Showing and Expressing Love

Love is something which comes naturally. There are many types of love: love for friends, love for family, love for a significant other, and love for activities and foods.

We have all been there one time or another (unless we are Dexter). The feeling of love is overwhelming. It can grab us and make us think and do things we aren't accustomed to. It can control us, but it can also make us unbelievably happy.

Love is what it is. And even though it is often looked at as something positive, it can also be an enormous negative. What if the love isn't returned? What if what we love is unhealthy?

We are only human. And as humans we make mistakes, but we must learn from them as time goes by.

Writing love poetry can help relieve emotions

These poems are a testimant for my own love and learning. Not all of these loves happened during relationships and not all of them lasted long, but they were still special to me and have helped me grow as a person.

Releasing these emotions helped me better understand the meaning of love and has helped me remember what the feeling was like long after the relationship (or lack there of).

"If I Were a King"

If I were a king,

would you be my queen

and stand by me forever?

If I were a king,

would you be here for me

and stay forever and ever?

by Gary R. Hess

When you can't write poems yourself

These fellow lovers are probably a better choice to read than me. Their poems lasted centuries. Mine? A few years. Read them and see their mastery of love (or lack there of).

"Sonnet 116"

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom:

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

by William Shakespeare

Relationships are tricky. Even though I haven't had the most successful relationships in the world (never married, but a couple long-term relationships (a year and five-years)), I think I can give a little bit of general advice.

Here are a few quick tips:

1. Be honest with each other. Not being honest causes problems down the road for both you and your partner. And truthfully, if your partner doesn't appreciate your openness then there is something more wrong with your relationship than just the honesty.

2. Compliments. Even people who say they don't like them only means that they hear the wrong ones. Don't compliment only about looks, compliment about other things you enjoy about them.

3. Show appreciation. That doesn't mean you always have to be happy around them or enjoy everything they do, but it does mean you should show your love and try to be happy when they go the extra mile.

4. Talk. Not enough couples talk when there are problems. You need to work things out. Don't be quiet when your loved one needs you. Listen, talk, and be loving and caring at all times. Your partner needs you.

5. Listen. The same as above! Listen to your partners problems. Listen to your partner about his/her day. Listen, listen, listen.

These quotes are some of the many by famous authors, philosophers, politicians, and actors. They may not all fit for your relationship, but they do have a very general point.

“You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.

- Wayne W. Dyer

"Don't eat me!"

- Me

"Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely."

"Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Be everything to someone."