What Is True Love?

What is true love? It’s a question almost everyone asks themselves in their lifetime. After all, you may have intensely strong feelings of affection and adoration for your partner, but how do you know if these sentiments qualify as true love? Fortunately, indicators can help you determine if what you’ve found is true love or if it’s too good to be true.

What is true love? To figure out if you’ve found the real things, it’s important to first understand what true love entails. Essentially, true love means that you have an unwavering, unbreakable, and unparalleled fondness and devotion for your partner. It's also defined by an emotional as well as physical connection with them that runs immeasurably deep, and life without your significant other would be practically unthinkable.

What are the signs of true love? If you’re unsure that what you’re experiencing is true love, it’s important to look for these eight essential indicators.

1. You care about this person unconditionally. A tell-tale sign that you’ve found true love is that you absolutely and undeniably adore your partner with no strings attached. In other words, no matter what circumstances may befall you and through good times as well as bad, you support and deeply care for this person. Unconditional love is at the very heart of what true love means and entails. 

2. You fully accept your partner. An indicator of true love is that you understand and accept your partner for the person they are. You’re not trying to change your mate, fix them, and/or turn them into a different person. Rather, you fully accept, appreciate, and adore your partner, flaws and all. 

3. You can talk about anything. True love means that you can candidly and honestly discuss anything with this person. It implies that you’re completely truthful with your mate, aren’t holding back different aspects of your past, and can open up to them fully. You share an intimacy that’s emotional as well as physical, and your loving connection is stronger because of your willingness and ability to vulnerable around each other.

4. You’re completely yourself with this person. When you’ve found true love, you’re able to be totally authentic with your partner. You’re not pretending to be someone you’re not or feigning interests, passions, or pastimes. Being yourself in your relationship is essential to experiencing true love. 

5. You respect each other. There has to be a high level of respect, kindness, and compassion between you and your partner if it's true love. You can empathize with one another, see each other’s point of view, and resolve conflicts in a way that’s constructive and respectful of each other’s well-being.

6. You have similar values. To experience true love, your morals and values have to be aligned with those of your partner. While you may have your differences, such as where you grew up, your religious background, or your food preferences, true love means that you’re on the same page when it comes to distinguishing right from wrong.

7. Your happiness levels feed off of each other. True love means paying close attention to your sincere feelings and emotions. Does making this person happy make you happy in return? Does surprising them or doing them favors give you a rush of joy? When you and your partner both have a mutual desire to bring happiness and contentment to one another, chances are you're experiencing true love.

8. You’re a team. What is true love? It means that you’re fully committed, dedicated, and devoted to each other. You and your partner work together as one unit to enrich each other’s lives for the better. And rather than behaving in a selfish or egotistical way, you think in terms of “we” instead of “me.” With true love, your mate is your teammate, full stop.