Love After Valentine's Day

photo from keturahweathers.theworldrace.org

It's the day after Valentine's Day, which may seem a day late to bring up the subject of love. Far from it. Love is not a one-day thing. Not to mention in less than a year, it will be Valentine's Day again. ;-)

Love is felt in different ways. Sometimes it grows gradually, almost imperceptibly. Sometimes it seems to appear suddenly, like the first hint of green emerging from a garden we planted in the Spring.  We love our parents, our friends, our animal companions, a place, a town, a memory. Romantic love is in a category by itself, but it encompasses elements of all these other loves. But romantic love has qualities all its own.

According to Deepak Chopra, romantic love has four phases: attraction, infatuation, courtship, and intimacy. They don't necessarily manifest themselves the same way for everyone. But Chopra tells us that when love has gone beyond friendship and towards passionate attachment, these elements come into play, in that order, and more important--all love is based on a search for the spirit.

read more at care2