LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, LIFE ARTICLE

Are You Ready for LOVE

A good relationship isn't a game you play or an ego trip you take. It is about love

and two people. Loving someone can give us the greatest joy we can ever know and

it can hurt more than we can believe too. When it does not really hurt when that

person did something disappointing to you, but really hurts when you see that

person in pain and sadness, then you know you truly love that person.

Loving someone means you should be ready to experience heartache and happiness at

the same time. That's the reward and that's the risk. Unless we are willing to

experience it, we will never really know what it's like to love and be loved.

Sharing love is probably the most valuable and meaningful experience a person

can ever have. And there's a difference between being in love with someone and

loving someone. It's the difference between a love that's fickle, wild and

short-lived and one that's tender and passionate, nurturing and lasts a long time.

The first is easy. The second, the one that really matters to all of us, takes

work -- because it's about keeping a relationship.

Loving someone takes efforts. We have to be able to communicate with each other.

Nobody can read anyone else's mind. We always presume that our partner knows what

we think and feel. Maybe in time we might be able to predict or sense each other's

thoughts but it's never perfect and takes time to develop.

Getting the chance to love and be loved by someone is blessed. Respect

him/her for who he/she is, and not what you want him/her to be. Everyone

is pretty and special in his/her own special way. No one is perfect. It is

true love which closes the gap of imperfectness to form a smooth surface

of acceptance for each other. True love sees and accepts a person for who

he/she is. It is also true love which makes a person change for the better.

The power of true love to a person is undeniable. 

A relationship needs commitments too. What is love without commitments

from each other anyway? It's like principles and values. Everyone has

them but they only mean as much as we are willing to stand for them.

The same goes for our commitments to relationships, and the person we love.

"Love is like an antique vase. It's hard to find, hard to get, but easy to break."

Every day everywhere, people fall in love...but just how many of these

relationships are self-sacrificing love, and not just relationships

which are formed only for the intense feeling of falling in love?

I know hundreds of friends who say the magical words "I love you"...

but more often than not, the truth is just -- I am IN love with you.

There is a difference between being in love with someone and loving

someone. If a person says he/she is in love with you, he/she means

that he/she likes you for who you are now and he/she fell in love

with you because of the present you.

This kind of love is temporary and lasts only as long as the fairytale lasts.

When fairy godmother comes in at midnight to whirl us back to reality, we see

the heartache of such a relationship...where both were only IN love with each other.

But if a person says he/she loves you, he/she means that he/she

loves you unconditionally for who you are now, who you were in

the past and who you might be in the future. When he/she says he/she

loves you and really means it, you have to ask yourself if you love

him/her too or if you're in love with the idea of being in love.

It is very hard to see the difference through logical thinking.

Let your heart guide you. May you be blessed on

your soul-searching journey for your soulmate.