Today's blog post is one that I could easily expand upon for days if not weeks at a time. The languages of love. I will relate this to music as the blog unfolds.
Did you know that each of us displays our love languages differently? Or maybe you didn't even know that you had love languages.
Renowned psychologist Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a book titled: 'The Five Languages of Love' back in 1995.
His book is a discussion of marriage, emotional love, and how spouses can recognize each other's love languages and then fulfill them. Each individual typically has one trait that is strongest and another that comes second while the other three may be more latent.
I believe though and so do others that these five languages can be demonstrated to others who are not our spouses or even friends or relatives.
The five languages of love for spouses are:
1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Receiving Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Physical Touch
I highly encourage you, the reader, to look at Dr. Chapman's book to get a better idea of how to love your spouse more fully. It will also help to understand how emotional love is shared and nurtured.
For those who aren't married, I would like to expound on these points a little more and encourage you to recognize love languages from those you know best. You don't have to be married, engaged or even in a relationship with someone to see these traits in someone's life. You can even see them in your own life.
A little caveat before I begin: Physical touch can be a problematic issue for many people so one needs to be very aware of other's personal space and never invade it. Respect and dignity for others is essential!
We all need words of affirmation. Everyday we're bombarded with negative messages, thoughts, and words that are sometimes just overwhelming.
Have you ever seen someone on the side of the road dejectedly walking? It's heartbreaking. We can though, with our words affirm and encourage others.
Another way to show people love is to spend quality time with them.
One thing that can get very annoying is when we spend time with people and they decide to spend it on their phone.
Can we all just put down our phones for a while and spend time together? Face-to-face conversation is becoming a lost art with all of the distractions around. Let's be purposeful about sharing the precious time we have with others.
The next aspect is receiving gifts. You may wonder, "How am I supposed to receive gifts?" Maybe what you need to do is to start giving in order to be able to receive. Sometimes just giving a small gift like a cup of coffee can open the door to one's heart to receive back something.
Let me relate this to music for a moment.
When I started this website, my intent was to demonstrate what can be done with music for the promotion and distribution of one's artistry. I also found that I wanted to give to the internet community some of the work that I've done in some tangible way. That's why this website is here.
It feels good to give and it also feels good to receive positive feedback about the music I create.
The next aspect of the five languages of love is: Acts of Service.
If you volunteer your time or talents for something, then you understand this one. If you don't, try to find something that you can do for someone else. You could always take a meal to them, drive them to an appointment, invite them over for coffee, or any number of things. The sky's the limit.
The next aspect is physical touch. A hug can be huge to someone. It can reaffirm their humanity and warm their heart.
A word of caution is as I said before, always ask permission if you're unsure.
A couple of other things to mention are that we each give and receive love in a way that is unique to us, but as we are all human, we have similarities.
I love being able to show love to others through my music. I also love spending quality time with people. These become special memories in my heart.
Why don't you think about a way you can make your heart feel good this week. It will also bless you!