What is Love? A Feeling? A rush of hormones? Trust? Happiness? Excitement? Or just a physical craving?
We can describe love in a billion ways. Each one of us will have a different point of view, a different thing to say. It is going to be different for children, for adolescents, for adults, for elders. I can only put down my point of view.
We crave love.
Love is strange. Mysterious. You cannot understand it even when you are drowned in it. It’s very subtle. Once you are in it, it is very difficult to get out of it. I have realized something, which I have decided to write down.
When we are young, our parents, grandparents, relatives, hold us, cradle us, kiss us on the forehead. This probably continues until we are 11 or 12 years old. Then it subsides, slowly. The warmth you get in your mother’s arms, you slowly stop getting it. But that warmth is required in each and everyone’s lives. We look for that warmth throughout our lives.
We are hungry animals. Once we get the attention, affection and warmth from a person, we don’t want to let them go. We fall in love with that human being. When we see, that person looking out for us, holding us, being there beside us emotionally and providing us with that warmth that we crave, which we did not get when we were teenagers, we fall in love with that person. If the love does not last, we become very unhappy. Why? Because we don’t want to lose that attention, compassion, warmth that we got, again.
This is one kind of love.
The other kind is…
When you start to like a person, for their personality, the way they talk, their eyes, their voice and then you crave their touch on your skin. You don’t fall in love with them because they give you their attention. You fall for them because you admire that person, for whatever reason.
Your love maybe or may not be reciprocated.
But here is the beauty of love.
When you love someone and you don’t know if they love you back or not, that feeling of mystery and adventure is one of the greatest feelings you’ll ever experience in your entire life.
You love to look at them. Stare at their eyes. Imagine scenarios of you talking to that human being. Prepare a script for when you talk to him/her.
You love to blush when you’re caught looking at them. You hurriedly move your gaze from them. But when you see them, looking at you, your whole heart bursts with happiness. When your hands accidentally brush, or when your thighs touch when you sit beside each other, your whole universe seems to rejoice it!
That feeling of loving in secrecy and that freedom of imagination of what may happen is beautiful. There are no boundaries, no sense of punctuality. It is wild, free and happy. It is your own world!
It doesn’t require a beautiful dress or a smart t-shirt. It doesn’t include awkward silences, being on time at a particular place. Time does not matter to you. There are no expectations or a slight pressure of hurting the person. It’s all you!
Things that matter are the longing stares, slight brush of fingers, maybe a hug and eye-contact…
That is love for me.
