Without sounding idiotic, what does love feel like?

BloatedGuppy

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Substitute Troll said:
I realize that, like any emotion, it's different to everyone. So just answer what it feels like to you.
I don't really know that it is. I think cultural and personal differences will result in us describing it differently, but the process of "love" is pretty much the same for everyone.

The feeling of falling in love or being in love are emotional states with neurobiological and biochemical correlates in the brain. Endorphins are brain hormones that activate the same receptors as opium and morphine and are connected with positive feelings such as euphoria. Oxytocin is another hormone in the brain which is involved in pair-bonding. Some have called oxytocin the "love hormone" because of its association with attachment and feelings of trust, safety, and protectiveness. Oxytocin is also involved in the attachment bond of mother to child and is released during nursing. Oxytocin may also be involved in the phenomenon of empathy towards others.
Basically, your body thinks someone is awesome, so it's getting you all fucked up on oxytocin and dopamine and norepinephrine. Which is probably why people who are in the throes of love make regularly stupid decisions. They are figuratively as high as a kite.
 

DioWallachia

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Sep 9, 2011
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I will let Tony Jay answer that question for you:


Not creepy or anything :D

Actually, a more acurrate representation of what is love would be Track 4 of Poets On Brodway:
When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love ---- (Lane/Harburg) from "Finian's Rainbow" (1946)
 
Oct 25, 2010
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I don't think you can describe emotions to someone that hasn't felt it for themselves. I doubt it feels the same for all of us.
 

Dahni

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You feel strange when you're not with them, which is definitely part of the shitty side of love, but the world seems pretty good when they're around. Plus, it feels brilliant to be around them, even if there's silences, they never feel awkward. There's also a persistent little fear that maybe they don't feel the same way because, unless they've explicitly said that you make them feel that way, it's hard to tell. It's a hard thing to describe.
 

wulfy42

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There are many kinds of love, and you have probably felt quite a few of them yourself. Have you ever cared for another person, worried about them, or wanted them to do well etc? That is a form of love.

Romantic love has many forms as well. You can romantically love someone in unselfish ways, or you can desire their presence and love them for what they give you, how they make you feel etc.

You can even have multiple kinds of love at once. You may love someone, care about them and want the best for them, but also love how they make you feel, and love the fact that they love/care about you as well. If one of those loves goes away, the others may not as well...but it can certainly change your relationship with the other person.

The whole "butterflies in your stomach" type thing is mainly due to possibilities, being nervous about if someone else will feel the same way as you, and just excitement over finding someone that makes you feel good, or that you want to spend time with and invite into your life.

Selfishness is a huge factor in love as well and there are certainly many types of selfish love (and of course many types of unselfish love). In generally love is classified as a good thing, but that is not always true. Love of someone or something can have negative consequences both for yourself and the object of your love. Not all love is healthy, and not all love ends well.
 

Fappy

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Aylaine said:
Love to me feels like a all consuming, terrifying, wonderful set of emotions. For her, I would wait. Even if my heart decays. I'll hear her out. I won't take her for granted, or push her away. I will always be honest with her. I appreciate her and to be quite honest, I would do just about anything for her. ♥

Simply put, love is an emotion that can pull you into doing things you never thought you would do. Saying things you swore you never would. You care about that person so much. You want them to be happy. To be with you. It's closer then close. In the grand scheme of things, love is probably one of the most potent feelings in my opinion. I have seen it change people more profoundly then loss or jealousy or any other emotion could. That's how it feels to me. Maintaining my sense of self is a bit of a challenge when love comes into play. :)
Yeah, that's a pretty good definition.

Love is a chaotic state of mind, but I don't think life would be the same without it.
 

Akytalusia

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feels like mind control. your hormones are compelling you to forgo your rational motivations for primal motivations. it's as simple as that. if you can recognise and differentiate between these things, you can make conscious decisions about your actions. if you can't, then you're naught but a slave to biology.
 

Susan Arendt

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Love is being willing to put in the work - admitting when you're wrong, learning fair ways to fight, accepting someone's faults, appreciating when they accept yours, wanting to help them become a better version of themselves because that is what they do for you. Love is about the mundane. The grand gestures are the easy part of love - that's where you get your romantic comedies and love songs and poetry and whatnot. But love is really about the day-to-day support you give each other in a thousand very small ways.
 

Lt._nefarious

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Well love is like a real life porn, minus all the things that make porn cool.
Love is taking a dive, getting really comfortable and peeing in the pool.
Love is a homeless guy searching for treasure in the middle of the rain, and finding a bag of gold coins.
Then slowly realizing they're all filled with chocolates, and even though he's heart broken he can't complain, because he was hungry in the first place.

OT: Milla Jovovich...
I can only describe the feeling as Milla Jovovich...

Actually on topic: It feels like slitting your wrists to find you bleed pulsating rainbows...
 

