How to Say I Love You

I love you. Three easy words, right? Easy to say, so easy that often I love you has lost its meaning. It has become a social convention like "how are you today", we say it, but do we really mean it? Expressions of love should not be saved for Valentine's Day or to get us out of trouble, or to get what we want. Love should rather be a token given from the heart first, verbalized later.

So how can you take "I love you" to a higher level? Think of it in terms of the importance a person plays in your life, what life would be like without them, and give back your love as action rather than words. An act of love can be physical or it can relate to giving of your time, it can be sacrificial, sexual, or spiritual.

Let's look first at the physical act of love. No I'm not talking about breaking out the skin flicks and getting all hot and sweaty. Rather looking at what the person you love needs and acting physically upon those needs. It can be a large expenditure of energy such as digging up a flower bed, or remodeling a room, fixing a special meal, caring when someone is sick, or fixing a mechanical device. The cheerful giving of our talents and abilities to someone we care about, speaks volumes, especially when the thing we provide is needed, but not asked for. It shows an attentive mind and a caring heart from the giver, to the receiver it translates "I love you."

Giving of your precious time to another is one of the greatest gifts of love you can offer. Spending time with a loved one, really opening up to hear, listen, and to seek to understand. We have to recall that we are alone in our troubles. The person we love has hopes and desires, disappointments and frustrations. Just taking the time to listen, what a meaningful gift that is. Time to take a walk, to hold hands, cuddle, or be silly together. Ahhh....love, isn't it grand?