What Is True Love?

The true source of fulfilling and satisfying loving relationships is not from seeking love, but is found within ourselves. Our own thoughts, expectations and behaviors determine the quality of true love we experience in our lives.

We can recognize true love as it is always empowering. True love gives, without expectations or demands in return. True love comes from a place within ourselves and expresses concern, kindness and joyfulness.

We know if we are experiencing true love by how we feel and act. Feeling needy, yearning to control or manipulate, planning or scheming to punish someone because they have disappointed us are not traits of true love.

Constantly finding flaws instead of acceptance, being possessive or jealous, and experiencing fright or sadness are all weaknesses that fill us with fear, anger and resentment. We can recognize that these feelings are not caused by true love.

These feelings are all generated by seeking to receive love from someone else. But we cannot get true love by demanding it or trying to force someone to love us. Love is never found with demands or ultimatums.

It is impossible to have true love by seeking it from someone else. These feelings make powerless victims out of us so we think our happiness is wholly dependent upon someone else behaving in a certain way. Only a relationship with God will give us true happiness.

If we find ourselves in this situation, the good news is, we don't have to remain in this vulnerable state that controls and weakens us. True love is within ourselves, and as we recognize this true love from God, we are able to discover enormous joy, comfort, kindness and happiness.

As we discover this power of true love, we will stop seeking love from outside of ourselves. We will know that our source of happiness is not dependent on the behaviors of someone else, but how our love is managed within ourselves, through God's love for us.

We, with our faith in God, are the only ones that create our own happiness. Our own happiness and contentment will cause us to serve another unselfishly, thereby receiving true love we want in return.