love languages

I have been becoming more and more aware recently, of the ways in which I read and express love.

The idea of love languages has been around for a while. Various books suggest that different folk express their feelings in different ways: through touch, through words, through doing stuff for the other person, through focusing time and attention, through gift giving or through a combination of these.

I’ve known about this idea for a while but there’s a big difference between being intellectually aware of the concept and actually listening for and understanding those languages in your own life.

I focus heavily on words of affirmation and physical touch. I’m a big fan of telling My Lovely One how much he means to me, letting him know I think he’s tops, holding his hand, squeezing him tight and kissing him to pieces. This is my language of love, it’s not his. While he is beautifully demonstrative and feels comfortable expressing his love through words, it’s not necessarily his chosen way of saying he’s crazy about me. And I find that hard.

But I am learning. I am training myself to read his language. So when my bike is fixed, my skis are tuned, my bathroom is sparkling, when I receive an email with carefully researched ideas for a camera I’m thinking about buying and I have a coffee made for me every morning, in my favourite cup, just the way I like it, I think…this is a beautiful man, and he is in love with me(amazing?!!brilliant!!) I remind myself that through his acts of kindness, he is speaking to me. And all I need to do is listen.