What is it like to love?

“Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come . . .” – Matt Groening

You will never truly know what it is until you experience it.
I however have never felt love nor do i want to, so maybe I am not the best person to answer this. Oh well, too late!

@XOIIO: How old are you? When the hormones hit, they are hard not to notice.

@gailcalled I am 15

I thought I knew, but I was wrong

I’m not poetic enough to put it into words, but for me, it’s very refreshing.

Eh.
I could do without all of it.

You can buy love for $25 on the east side.

There is an ongoing debate about the difference between feelings induced by hormones, infatuation and love. What I’m going to talk about is “falling in love.”

When I fell in love (and I’ve done it a number of times), it started with mutual admiration. More than that, mutual interest and appreciation of each other. You find yourself wanting to spend more time with the person. You enjoy their company so much that you try to be with them as much as you can, and when you’re not with them, you think about them.

They seem perfect to you. Everything they say; everything they do; just seems profoundly moving. You can’t imagine ever doing anything without this person. You feel a glow when in their presence. You want to touch them and they want to touch you, and feel you everywhere and press you tight. Because, after a while, you can’t stand being two different people, and you want to merge your bodies into one. Of course, making love is the closest you can get to that.

Before I ever fell in love the first time… and it was reciprocated, I imagined that making love would be a transcendent experience where you not only merged your bodies, but you merged your consciousnesses. You could think the other person’s thoughts.

Lovemaking is the logical result of loving someone (who isn’t already your relative). It’s the only way to express these feelings so the other person has to totally get it. Lovemaking gives you both such a joy. It feels so good, but not just physically—also emotionally.

Building on this, you continue to spend time together. This is where it starts to get tough. Will your good feelings for the other person stand the test of time? Or will you find out more about them and discover they aren’t as perfect as you thought. This is where relationship skills start to become more important. You need to be able to solve problems together (i.e., deal with your fights). You have to be able to feel sure about the other person’s affections. This belief can be challenged by so many things that we see on fluther: flirting, lap dances, other lovers, and more.

If you navigate those shoals without sinking then you can start to believe that your love has legs. Your love deepens because you have experience with the person. You continue to enjoy each other. When you make love, it is such a creative act in a metaphorical sense. It also can be a creative act in reality—creating new life. Making a baby can seem like the perfect expression of love.

In my life, I have found many women who I admire greatly. I could fall in love over and over again, I believe. My life is full with the love of my wife and my children. It is hard for me, emotionally speaking, to understand why there can only be one love at a time. I understand it intellectually, but, right or wrong, I feel like I have enough love for many. It makes me think ‘isn’t life strange?’

It will feel like it never was in doubt, a salient natural soft effervescent feeling of euphoria..without the drugs.

Love feels like a warm fire on a cold night, a long nap after Sunday lunch, or the perfect pair of fuzzy slippers after a long day of wearing heels. To hold and be held by the one you love is feeling safe in the midst of danger, of knowing exactly where you are going and how you are going to get there. To feel the warmth of my husbands body while in bed is to know all is well.

it’s indescribable.

It’s the feeling you get when you rub two pickles together and hear that tiny squeaking noise.

Initially, love is akin to euphoria. The best thing you’ve ever felt, though it can sometimes make you queasy. Once all that wonderful nonsense settles down, reciprocal love is safe and warm and home. Still the best thing you’ve ever felt. :)

Love is more than just an expression, a feeling or emotion.

It is the ability to accept an imperfect person, to love them just the way they are.

It is the knowledge of putting someone before yourself.

It is the action of showing someone that they are never alone, in mind and heart.

It is the words that can make a person feel better about living.

It is the touch that makes a person know that they deserve to be happy and to feel good about themselves.

It is something that we all deserve to have (=

“What is it like to love someone? What is it like to hold someone, and have them hold you back? Whats it like to feel the warmth of somebody close to you?”

You seem to answer the question for yourself… that love is a matter of “holding” and “warmth”. There may be something more.

Love is knowing when to let go, and not hold, or worry if you’ll be held back. Sometimes love can be quite cold, as a parent shrieks at a child for their own safety.

In all cases, (except for eros), love is a matter of giving the most precious gift you have to offer. That gift is yourself. Eros is more akin to erotic lust than giving. Agape, Philia, Storge all point to giving. Supposedly Hindu Sanskrit has over 70 different words to describe love.

But English is a butcher, and we have but one word to encompass many notions. A longing for someone is actually a form of possessiveness, selfishness or insecurity.

Love your car through maintaining it by giving yourself to it.

Love chocolate cake through giving yourself completely over to it.

Love your SO by giving yourself to them completely.

Yourself is the very best gift you can give. No one but you can give it. It’s that special.