Can Love be Defined?
The other day I was babysitting my three-year-old niece, a most conniving little angel. As she sat gawking at my girlfriend's brother, Matthew, who was eating potato chips, she told me that she loved me "so much." She had already devoured her potato chips, but she obviously wanted more. Many more expressions of love proceeded to drip from her lips. Finally, the question came; "Reg, can I have some more chips?" At first, I thought this little show of bribery was cute and funny, but then I started to think about the true meaning of love. What is true love? Poets, philosophers, religious leaders, and the American media all have different definitions for this word. Too often, love is conceived as doing whatever it takes to get your potato chips. However, true love involves much more than personal satisfaction.
Our society uses the term "love" far too lightly. Having been guilty of this offense myself, I admit my guilt. I often say, "I love Mexican food," or, "I love my truck." Love, however, is not just a happy feeling we get when something nice pleases us. Love is a verb. Love is the action of giving yourself totally to one person without expecting anything in return. Love is being willing to put aside your own needs in order to meet the needs of others. Giving up your weekend trip to the beach in order to take care of your sick mother is one example of love. A destitute mother giving up her one piece of bread to feed her sick little boy is another example of love. The ultimate expression of love is being willing to lay down your own life in the place of another. Love is giving, not getting.
Too often our love is conditional. We often hear, "I will love you if you meet my needs," or, "I will love you...
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...n who did just that. Two thousand years ago, on a hill outside of Jerusalem, Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a cross. Three nails brutally pierced his hands and feet. Being a Christian, I believe that Jesus died on that cross to save me from an eternity in Hell. Jesus laid down his life in my place. This is the greatest love anyone has ever shown me, and my definition of love comes straight from that historical death.
Would I lay down my life for anyone? I would consider going to the gas chamber in the place of very few people; this would be the ultimate test of my love. However, there are smaller ways that love can be shown. Washing dishes for my girlfriend, babysitting my niece, or even taking my mom out to eat are three small ways of showing my love. The next time I tell someone that I love them, I will be sure to follow through with the actions to prove it.
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
In this experiment conducted by Turner, T.H. et al (2007), the researchers studied a sample of healthy, young individuals. Forty subjects total eighteen who were women spent six full nights and five days at the University of California, at San Diego General Clinical Research Center’s J Christian Gillin Laboratory of Sleep and Chronobiology. For this experiment participants were excluded for reasons such as having psychiatric history, a significant medical condition, or taking nicotine or any illegal substance. Three days prior to the study, participants were requested to halt consumption of any and all alcohol and caffeine. A polysomnography was completed over the course of the first night to identify or rule out the existence of any intrinsic sleep disorder that a participant may have had prior to the study. Furthermore, those being observed had to maintain a habitual sleep schedule of around seven to nine hours per night. After the second night, the total sleep deprivation (TSD) period began, where participants were to remain awake for the duration of the experiment. During TSD, subjects were able to move but were not allowed to take part in strenuous exercise, sun exposure, using of any type of stimulant, or sleeping. Various continuous recognition tests (CRTs) designed to observe working memory and sleep deprivation were administered to the
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines love as a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. Love is a journey that begins by building a foundation of trust, commitment, and understanding. The speaker is thorough and demanding to the point that the speaker becomes a façade to keep prospective loves away. Without love as the speaker begins to say life becomes pointless.
There have been many different outlooks and theories on how sleep deprivation can affect health. Sleep deprivation is when a person cannot sleep, and does not have enough sleep. This is also known as ‘wakefulness’ (sleep.2014) and not having enough sleep; ‘lack of sleep’. This literature review will cover four main concepts of sleep deprivation. The key ideas in this paper would be the research done and how many hours a person is supposed to sleep, some disorders and what loss of sleep will do to a person.
In this regard, direct evidence for sleep deprivation in humans has mostly been looked for in indicators of the macro level functioning. Such an approach in solving the problem of the effect of sleep deprivation on neural functioning in humans is incomplete; however, for now, it offers an accessible manner of researching the problem, as well as a possible basis for targeted search for specific mechanisms in human subjects in future
He demonstrated His love even when we did not love Him, by first loving us. The LORD demonstrated His love when Jesus came into the world to seek and save the lost. He paid the definitive sacrifice for those He loved. Equally, we are to love sacrificially. It transcends family and encompasses the beloved community.
