It started with a simple question from a college student’s social psychology project: What is your definition of love?
Let’s just get it out of the way immediately - if you don’t instantly say “Baby, don’t hurt me…”, I just don’t know what you’re thinking. And I was rather proud/disappointed in myself that I hadn’t succumbed to that knee-jerk reaction.
When she asked me this question, about 10,000 things pinged inside my head in an instant. It really isn’t a simple question to answer comprehensively. I can’t boil it down to one executive-summaried sentence.
So after a 10-minute response window to think about it, here’s what I gave her. But now it’s an open question to you, our Wayne Lifestyle family. How do you define love? Let us know - we’d love to know your thoughts on love.
What is my definition of love?
Love is one of those amorphous things that is ill-defined by mortals. It can be all-encompassing, fleeting, singular, boundless, stratified, eternal, confusing, misdirected, and a myriad of other things.
It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot without deeper meaning attached to it. You might mean that you love a certain movie, or this muffin you’re eating, or a place that holds special meaning to you - or even just a particular sunset that will fade in mere moments. Is the love you have for your hamster the same you have for your dog? Is your love for a particular shade of purple equal to the love that you have for your parents?
How does that sudden wellspring of unrelenting, all-encompassing love for your newborn begin? Yet there is no limit to what you’d do for this person that didn’t exist a minute ago.
Love is confusing. Love is complicated. Love is simple.
It is an outbound feeling that makes you shine internally. It at once can bring joy and sorrow, pain and bliss, comfort and regret.
Ultimately, I think that love is a tacit acknowledgment of something special that is beyond yourself. It is in being selfless, recognizing that there is beauty beyond your physical body. Chemically, it’s about dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin. However, it’s the soul - that likewise hard-to-define entity that makes us human - which binds that with the spirit and transforms it into something wonderful.
Love is soaring poetry and simple acts. Love is kindness. Love is compassion. Love is wanting better for others. Love makes the world bearable.
Love is the universe’s greatest invisible gift.