The Gifts that Keep on Giving

Valentine’s Day is much-celebrated in Australia and its popularity is increasing by the year. Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to strengthen bonds of love with partners, family, friends or those we secretly admire.

This Valentine’s Day, as well as offering flowers and chocolates, we can bring other gifts to our relationship that continue to be appreciated throughout the year.

Dr Gary Chapman writes about the five love languages as a way for us to connect with our partners and create long-lasting, happy, stable relationships.

The love languages are:

Gifts – loving through giving and receiving

Acts of Service – loving through doing things for your partner.

Words of Affirmation – loving your partner by speaking positively.

Quality time – loving through valuing them and listening attentively.

Physical touch – loving through closeness and affection.

This might sound easy, but how do you identify your love language? Are you and your loved one speaking the same love language? More often than not, we prefer to express our affection in different ways, which can lead to misunderstanding and quarrels when what we get differs from what we want. We fail to recognise that our loved one is in fact expressing love in their language.

By learning to speak and understand each other’s love language, we enrich our relationship, communicate our love and feel loved in return.

Relationships Australia offers couples the opportunity to learn each other’s love languages and communicate in ways that enhance their relationship, through counselling and education.

Call Relationships Australia on 1300 364 277 or visit www.raq.org.au