becomes intertwined with yours. You may feel sad when they cry, get angry when they are hurt, and celebrate with their successes.

If you can't wait to share good news with them or hear about their day, love is likely growing.This does not, however, mean that love is completely selfless. You should feel the same connection coming back to you as well.

Know that you do not need to share all the same interests to be in love. You do not have to like all of the same things in order to love someone. In many cases, having differences allows your love to grow, as you share and teach each other parts about yourself that the other person never knew. Disliking someone's taste in music, for example, does not mean that you cannot love them.

Judgement, anger, or disrespect for each other's interests, however, may prevent love from really growing.

Be yourself with the person you love, and love them for being themselves as well. When you allow someone to be exactly as they are, without any belief that they aren't good enough, without any belief that they would be "better" if they were different, you're in love. Loving someone is about accepting them as they are, loving them despite, or even because of, their faults. No one is perfect, but they don't have to be for you to love them.

You may even learn more about yourself with this person, as loving them helps reveal truths about you that you might not have noticed before.If your love is dependent upon the other person acting and speaking how you want, then your feelings are conditional. We often confuse this with love, but this is just positive thoughts about someone. This is loving what a person says or does, not loving them.

Know you may feel "addicted" to them when they aren't around. This is not just a turn of phrase: being in love actually changes your brain chemistry to "reward" you when they are in your life. If you are constantly thinking about them, missing them when they are gone, and finding ways to stay in contact with each other, love is likely blooming.

This should be different, however, from obsession, when you think of them so much you cannot function on a day-to-day basis.This desire to be with someone sometimes manifests itself as a fear of losing them, which is a natural part of love.

Know that loving someone doesn't mean you never fight. Love in the real world, contrary to movies and TV, is not eternal sunshine and rainbows. Even people deeply in love will fight and argue, from parents and children to happily married couples. However, loving someone is about appreciating them even when you disagree. Little arguments and fights don't push you apart, and you are able to work back to common ground through careful communication. Even when you're angry or upset with them, you still love them, and these fights can often make you closer.

Love doesn't go away in an instant after one bad day. It may fade eventually, but it takes a lot of time. Love is a feeling, not an action, so don't look at what you're doing as much as what your feeling or thinking about.

Know that love takes time to develop. Love at first sight, though romantic, is not a real phenomenon. Attraction happens quickly, as does infatuation, but love takes time to develop. Love is based on an understanding of the other person emotionally and socially, and such an understanding cannot be rushed.

There is no "right" amount of time to fall in love, but you do need to be with someone long enough to feel like you understand them.

Remember that not all love is romantic. Love is not just about sexual attraction or romance. Most people will happily admit that they love their families and best friends. Love is based on a deep relationship, a connection that lets you know you can trust someone completely. You understand them and they understand you -- not perfectly, but enough that you feel invested in each other's lives and happiness.  

Schedule time to be together frequently. When you're in love with someone, spending time with them is not a chore or stress. You'll want to be with them, so making time to do activities together is no problem. Find things you love doing together and make time to do them -- the people you love should be a naturally high priority on your schedule.

Spend time talking together, not just doing activities. You need to be able to listen and share your thoughts in order to maintain love and trust.

Compromise on arguments and decisions. You are not always right, and neither is your loved one. Being in love is about remembering how important you are together, not always trying to end up on top. While you should stay true to yourself, being in love means taking their point of view into account as well as yours.

What is there side of the story? Is there something you didn't realize?Are you mad because of something that happened, or because you got too caught up in the argument?Do you still love and respect them? This is more important than a "winner" of any argument.

Take care of yourself, by maintaining your own life and happiness outside of your loved one. You need, above all, to take care of yourself in order to take care of someone else. Try not to "lose" yourself by neglecting your friends or old hobbies once you fall in love. Remember, being in love does not mean you do everything together, it means you respect each other for who you are. Some healthy ideas include:

Take some occasional time apart-- if you are in love, it will not be destroyed by a few weeks alone.Hang out with your friends, especially friends from before the relationship began. These friendships are not unimportant now that you're in love.Develop personal hobbies or interests that you can eventually share, or use to have "me" time when you need a moment to relax.

Remain affectionate with each other. Just because you've been together for a while does not mean that a hug, a kiss, or a nice letter sent to each other can't keep the bonds of love strong. Remember that love takes effort to maintain, but it shouldn't be hard. Show your love and affection from time to time to keep the love alive.  

Break up your routines from time to time. Predictability is the bane of many relationships, as you fall into a groove and feel "trapped" or upset. A degree of surprise is essential to keep your love going strong, but that doesn't mean you need to shake everything up every few months. A few surprises here and there shows that you care enough about each other to spice things up and think about each other.

Take a vacation, even if just for a long weekend.Make time to see each other once a week, but make it somewhere new each time.Go to a class or seminar together to pick up a new hobby.Make new friends by inviting other couples over for drinks or dinner.Start a project together, like a book, garden, painting, etc