With love and affection most of us assume that these emotions mean we are witnessing the same emotional experience for all people. But this is not so. Some people display tremendous love and affection for all other people. These people focus on the good traits in other people, even when others have few redeeming features. Yet these same people lack much affection for themselves and have little self-regard. They are inclined to have great steadfast commitment to other people they admire or love but not to themselves.
Some other people do not display much affection or love for other people. They may only do so to insure they get something in return, as in manipulating another person for their own self-interests. These people are fickle and transfer their love and affection from one person to another with great ease when it serves their interests to do so. They will dissolve love relationships on a whim when they feel slighted or do not get what they want from another person.
Such differences in people’s expression of love and affection are particularly baffling to those in dating and marital relationships. Have you ever experienced these different meanings of love and affection in either yourself or others?
