Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
– Leo Tolstoy
Love works on the same principle.
I won’t keep the secret to a long-lasting love for the end of this article.
The secret is: Reciprocation.
If you get it, you can read something else.
If you want a deeper understanding, keep reading.
Society, culture, psychology, philosophy, religion, has given a human being millions of definitions.
Rich, poor, black, white, wise, dumb, introvert extrovert, intellectual, spiritual and a hundred others.
But,
On a deeper core level, we all share the same DNA.
We all long to be loved.
But if you take a moment and reflect on it, you will come to this deep realization.
That it’s not just any love, but we long for reciprocated love.
Humans have a deeply ingrained fairness system inside them.
When you give, you want it back.
And this is where love takes a beating.
When you give, give from a full heart, but be accepting to whatever way it comes back.
Accept the fact that all humans are different. And all of them have different conditioning.
They’ve grown up around different people, families and cultures.
Accept that their love language can be different than yours.
And that long-lasting loves is born out of this understanding.
When you accept them for who they are.
When you accept their way of loving you.
When you accept their love with an open heart and reciprocate.
Remember this: Love only when you’re so in love with them that you can’t help but give.
Give with a pure heart, not to test if they love you back.
Love is like playing a game of tennis.
It needs equal contribution of both the players.
You give from here, you receive it back from the other end. But make each serve genuine.
Never take your partner for granted, whether you are 20, 40 or 70 years old.
Before you give, be honest with yourself. Love under obligation never blooms.
If it’s coming from a place of genuineness, it will make the other feel what you feel.
That’s how nature works, you cannot hide for long what you feel. One day the truth will surface.
Beauty fades.
Riches fade.
But what never fades is how you make them feel.
And I would like to end with this last message:
Love may have many names, but in its truest form,
Love is giving.