What Is Romantic Love?
Love is a broad spectrum of feelings and behaviors characterized by intense intimacy, romance, sharing, commitment, and caring. It typically involves emotional intimacy, caring, closeness, affection, trust, and purity. Love can range from light to extremely passionate love and may vary over time. Regardless of your experience with love, it is important to understand that love is the foundation for most human relationships and is most certainly present in all relationships whether you are involved in a romantic relationship, business relationship, friendly relationships, family relationships or other relationships.
In romantic relationships love is one of the strongest emotions felt by individuals both in and out of a relationship. Romantic love is defined as a fundamental desire among humans to be united with one another and to spend their lives together. While it is not uncommon to fall in love at first sight, romantically engaged couples tend to fall into love more often because of their underlying similarities in basic desires. Romantic love therefore involves emotional intimacy, security, trust, safety, commitment, desire, and appreciation.
In a business relationship, love can also take the form of platonic love or sexual attraction between two people. When we speak of platonic love this usually refers to an emotional bonding between two individuals where one person is very attracted to another but does not have the ability to develop a deep, loving, relationship with that person. This type of love can be based on a variety of factors including physical looks, personality, career goals, achievements, interests, or even financial status. In some cases, platonic feelings may evolve as an effect of a common experience. However, love that develops based on these types of factors tends to be stronger than more complicated connections due to the complex nature of feelings.
In more complex romantic relationships, two people who are romantically engaged often develop feelings of intense intimacy. The intimacy that develops in these relationships typically involves a deep level of trust and dependence. As a result, feelings of passion may accompany romantic love. Other possible feelings such as guilt, obligation, and respect may accompany these types of relationships.
Finally, romantic love can also develop between people who are very closely related to each other. In these types of relationships, the closeness of the couple can take the form of a strong emotional bond. This may include close friends, co-workers, family members, or even pets. In all cases however, the closeness that develops between two people in these types of relationships tends to be one of deep intimacy, which often leads to feelings of intimacy and loyalty.
All types of relationships, including romantic love, experience a type of falling out of love. This is natural and is generally unavoidable when entering into a new relationship. It is during this time that couples generally begin to question themselves and one another. Often times, these questions result in tension, anger, and resentment. If you and the person you love are struggling with the issue of your closeness, you may want to consider talking about it.
