In my last blog post I shared some of my favorite resources for improving marriages. One of those resources, Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages isn’t just for marriages, it is a great tool to improve all of your relationships.
The premise of the book is that there are 5 love languages and we all “speak” one of them. The 5 Love Languages are 1) Words of Affirmation 2) Quality Time 3) Gifts 4) Acts of Service and 5) Physical Touch.
I know that my Love Language is Acts of Service. Just this past weekend, I asked my husband to help me with a project that I’ve been working on. When he presented me with the final product, I was overjoyed! It meant so much to me because for me “actions speak louder than words”.
If you think about the people in your life and how they interact with you or others that they care about, you can gain some insight into their love language. For example, one of my children loves to snuggle on the couch together. She hugs me about 10 times a day! Her love language is obviously Physical Touch. (If you are interested in The 5 Love Languages of Children, you can purchase it here.)
I have a very dear friend who loves buying unique and personal gifts for her friends. She is the one who always brings flowers, candy, a card, or a small trinket whenever she comes to visit you. She loves shopping as much for others as herself. I bet you can guess what her love language is!
As you reflect on the people in your own life, do you have a family member of friend who is always seeking validation or is extremely generous and thoughtful in her praise? The best way that you could express your love and appreciation to this person would be through verbally affirming her or sending your a card telling her how much she means to you. If you have a friend who’s love language is Quality Time, planning a lunch date with her for her birthday would be much better received than buying her a new book or CD.
Whether you are looking to improve your relationships with your spouse, children, friends or co-workers, the 5 Love Languages is a great place to start. There is an online survey you can take to find your Love Language here. Share it with your loved ones and enjoy discovering how to improve your relationships with each other!
I am so glad you posted that link! My sister and brother-in-law speak of their Love Languages and work their marriage based on them. I just took the assessment and am not surprised to find my primary is Quality Time followed VERY closely (one less) by Acts of Service. I’m going to have hubby take it in a few minutes.
Thanks for posting!!!!
Hi Carrie,
My husband and I both took this a while back and it really helped us to understand how to express our love to the other. He is all about Quality Time!
Hey There Coco nice little article, jumped right into it and did the test. I was a 100% sure my love language was Quality Time, as it turns out to be it is physical touch :-). I m gonna have my wife run through the test, I m curious 😉 Thanks for sharing Kind regards David
Thanks for stopping by, David. I’m curious as to what your wife’s Love Language is. I think many times quality time and physical touch are closely related. They are my husband’s top two.
Okay..I took the assessment and quality time is truly me. I really enjoy the time that I have with my husband. Great post!
Hi Jewel. glad you found it helpful. I appreciate you stopping by!