One of the best feelings in the world is, without a doubt, to LOVE and to feel LOVED. After all, love moves mountains, doesn't it?
With this situation, I thought it was important to talk about love and the different ways we have to love or demonstrate our love. Because yes, each person has his or her own way of loving and demonstrating it (which can sometimes cause misunderstandings, by the way).
Celebrating love ... in all its forms
Love is not only the love that is formed between two lovers ... there is love of our parents, our friends, our peers, our family, some people we work with ... and above all, there is love of self!
The ancient Greeks used eight words to describe the different types of love and I have taken these words as inspiration to share with you what I have learned about love over the years, through my practice as an NLP coach and, as a lover of life!
Special thanks to Laura Camu and her flame Jumelle Mathieu for the wonderful photo session in Goa, India, in collaboration with DoshaYoga pour orange MUJO Jumpsuit. Get 10% off our Jumpsuit by February 15th 2022 with the coupon code: AMOUR.
Our ambassador wears the MUJO Bali Jumpsuit in this photo session taken in Bali.
Eros : Romantic and passionate love
Eros represents passionate and erotic love. In Greek mythology, Eros is the god who symbolizes romantic love. It is often the first phase that we experience at the beginning of a relationship.
Passion is a dazzling emotion that often results in a fusional attraction with the other.
Philia : Platonic love
Relating to a relationship of mutual esteem, of equals.
Philia is a type of love felt between friends who have experienced difficult times together.
You can enjoy spending time with someone and feel attachment without being in love or being loved.
Affection is a state of attachment to a person that is expressed in different ways. You feel affection for someone with whom you enjoy spending time and sharing things. Tenderness, attraction, admiration that makes us love someone with attachment. A feeling of interest that binds one to another.
Another example, more and more frequent, is a virtual meeting, where we spend a lot of time online before we even meet the person ''in real life''. We then feel, during our online exchanges, the effects of being in love, but it is a feeling full of illusions, therefore, platonic.
Agapè : Selfless and universal love
It is the purest form of love, it is not based on the performance of the receiver, but on the character of the person giving it.
It is unconditional, universal, altruistic and spiritual love. I love you, but I don't need you, I love you without expecting anything in return. It is unconditional. One accepts the other as he is, with his qualities and faults. One wishes for his or her well-being without expecting anything in return. We have compassion for the other person. It is a love free of the ego that is beyond the emotional.
Storgê : Familiar love
The Storgê is above all linked to kinship and family love.
The form of Storgê love can even be felt for childhood friends, even as an adult.
This explains why friendships that have lasted for a very long time always last (despite distance and remoteness). It's about the love of our community that somehow represents the extended family we've created.
We are the average of the 5 people around us. Build your extended family by choosing people who raise you in their presence is therefore primal.
Manie : Obsessive love
It is the destructive passion. When we live a passionate relationship with someone, feelings are idealized by thoughts and desires. Reality is not what we believe it to be, but rather like a movie we tell ourselves.
Passion leads to a loss of control, impulsiveness, senseless decision making and often isolation from those around you. The passion often ends painfully because of the strong feelings it arouses and a certain dependence on the other.
Ludus : Playful love
In playful love (Ludus), love and intimacy are seen as a game. Ludus love is the feeling we experience when we are in the early stages of love.
The heart throbs, and then the flirting, teasing and feelings of euphoria that accompany this state.
Pragma : Lasting love
It is lasting love or true love, as many like to call it, which is summed up in an emotional attraction without violence but with respect and attention.
To truly love means to know how to recognize, and to assume, that we have qualities, as well as faults, just like our partner.
This love is rare and difficult to find because it often takes more time and energy to try to find love than it does to try to preserve and nurture it.
Philautia : Self-love
Demonstrate compassion for oneself
The last ''love'' is in my opinion the most important in my eyes. It is to be self-sufficient in oneself, without expecting anything in return.
It is not to BE WITH someone that makes you happy, it is rather to BE YOURSELF that makes you happy.
I invite you to make a list of words and characteristics that describe your ideal life partner and then try to become that person! On your way, you will meet a whole person who is also ready to share, and this, without developing co-dependence.
Discover our selection of SELF-LOVE items from MUJO here.
I invite you to watch my Self-Love Travel video on our Youtube channel! (Video available in French)
Love yourself!
Isa C. xx