What Are The 3 Main Qualities Of Love In A Relationship

Before we get into knowing what the 3 main qualities of love in a relationship are, let’s, first of all, try to answer “what is love”? I’m certain we’ve all experienced love is in our lives, one way or the other but do we know what it is?

Well, generally speaking, love is a tender affection or passion felt for another person other than yourself. This explains the warm feeling of affection our parents have towards us, which we also have for our sibling(s), friend(s), or partner right? 

Now, for your relationship with your partner to be healthy and saturated with love, it requires more than just agreeing to be in the relationship. It requires two people who truly understand the 3 main qualities of love and practice them effortlessly.

Let’s dive into more details…

The 3 Main Qualities Of Love In A Relationship

According to Sternberg in the year 1988, passion, intimacy, and commitment are the 3 main qualities of love in a relationship it brings two different persons into a relationship and keeps them bound together… Here’s how…

1. Passion:- 

This quality of love in a relationship is a strong feeling of physical and sexual attraction geared towards one’s partner. According to Sternberg, passion occurs in the early stages of a relationship. It comes with you finding yourself constantly wanting to be with your partner, preoccupied with thoughts of your partner, and even talking hours with them without getting tired. 

Passion lets you believe your relationship with your partner is nothing but perfect, it helps you turn a blind eye on your partner’s flaws with you finding excuses to overlap emerging red flags and in fact believing you both are created for each other. 

2. Intimacy:-

This quality of love takes a little time to build in a relationship. It is built based on the knowledge each partner has of the other partner. It comes immediately after passion and after you, both have opened up, understood, and accepted each other. Intimacy requires lots of effort and patience to build and maintain.

Intimacy can be seen in different forms, for example, aside from emotional and sexual intimacy there is financial, intellectual, creative, recreational, and even spiritual intimacy. Each one of them helps you connect to your partner on different levels which in turn strengthens your relationship.

3. Commitment:-

Commitment is better understood as a conscious decision to make your relationship with your partner work no matter. This quality of love houses your willingness to stay in the relationship and make it work despite your everyday struggle. 

In building a stable healthy relationship, commitment should not be escaped because with constant communication, teamwork, and trust your relationship will be standing tall with everybody desiring to have what you have.

Commitment also includes respect, trust, forgiveness, communication, understanding, contentment, and a lot more. 

Summary

The 3 main qualities of love as suggested by Sternberg are the main components of a successful relationship. Although many relationships can survive on 1 or 2 of these qualities, Passion (which refers to the strong attraction partners feel for one another), Intimacy (lets partners share their feelings), personal thoughts and closeness with one another, and commitment (the conscious decision to be together) is the trio to a super healthy long-lasting relationship.