This article is part 1 of the "What is Love" series that I am doing. For reference head over to my original post of That Crazy Thing Called Love.

Part 1:

Never say, “I love you,” unless you truly mean it.

When a person is in a relationship they will often hit a stage that is somewhere between the "Infatuation Stage" and the "Flatuation Stage" of a relationship. This stage is called the "I Love You" stage. Relationships often breeze past this one without any thought or concern, but love is too strong of a word to just throw around in a relationship. A relationship has to always have meaning to it and this starts at the root of the relationship which is love.

It takes a second or maybe a second date to like someone. You can like their complexion or their complexity. We all remember those times when we liked someone in our 1st grade or 5th grade class. We all remember those times we really wanted to take someone to prom, but they didn't feel the same way. Regardless of the situation, at one point in your life you have "liked" someone. You can be in a relationship with someone you "like" but the question is do you "love" them. For some this realization may not come for awhile and that is perfectly fine. For some it comes too late and for some it comes too early and the relationship flies into the void of this world in a complete disarray. Love, in itself, is too powerful for assumptions.

The Webster Dictionary defines love as the following:

1. a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person

2. an attraction that includes sexual desire : the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship

3. a person you love in a romantic way

Love is found in numerous examples within life and is not always about that number 2 definition. Love is having a great feeling for someone whether it is a connection of a son and father, of a brother and sister, or a husband and a wife. All of these are different examples of love that are just shown in different ways. When you are in a love relationship with someone and are dating them your end goal will always discover if that three worded phrase of "I Love You" is true between you and that person.

I found the love of my life at the University of North Georgia. We were both in the band and we both loved music. It was this love for both our college and music that brought us together. Now we actually had two relationships with each other. The first one was where I discovered that "I Love You" is not something to be tossed around. It was then that I discovered in what we called the "second relationship" that we needed a foundation before someone could say such a powerful statement.

Stephanie used to be the shyest person I ever met. We became friends in the most unusual of cases. I liked her so much that I asked her on a date without even realizing it. Our relationship had to hit the reset button. I promised her that I would not say "I Love You" till the time came. She agreed too.

Some relationships toss around the phrase like it is a greeting or goodbye necessary to preventing the relationship from derailing. Love is an expression that is done in numerous ways. In this case, the expression of I love you is vocally. However, one must master all the ways to say I love you so that a relationship is successful. Don't demand someone to say "I Love You" or make the other person feel bad if they are not yet ready to vocally say it. It took Stephanie about half a year into our successful relationship to say those magical words. We were actually on the beach watching the sunset in the distance. Sometimes you need a perfect setting too.

Saying "I Love You" is a promise to the person you are with. It is a promise that no matter what type of day you are going through that I am here for you and love you for who you are and who you are growing up to become. A relationship is all about planning. Without planning, the relationship will derail off its tracks or the drivers will not see the track in front of them which switches abruptly.

So if you are in a relationship where you truly love this person, express it not only vocally, but through your actions as well. Spending time with someone and listening to them is one of the greatest gifts to someone that money cannot buy.

What is Love? Love is truth, honesty, compassionate, eternal, infinite, and full of life. If you are in a relationship that is not any of this then you must be patient because love comes in many forms as well as in many ways.

This is the Love Guru signing off for this week, meet me again next week when I touch on part 2 of our series: "The Art of Communication".