How do you define love?

I've struggled with the concept of love for the longest time. I've been in and out of relationships and I've seen a fair share of guys and all along, I thought I understood what love was about. I thought love was about owning, holding and having. But there's a difference between love and desire, lust, and the need for accompaniment and attention. Through the past 5 months or so, I've learnt that love is about giving without the need for acknowledgement, putting aside one's personal desires and delighting in the joy of another's happiness. Love is always generous and forgiving. Love makes you want to spend every second of your day with that special someone even if it means lying around doing nothing. Even 'nothing' makes your time feel.. Saturated with contentment and satisfaction.

It's true that you cannot love another without first learning to love yourself. I now realize I've never truly loved myself, nor appreciated the miracle I am in God's eyes. Yes, non-believers. You might roll your eyes at how cheesy this sounds.. Yet a strong front is often a disguise for vulnerability inside. I've only learnt to love from being loved - And that's the most comforting feeling in the world. The knowledge that someone can love me, despite my faults and flaws, and that enables me to love in return.

I'm glad to be free of my foolish perceptions of what I once thought love was.