Entry 29: Valentines

What does the word "love" mean to you? It's a big idea, and it carries very different meanings for different people. What is your personal definition of love? Does this definition change for the many relationships in your life – your family, your spouse, your children, your friends? How do you express your love? How do you want others to show you they care?

• The definition of love differs depending on a person's feelings and point of view towards love. My definition for love is that it is a feeling where people feel warm towards the person they love, where people feel happy when they are with the person they love, where people feel hurt when the people they love are hurt. Sometimes loves brings other negative feelings with it, such as jealousy and hatred. For me, the definition of love above accounts for every person that I believe that I "love".
• There are several ways that I use to express love. Generally, it means that I care for others. I will help them when they need help. I will comfort them when they need to be comforted. I will be there to listen to what they will say when they want to talk. And the list continues on. Sometimes I will also do some things that may seem cruel at first, but they are actually things that may benefit the people I love (so basically this is like sacrifice because they may hate you if the things you do appear to be really cruel).
• Similar to how I express love, I believe that if people care for me, then they are expressing a type of love. For example, they enjoy their time, being with me and doing things such as chatting. I also would like people to respect me. For example, they will give me time and space alone when I need to be alone and they will comfort me and listen to what I have to say when I need to talk to someone. The last way may be that they will give me advice that benefits me, and help me when I need help.