MrLee1990

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Jun 5, 2011
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I still think KOTOR II had the best way of putting it. HK-47 take the floor

http://youtu.be/yHy5OvJJN1A

?Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometres away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, 'love' is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and strangely enough, not many meatbags would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose... against statistically long odds...? - HK-47 for thoose not to watch.
 

zerragonoss

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Oct 15, 2009
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I would say that love is a fundamental change of how you look at the world. it works at many different levels, but it basically changes the base assumptions that you use to make decisions. If someone loves ice cream that could be a simple ice cream equals happiness connection so they find if crazy when someone does not like it because its no longer a food so much as a state of the being that ice cream make you happy. It could also scale up to the point where its seems more that another person is equivalent a part of or the whole of self. So making them happy or protecting them is the same or better than doing so for yourself. If I had to describe it; its simply knowing that the person you love is a part of your life, that you would do anything for them, and hoping or knowing the same is true in reveres and I mean knowing not thinking.

Captcha "cats pajamas" or that, that works
 

Polyg0n

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Jul 16, 2009
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I'm in a fresh relationship atm. (~2 months) and for me it's like I can't stop thinking about her and I grin all the time when I do. This to the point of it actually slightly bothering my studies as my mind wanders so often during lectures. Also that warm fuzzy feeling when I'm next to her is amazing.
 

CrimsonBlaze

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Aug 29, 2011
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Apparently, the sensation of love is different for everyone.

One of my friends said that being in love felt like ecstasy whenever she was around whoever she was in love with (and she knows that exact sensation because she had experienced ecstasy once before).

Another one of my friends said that it was like opening presents on Christmas Day, where you're filled with joy, happiness, excitement, and bliss, all at once.

When I experience love, it was like a warm feeling in my heart, burning very intensely and passionately that it felt like my blood was melting my chest.

So yeah, it might be difficult to pinpoint the exact sensation or feeling that represents love, but you'll know it's love because it's a feeling that feels good and you want to be with that individual in order to continue having that feeling.
 

AngloDoom

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Aug 2, 2008
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To put it in the most blunt and simplistic way I'd say it's like a full-body blush coupled with head-rush:

Warm all over, slight (but pleasant) ache in the body, a feeling of being slightly disconnected from things around you.

Not a very romantic view, but that's how it's felt for me in the past. It feels different for different people I imagine and it most likely feels different depending on the situation. The love I've felt for someone while they're all messy-haired in a comfy dressing-gown first thing in the morning is very different from the love I feel when we're messing that hair up the previous night.

EDIT - Also, time affects feelings of love, I imagine:

Susan Arendt said:
The grand gestures are the easy part of love - that's where you get your romantic comedies and love songs and poetry and whatnot. But love is really about the day-to-day support you give each other in a thousand very small ways.
Pretty much as above.
There's only so many ways you can write someone's name in the clouds, but there's thousands of other ways to make them feel just as special.
 

TheDoctor455

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Apr 1, 2009
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Only experienced it once.

Unfortunately, it was one-sided... sort of.

She loved me like the brother she'd never had, but that was it.

I... was in love with her, despite my best efforts not to be.

She... was already with someone else.

So for me...

being in love is feeling deliciously trapped...

like being stuck in a bear-trap that's been smothered with honey...

and is starting to attract bees.
 

The Funslinger

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Sep 12, 2010
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Shinsei-J said:
Love is like wetting your pants, people can see it
but only you can feel it's warmth.
Which is why I go around urinating on strangers. Generosity is a good thing! :D

But no, I don't know about end all incredible must marry this person sort of love, but the times when I've been in a loving relationship have been times when the remnants of my depression have completely left me, which is a blessing I can't even begin to describe.

Just knowing there's someone to have and hold is an incredibly blissful feeling, topped only by when you do something to make said person happy and see their face light up.

That's my cheesy description of personal experience done for the day!
 

squidface

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Jun 3, 2012
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Different in every relationship I've been and assumed that what I feel is "love."

For one thing, love feels different than the feeling of being in love.

Love can be unconditional - painful. Ouch. Bad. Bleh.
Love can be that p-word which escapes my mind at the moment.
And it can be mutual.

The feeling of love is caring for someone, having compassion for them and being empathetic.

Being in love; the deal breaker for me, knowing that I'm in love with someone, is when I think of death and to calm myself down I think of them; the thought of being without them makes my arms ache as if I had a panic attack coming on (sounds really clingy but it's just something that happens to me xD); and ultimately the proper proper way I can make sure I'm in love with someone is knowing and having the feeling that they are real. Like, realizing that they are real, they're alive, they actually exist. You know that feeling where you're like "what if everyone else is fake... and it's just me?" yeah, well, with people you love/are in love with, that goes away if it's proper. At least, that's how I see it.

It's a feeling of contentedness with life; I hesitate to say "perpetual happiness" because you can still be unhappy with certain aspects of your life while you love/are in love with someone. But always having a background feeling of being content, a feeling of being safe, loved back, all round warm inside, I guess - the usual stuff people say about it. Along with feelings of wanting them and needing them.

Also a feeling of selflessness has to accompany it. If I will do just about anything for that person without questioning it or complaining (unless I'm joking ;D) and I'll just get stuff for them without having to ask why then yeah that's another part of it for me.

Long answer is long.
 

The Funslinger

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Sep 12, 2010
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OmniscientOstrich said:
Like a bag of sand?
No, that's boobs according to the 40 year old virgin :D

Though I can understand how boobs can be equated to love. Covering the heart and being all squeezable and whatnot.