Saturday, January 22, 2011

Love Languages

Whether you subscribe to the idea of the "five love languages" or not, I'll list them:
- words of affirmation
- quality time
- acts of service
- physical touch
- receiving gifts

Mine are Words of Affirmation and Quality Time. I find that, like Myers Briggs personalities, it's a very good thing to know what each individual's preference is. It helps not only in the area of love, but also in business.

I'm not sure how people liken the idea of comparing love with business, but this is my attempt at it. In the context of personal preferences (time vs. touch, introvert vs. extrovert, etc), it helps a great deal to learn what preference the other adheres to. It's a common practice in Japanese business culture to include a gift, however the style & presentation in giving the gift is usually more important than the gift itself (source).

When you understand yourself, and understand those around you, it makes the relationships work more fluidly. Communication enhances, and anxiety is greatly reduced. I only imagine what I said just then is true. It really helps in getting to know your friends & colleagues, and taking the time or effort to meet them at their preference shows that you really do care about them.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I've heard the love languages can be helpful even with friendships and family relationships (and not just spouses, the first thing that jumps to mind). I haven't actually read the book though, so I'm not entirely sure what I am. I can see it could be helpful when trying to understand other people though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're right, I should have started with the disclaimer "Not just for married couples!!" as the book was written for, haha.

    One of my fav bloggers just wrote a post about this topic, with a twist. You can check it out here: http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/01/4302/

    ReplyDelete