Sleep deprivation is increasingly recognized as a worldwide public health concern as researchers found that lack of sleep impairs human functioning[2]. The majority of individuals was found to be sleep deprived as they are forced to restrain their sleeping hours to compensate increasing working hours, especially individuals whose professions’ is in line with healthcare, security and transportation sectors as they are often required to be on duty even at night [1]. Regardless of whether the individual was totally or partially sleep deprived, it was proven that both had adverse effects on the human body[3]. Further studies revealed that sleep deprivation affected ones’ cognitive and motor performance as well as mood[2].
Love by definition is an emotion explored in philosophy, religion, and literature, often as either romantic love, the fraternal love of others, or the love of God based on the definition found in The Encarta Encyclopedia. As I explored the definition by means of the Internet, books, and articles I noticed the definitions changed quite a bit, but yet had the same basic understanding. The definition I found in The Encarta Encyclopedia was probably the most simple and most basic. It refers to love in the whole aspect, which is Godly, fraternal, and romantic. All in which can only be defined by one word and that it love.
Most people are familiar with the after effects of a night or two without sleep. Without sleep, people are less efficient and more irritable. It's even difficult for them to think. A recent study by the University of California in San Diego reveals that brain activity is actually altered following sleep deprivation.
When most people think of love they mentally picture Cinderella and her Prince Charming happily dancing off into the sunset. They think of Noah reading his documented love story to dementia riddled Allie in attempt to make her remember him. They picture Michelle Tanner and Uncle Jesse solving the world’s problems with nothing but a ‘you got it, Dude’. People associate love with happiness, but love is also pain. Picture Ronnie as she clings to her cancer-stricken father who was once her closest friend. Love can bring people together, but it can also tear them apart. Love is defined as “strong affection for another” but love is so much more (Love 1). Love cannot be simply defined as affection because it does not
Love, that single feeling which generates the funny sensations in people's stomach, giving them the warm pleasures in their body, causing them to feel joy, and to believe every aspect in their life is right. It causes them to receive an exhilarating, appealing feeling that makes them want to rejoice. Love can be a speeding of their heart, but it can also be nerve-racking. It makes their hearts begin to rapidly pump, making a rapid beat— “ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom”. Attempting to describe love is a rigorous task, but it is possible. However, the easiest detail to describe and understand about love is not so much the feeling of it, but the concept of what it is about. Many people may obtain different views and definitions regarding love, but
What exactly is love? Is there an absolute meaning to the word - love? Or is it purely subjective? The concept of true love is what we search for all our lives. Yet love is one of the most misunderstood concepts of all. What people really want more than anything else is to be loved unconditionally; to be accepted for who we are, and still be loved. Sometimes we will do some crazy things, "in the name of love."
greatest sacrifice one would have to make is death. Dying for a loved one means
What is Love? I know this question exists in each human being's mind including myself. If not it is still waiting to be discovered deeply in your heart. What do I think of love? For me, I believe love is a priceless diamond, because a diamond has thousands of reflections, and each reflection represents a meaning of love. With love I can accept a person's imperfections without any condition, and able to transfer the way I love myself to another person who I am fancy at. With love I can have the power against loneliness, sadness, and illness, and to be able to change them into my happiness. As well as, having a key to open my heart to look at this world without a mask, to show people who I really am. But on the other hand, my love cannot be a substitute for anything, which means nothing can be substituted for my love. It also means those reflections of the diamond cannot be replaced by any kind of light or reflection, because the untrue reflection will not be a real diamond, and will not be able to spread out its resplendent and meaningful reflection of love to people about whom I care.
Benjamin Franklin once said, "If you would be loved, love and be lovable." Love is something we are all in at least one time or another in our life. There are many different meanings for the word love and many people interpret it differently. Love as defined by Webster's dictionary is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. When you love someone you care not only care about them as a person, but also about their well being. When they are hurt, you feel hurt and when they are in pain you feel pain also. Their physical and emotional problems are not only theirs, but they are yours as well. To be in love means to care about that person so deeply that your life would not be complete without them. The fact that you cherish one person so much is a blessing to some, as well as a gift.