What Is True Love? 15 Characteristics Of Real Love

You know you are in love when you have no doubts or questions about it.

Reviewed by Sarah Kenville, MA (Marriage and Family Therapy)
Written by Sneha Tete, Integrated MA, Certified Relationship Coach

Edited by Subhrojyoti Mukherjee, MA (English)

Fact-checked by Gracia Odile, MA • Jan 24, 2024

What Is True Love? 15 Characteristics Of Real Love

Image: Shutterstock

Defining the characteristics of real love can be difficult because it takes many forms. This pure and innocent bond is formed with your nearest and dearest ones.

However, lately, we seem to have lost the meaning of this emotion. Sadly, so many people are now out of touch with themselves that they confuse negative emotions like possessiveness and jealousy with love. The meaning of genuine love lies beyond such emotions. True love and affection are life-changing experiences for anyone who has experienced them. There is no limit to what they can do for your soul, mind, and body. However, the definition of true love can differ from person to person.

Marie, a blogger, shared her thoughts on what she feels true love is for her. She writes, “When you can love yourself when your life is in the trenches and you feel flat out, that’s a love like no other. That’s a love that will sustain and endure. That’s the love that will last forever. And, while I haven’t found a lasting love with a partner, I have found a lasting love with myself, and that, I’ve learned, is the most vital love of all (i).”

If you are confused about whether a deep-seated affection for someone is love, we have you covered! Take a look at this list to understand what true love means. Keep scrolling!

In This Article

What Is True Love?

Image: Shutterstock

1. Love Is Unconditional

Though it is pretty self-explanatory, few people truly understand just what unconditional love really means. Real love is always unconditional and selfless. When you love a person completely without expecting anything from them, it is unconditional love. In fact, you may not even expect love and attention from them in return. You are simply grateful to the universe for their presence in your life.

2. Love Means Putting The Other Person’s Needs Before Your Own

While people may at times behave inherently selfish to survive in this difficult world, this does not serve you well where love is concerned. If you don’t instinctively feel like putting the other person before you, it is a relationship of convenience, not love. When you fall in true love, you are ready to sacrifice and genuinely care about the other person’s happiness even more than your own and will go to any lengths to make them feel valued.

3. Love Means Never Having To Be Bound By Expectations

Never being bound by expectations is a characteristic of true love

Image: Shutterstock

We all want others to behave as we expect them to. We want them to be more caring, compassionate, affectionate, outgoing, smarter, ambitious, or attentive. But all of these are expectations. Expectations are nothing but your requirements for loving someone, which is contrary to what true love is. Real love has no expectations. The focus is on loving them, and that is enough for you.

4. Love Means Letting Go Gracefully

Love does not require possession and has no room for jealousy. It allows people to be free. It does not require holding on tightly and crushing a person’s wings to keep them close. True love does not want to own but to nurture.

5. Love Is Synonymous With Empathy

Man empathising with woman is a sign of true love

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Empathy is understanding a situation from another person’s point of view. Love has deep empathy. If you truly love someone, hurting them will practically crush you. You can’t bear the thought of them being sad or hurt. You want them to feel good and be happy and prosperous.

6. Love Means Being A Part Of A Team

True love is nothing but perfect teamwork. You need to know when to take control and when to fall back and allow your partner to take over. When two people truly love each other, their strengths (and weaknesses) come together and help them work as a team. They are supportive and respectful and know when to be quiet and when to say the things that must be said. They aim to work together like a perfectly tuned instrument to achieve their goals.

7. Love Makes You Feel Content, Not Anxious

Feeling content and not anxious is a characteristic of true love

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Many people think being in a relationship equals love, but sadly, that is not the case. Just because you are in a relationship does not necessarily mean there is true love between you two. One needs to be trustworthy and loyal towards the commitment. It is not love if there is constant fighting, jealousy, possessiveness, or verbal, emotional, or physical abuse.

Quick Tip

It is important to value intimacy and spend quality time together. Take up a new activity, take a walk, and work out together because making memories make you feel content with your partner.

8. Love Understands And Accepts Differences

True love allows you to open up to your partner and results in personal and spiritual growth. It also comes with a great degree of vulnerability. However, this natural process is essential for getting closer to your true self. Every living thing needs to grow to survive, including plants, animals, and human beings. It promotes natural growth that fills our life with happiness and fearlessness.

9. Love Means Growing Together

True love results in personal and spiritual growth. It is a natural process essential for getting closer to your true self. Every living thing needs to grow to survive, including plants, animals, and human beings. It promotes natural growth that fills our life with happiness and fearlessness.

10. Love Does Not Recognize Ego

Where there is love, there is no ego. It is not about the fights – every couple fights, whether they are in love or not. It is about making up. It is about forgiveness and finding it hard to be apart from each other, no matter who is at fault. It is about fighting for each other, not against each other.

