Living with Chronic Pain
What Are the Five Love Languages?
“The 5 Love Languages” is a bestselling book authored by marriage and family counselor Gary Chapman. The premise of “The 5 Love Languages” is that people express and receive love in five different ways.
The five love languages include the following:
- Words of affirmation – Compliments, praise, or words of encouragement
- Quality time – Undivided attention and time together
- Receiving gifts – Heartfelt, thoughtful gift giving
- Acts of service – Doing household chores or lending a helping hand
- Physical touch – Holding hands, kissing, giving a massage, or having sex
While everyone expresses and receives love in all five languages at different times in their lives, most people have a primary love language. For individuals in a relationship, learning their partner’s love language and expressing love in a way that best meets their partner’s needs can strengthen the relationship.
For example, if a person knows that their partner’s love language is acts of service, washing the dishes after dinner or brushing off the snow from their car is an expression of love. If a person lets their partner know that quality time is their love language, their partner can express their love by spending uninterrupted time with their partner. In this instance, an expression of love may be as simple as ignoring their cell phone during meals.
Love languages can also be applied to non-romantic relationships. Learning others’ love languages can be beneficial for family, friendships, and even coworker relationships. Although the appropriate expressions of love differ for each type of relationship, the principles are the same and can be used to strengthen any type of relationship.
Additional resources used to create this article include the 5 Love Languages and Very Well Mind.
