

Love isn't merely some altruistic action or duty, says Post. Unconditional love can be be good for you. 31 Gifts to Pamper Your Stressed-Out Loved Ones.

Signs You’re Falling in Love, According to Science."Love of self is as important as love of your neighbor," Post says. Essentially, it's crucial to take care of yourself first. "No one should ever be a doormat, because it teaches others treating people that way is okay when it's not." Amodeo agrees, saying that taken to an extreme, the belief that we should remain unconditionally loving could enable a partner who refuses to enter couples counseling or seek personal help for a serious addiction problem. "This does not imply tolerating hurtful behaviors," he says. However, the trouble with this ideology is love can be dependent on reciprocal calculations-i.e., you give what you get back and vice versa, Post says. Post, PhD, president of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. "When the happiness and security of another is as real and meaningful to us as our own, we love that person unconditionally," adds Stephen G. "It's a matter of extending our non-judgmental attention, acceptance, and caring toward a person without any expectation or hope of receiving anything back, or wanting them to change in order to meet our needs," says John Amodeo, PhD, author of Dancing with Fire: A Mindful Way to Loving Relationships and a licensed marriage and family therapist. Unconditional love basically means you’re not expecting anything in return. Read on to find out if love can really conquer all. Knowing the difference between the forms of love can help you find healthy connection, too.īelow, we asked experts to unpack what exactly unconditional love is-and whether it's actually doable. Couples who are falling for each other or have been happily married for decades often unwaveringly proclaim it. Countless romantic movies, poems, iconic songs, and bestselling novels are based on it. Parents laying eyes on their child for the first time will surely declare its existence.

Regardless of the type, love can feel incredible. Learning the difference can be confusing, though, and it's important to know what kinds of love are healthy. But there are actually different forms of love, including unconditional and conditional love. There might be no better feeling than that of loving-and being loved.
