Relationship Advice - Love - Types of Love (Part 1 in Love Workshop Series)

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. -George Sand

Types of Love

Most people can love those who love them in return. They can love much, and they can love little. They can love one person more than they love another. Love can be strong or it can be weak.

There are different degrees and intensities of love just as there are also different varieties of love. Love for family is unlike love for friendships. Some love is characterized by greed or vainglory.

And there is divine or spiritual love. This is the highest form of love in that it is perfect and supreme. This love comes from God because God is love. The ability to give and receive love is the greatest of all human qualities because its source is divine.

In the English language we have just one word to describe the various types of love; that is, the word "love." In the Greek, there are three distinct words to describe love: eros, phileo, and agape. Each one describes a different expression of love.

• Eros love has to do with sensuality. It is physical and erotic. It yearns to have its own hunger satisfied.

• Phileo love transcends physical desire. It is normal human affection toward anyone or anything that is enjoyable or satisfying. Phileo is emotional and unpredictable. It lasts as long as it is being gratified. However, once the pleasure or desire is gone so is the phileo.

• Agape love is an unconditional and giving love. It is active and motivated by what it can do for others, and it does not expect anything in return. It is not based on feelings, but is constant and stable. It can love when hated. It can give freely regardless of one's attractiveness or worth.

The different types of love help us to distinguish between giving and self-fulfillment. Understanding the different types of love can help us to understand maturity and motives in our loving. It can also help us to appreciate that a healthy balance of all three of these types of love can be the ingredients of some very happy and successful relationships.

REFLECTION

• Think about the people you love. What is different in the way you love each one of them?

• If you had to make a list of the people you love, who would be at the top of your list? The bottom?

• Review the 3 types of love (eros, phileo, and agape). Describe your experience of each. Which one is most dominant in your life and relationships?

• Do you feel you have a good balance of the different types of love? Or do you want more or less of one or more type(s)?

• If you had to define love, how would you describe it?

EMPOWERING THOUGHTS & AFFIRMATIONS…

There is more than one way to say I LOVE YOU.

I can know love in a deeper way as I learn how to discern its attributes.

Krystal Kuehn, MA, LPC, LLP, NCC is a licensed professional counselor, author, teacher, and musician. She specializes in helping people live their best life now, reach their full potential, overcome barriers, heal from their past, and develop a lifestyle of health, happiness, and love. Krystal is the cofounder of New Day Counseling, a marriage and family counseling center and BeHappy4Life.com, an award-winning self-improvement and personal growth site where you can find hundreds of free resources, online workshops, video presentations, insights, and inspiration.

One does not increase in love. One merely gets rid of one's hate. ~Lester Levenson

The power of love is amazing and never-ending. It can motivate, energize, inspire, and strengthen. Love can do in a person what nothing else can do. Love has the power to revive and change lives, restore relationships, and bring healing. All else may fail, but love never fails. ~Krystal Kuehn