11. Love Means Having Mutual Respect

Mutual respect is a characteristic of true love

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To sustain true love, it is essential to have genuine respect for each other . Otherwise, you may become judgmental and dissatisfied. Mutual respect can only develop from giving each other space for personal growth and not crossing the line, no matter what happens.

Quick Tip

Communication is vital in a relationship. Listening to each other, compromising, having patience, and respecting each other’s space helps to make a healthy relationship.

12. Love Heals

Love heals. No matter how deeply you have been hurt, the power of true love can heal you and help you find happiness again (1). Love makes you feel safe and protected. You feel at peace with yourself and the world. When you are in love, you feel at home with your loved one, no matter where you are.

13. Love Provides Companionship

As humans, we seek companionship and support from our partners. Lovers stay by each other’s sides no matter what and through thick and thin – for life. True love celebrates the good times and provides a shoulder to cry on during the bad times.

You find true love when you are at peace with yourself. You can’t find love or happiness by chasing people or emotionally blackmailing them to be with you. It comes when you are completely comfortable in your skin and express gratitude for the little things in life.

14. Love Is Selflessness

Love is not about grand gestures or self-sacrifice; it is about the daily act of putting your partner’s needs and happiness before your own. It involves acts of kindness and compromise, where individuals find joy in the happiness of their partner. This does not mean that you become a doormat. Selflessness in love is about finding a balance, a harmonious blend of “me” and “we.” It is about celebrating individual dreams while nurturing shared aspirations.

15. Love Means Having Shared Values

Sharing values means sharing the fundamental guiding principles that define how you navigate life together. They are beliefs about honesty, integrity, kindness, and the things that truly matter in the grand scheme of existence. These values also provide a framework for navigating disagreements, making decisions, and acting as a source of unwavering support during hard times.

Infographic: Top 5 Characteristics Of True Love

True love tends to be magical yet mystical that none can take away from you at any cost. It starts with feeling butterflies in your stomach and ends with having intense feelings for your partner. It can take your breath away if you also experience some beautiful features of true love. You may be confused about the signs, but you are at the right place.

Check out the infographic below to know the top 5 features of true love that you can experience for your loved one. You can get a clear confirmation about your feelings after going through these definite features.

top 5 features of true love to experience for your loved ones (infographic)

Get the high-quality PDF version of this infographic.

Decoding love has been the subject of many literary and artistic creations. For centuries, humankind has pondered over the characteristics of real love and has come up with nuggets of insight. True love entails putting the other person’s needs above your own and being empathetic towards them. Real love is all-encompassing and makes you feel peaceful and content. Furthermore, it does not allow space for negative emotions like jealousy and ego. So, if you are in true love with someone, you will unconditionally honor and care for them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a man fall deeply in love with a woman?

Emotional security, a sense of attachment, and support from a woman make the man fall for that woman. A man appreciates a considerate woman and may get attracted to those with shared values. However, these preferences may vary from person to person.

What is love in one word?

There are many words synonymous with love, but one word that describes love perfectly is sacrifice.

What is love in life?

Love means having a companion, partner, or a special person in your life who adores you and is thankful for your existence.

What role does trust play in real love, and how can I build and maintain trust in a relationship?

Trust plays an important role in love as it shows that you have confidence in your love and relationship. You and your partner are loyal to each other. To maintain this trust it is necessary to be open and honest, communicate, set boundaries, have mutual respect, and give each other enough space to grow.

What are some of the challenges that can arise in a relationship based on real love, and how can they be overcome?

Some of the challenges that can arise in a relationship such as expectations, finances, and loss of intimacy. To overcome these problems, you should establish healthy communication, try to take some time out of your busy schedule, and spend quality time and share your burdens together.

Is it possible to experience real love more than once in a lifetime, or is it a once-in-a-lifetime experience?

It is definitely possible to experience real love more than once in a lifetime. Humans are capable of being attracted to multiple partners in their lifetime and this attraction can easily evolve into love.

Key Takeaways

True love can be life-changing and enriching for your soul.
Real love does not judge someone just because they are different – it celebrates their uniqueness.
True love is unconditional – it has no expectations, makes you feel content, and helps you heal and grow.

Image: Stable Diffusion/StyleCraze Design Team

Download

Unveil the secrets of true love in this captivating video and explore the fundamental traits that distinguish it from superficial connections. Witness the power of loyalty, vulnerability, and unconditional acceptance that embody the essence of genuine love.

Personal Experience: Source

StyleCraze's articles are interwoven with authentic personal narratives that provide depth and resonance to our content. Below are the sources of the personal accounts referenced in this article.

i. I Learned that “Your One True Love is Yourself” the Hard Way
https://medium.com/mindfully/i-learned-that-your-one-true-love-is-yourself-the-hard-way-acb81fb52533

References

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