What are the Five Love Languages? This is a quick summary of the book, The 5 Languages of Love, by Gary Chapman. The information in this book is important to everyone who loves and from my perspective, the book needs to be purchased and put on your bookshelf to reread over time. It is a simple read and a skinny book, which works well for busy couples. I cannot recommend it enough.
Dr. Chapman explains how important it is for couples to understand how they each both give and receive love. I have found that couples have come to my office who actually love each other but one or the others “feels” unloved. Dr. Chapman’s research showed that this occurs when couples are missing the mark with each others language of love. They do not think the same or feel the same about giving and receiving love. One part of the couple might be quite astounded at the information that their partner feels unloved, believing that they have been doing this and doing that consistently in the name of love. Unfortunately, although their partner likely felt appreciation, they did not feel loved by these actions. You can see that knowing your partner’s language of love is important information to be able to love your partner well and have a solid foundation for the partnership to go forward and to keep each other’s “love tank” filled.
The Book Describes the Following Five Love Languages:
1. Words of Affirmation
If this is your primary love language, you feel well loved when your partner uses words of affirmation, love, and appreciation consistently in your relationship.
2. Acts of Service
If this is your primary love language, you feel well loved when your partner takes the time and effort to do something for you. Whatever your regular role is in the relationship does not count in the same way. So if your partner normally cooks and you normally clean the kitchen and dishes, that is not it. But if you offer to watch the kids while your partner goes to the gym or you fill up the gas in your partner’s car or other acts that are not part of your role, that feels like love to you.
3. Affection
If this is your primary love language, you feel well loved when your partner uses affectionate touching on a consistent basis. Snuggling on the couch, Holding hands and connecting in every way physically reassures you that you are loved.
4. Quality Time
If this is your primary love language, you feel most loved when you are spending time together, connecting. Your partner is fully present and engaged with you in whatever activity you are sharing, no matter how trivial. This confirms your connection and you feel especially loved.
5. Gifts
If this is your primary love language, you feel most loved when your partner gives you a gift. It is not about the size of the gift. It could be as simple as a card or your favorite chocolate bar. The meaning is that while you were away from me, you were thinking of me and that makes me feel especially loved.
It is important that if you do not have the book edition that has the test within it, that you go online and take the test at www.5lovelanguages.com/profile. It is sometimes hard for us to decipher our partner’s language of love as well as our own and so this assessment is helpful. Remember that we often appreciate all the gestures of love but we will often have a primary language with a secondary language that goes straight to our heart and says, “you are loved”. Remember too that your partner’s language of love might be quite foreign to your language of love and you may need to program your phone to remember to use that language of love until it becomes a habit.
If your relationship is in trouble, this information is one of the most important pieces of information to help repair the relationship and restore the security of the love relationship. It also helps a relationship that is pretty good to become great. Get the book, read it and apply it in all kinds of places in your life. But in the meantime, you can start to practice being a great lover with the brief information offered here. Go Forth and BE Wonderful!
While you are waiting for professional help, you can get ready by:
Your relationships with your partner and your family is one of the greatest blessings that you have. Take this day to remember past good memories together – they often get lost in the challenges of life. Bring them to mind and be thankful for them. Look at the characteristics that your partner has that you appreciate. There are many. Look at their values, their good intentions, their care for you and your family. Be grateful that they are willing to share their life with you. Express your gratitude out loud. Notice that the child in this picture looks filled with joy in every part of him at his experience of a found pumpkin – we can learn from him. I hope you are able to find gratitude today amidst the wonderful traditions you may have (my turkey is beginning to smell great as I write this) as well as the challenges in your family that may bring sadness in your life. Our lives are not necessarily all easily felt blessings but sometimes take some work to find the blessings within the challenge. Sometimes families and health issues are a part of our lives that stretch us to find the places of gratitude but it is worth the effort to do so! My challenge to you today is to keep the gratitude expressions going for the next 2 weeks and see the difference that it makes for you and your relationship. Go forth and live fully!
Be open. Walk through a new door of beliefs. Differences are rarely insurmountable. Love is not about your partner being a reflection of you but about your ability to appreciate your partner’s differences and honor them. Get real about negative feelings. Oh my goodness, somehow people don’t realize that their negative feelings are a reflection of their negative thoughts and where they are focussing. I am not saying disregard your negative feelings but use that information to know what is going on inside for you. Take them as a signal to make some changes on the outside. Your feelings and thoughts come from a past that is unexamined as well as from your present circumstances. Find out what the hurts and the fears represent and make positive changes in your life towards that. When talking things over with your partner and repair attempts do not work, do not assume it is about incompatibility but it is most likely about the state of the friendship in the relationship. How have you been working on that part of the foundation of the relationship? Have you been neglecting that for busyness of children or work or? Repairing and managing conflict depends on a solid friendship. And finally (there are so many more crazy beliefs but this is it for now), let your partner do things for you out of love. When you are doing this for your children, you see this as normal. You may visit your parent in a home out of love. Acceptance of your partner’s attempts at loving you and keeping the relationship alive is part of YOUR obligation in the commitment. When couples are in a bad place they will often further sabotage their relationship by not accepting loving gestures from their partner, believing they are just doing it because it is expected or some other reason that is not helpful. Be open to the positives in your relationship and create some yourself today. Go forth and be wonderful!
When they continue to focus on that circumstance, the unfairness of it, the fact that it was not in their plan for life, the evils of their former partner, the years pass and they are stuck. When they look at the circumstances year in and year out, they are not able to get out of their stuckness. They need to ask the deep part of themselves, what is it that I need to change or learn that upgrades me as a person because of these circumstances? One thing may be to learn to let go. Another may be to trust in the future for their lives. Another may be to practice forgiveness. Another may be to develop the skills of resilience in their lives. This makes life positive, encouraging, and hopeful as they change themselves at the invitation of the circumstances of their lives. What circumstances are you currently in that has an invitation for an upgrade in you? Get unstuck by making a needed change in you. Go forth and be wonderful today!
How can you best change this? Put a positive trigger for yourself in your environment or on your phone that will remind you to think of a positive memory of your partnership daily. Look at your journey milestones that you have created together. Having kids and bringing them up. Growing together as a couple. What are you most proud of that you have accomplished together. What do you do well now that you did not do well at before? How have you successfully managed your challenges and differences? How have you influenced each other for change towards the good? Before I used to… Now I … As a couple, how have you balanced each other out? If your negative filter keeps getting in the way when you are asking yourself these questions, take that seriously. You could undermine your entire connection. Develop a new mindset that sees the positive in your relationship journey. Find ways to develop new memories on your journey. Make plans on your calendar for novel events that you can do together. Focus on appreciating the values and the character traits that you share together. Develop gratitude for those and all that is good in your relationship. Gratitude leads to joy and joy to strength. If you are still finding difficulty, connect with a therapist to help you along your way. Go forth and be wonderful today!
