How you know it's "True Love"

I just found this article and found it very interesting.

www.liminas.com/is-it-true-love

The article features excerpts from Dr. Neder's Being a Man in a Woman’s World.

It explains the stages of relationships and falling in love:

"Dennis Neder, author of Being a Man in a Woman’s World (Remington Publications, 2000), says love has three stages: the infatuation stage, the bonding stage and the familiar stage. Dr. Neder, an ordained minister and doctor of metaphysics, says it helps to consider all three stages when determining if you have the real thing.

The infatuation stage is when you can’t wait to be with the other person. This is the romantic stage of love, says Dr. Neder, who warns that this is the stage when people thinks it’s “the real thing.” But this stage lasts only a short time.

The second stage, says Dr. Neder, is the bonding stage. During this stage you get to know the other person and you start planning aspects of your life around them. If you continue through this stage you eventually enter the third stage, or what Dr. Neder calls “the familiar phase.”

In the familiar stage you’ve established a pattern that involves the other person. “Your lives become intertwined and merged,” Dr. Neder says. “You know foundationally how the other person feels about almost everything. And interestingly,” says Dr. Neder, “you also become refocused on your own life, direction and goals.” Dr. Neder says this is where most professionals believe “real love” starts."

The article also talks about the definition of true love and also the Nine Ways to Tell if Your Love Is Real
"So how do you know if you’re in a lasting relationship? Here’s what the experts say:

You feel good. A good relationship makes you feel good about yourself.

You look forward to spending time with your partner. You don’t need to be with other people or go to events to avoid being alone together.

You enjoy spending quality time together even when it’s quiet.

You respect your partner. You hear yourself bragging about your partner. You say things like: “My husband is a really talented singer-songwriter.” If you find that you’re always talking about yourself, you’re not focused on your partner or the relationship.

You’re interested in what your partner thinks. You ask your partner’s opinion about issues that are important to you. It’s OK if he or she disagrees with you.

You accept your partner’s quirks. Everyone has them. Even you! If your partner’s quirks are endearing or tolerable, you’re in good shape. If they really bother you, you should look more closely at the relationship.

You’re able to work through your problems. It’s natural to have some bumps in the relationship road to true bliss. People in healthy relationships see disagreements as a chance to learn more about their partner. However, if you’re creating problems, or if you think every fight is the “big one” leading to a breakup, you should probably rethink your relationship.

You feel safe. You’re not afraid of losing your partner.

You can’t explain why you’re together. Many people coordinate their lives so that they have to be together. But ask yourself if you’re together because you truly want to be. If the answer is “yes,” then you’ll probably stay together. If it’s “no,” you’re bound to have problems — if you haven’t already.

You don’t compare your partner to others. There will always be someone more beautiful, smarter or more athletic than your partner, but you don’t care because you only want to be with him or her."

All in all, I found the article very interesting. I found it right after I saw on OMGFacts:
"At the age of 16, 80% of people have already met the person they are going to marry"

I met Eric when I was 16.

One thing to go along with number 8 on the "Nine Ways to Tell if Your Love Is Real", I feel like that should include 'you don't feel the need to justify/explain your relationship,' not just "You can't explain why you're together."
So many people have asked me that, like they don't feel like we belong together or whatever, but I never justify myself.
Even if I did, why should they understand?

Does it have to be all of those or just one or a few? I hope one of my future relationships will be like that.

I know about the justification part Very few people get my and Max's relationship, but meh it works for us. That's the important thing.
You and Eric relationships seems to be going good these days

Exactly.

And yes, it has. I'm very happy.

It can be a combination of all of them, I mean, there should be some sign of each of them in your relationship. Some stronger than the others.

Okay. I just have to point out this one thing pertaining just this statistic and a false image it projects.

Sure, maybe 80% of people met someone that they will marry as teenagers. Maybe. (I have to be skeptical of a statistic connected to an article about the "nine ways you tell anything" though.) But that doesn't mean that they met someone that they will spend the rest of their lives with yet, and it says nothing about whether that marriage will fit the definition here of true love.

I know I'm like the rain cloud blocking out the sunshine here, but I have to point that out.

I'm really really glad I didn't marry anyone I knew when I was 16.

At age 16, 80% of people have met a person they are going to marry.

Remember, half of all marriages end in divorce. These facts are correlated!

I recently finished a chic-lit novel entitled Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise and they talk about the "three stages" of a relationship.

Attraction is the first stage, infatuation is the second stage, mature is the third stage - and so the whole time I'm reading the post, I can't get the book out of my head which also brought in chaos theory (which is probably my favorite theory) and then the fairy-tale theory. Sorry, that had nothing to do with your post other than the fact that there are variations of the stages from many many many different places.

In my mind: if you need a checklist to reinforce and tell you that yes dear, you are in love, tis troubling. I mean, all those points are really basic and must needed aspects of any good relationship. Relationship being the key word, not love.

If two people are happy with one another, they don't have to justify anything to anyone. Who cares if anybody "gets" it, EVER? As long as you do.

errr , u stop using jonny's ??????

.... Does anyone know what this means?

Nope.

english slang for condoms