We are living in times of over a 50% divorce rate and of the casual fling that begins with a swipe of a YES on a mobile dating app. Where has the love gone? Well I believe the problem is that noone really knows what love is anymore. My parents generation was about 'family'...getting married, buying the house with the white picket fence and having 3.5 children. What happened for so many of that generation is that when the kids were grown up and they didn't have them to hide behind anymore, they looked at each other one day and realized they didn't even know, or possibly even 'like' the person standing next to them, much less love them. They weren't necessarily marrying for love but doing what they were supposed to do by society's standards. (exceptions, of course!) SO what does that mean for people today? The word LOVE is on everything but still....do we really know what it means? How many parents teach their children how to 'recognize' true love? What to look for in a partner. What it takes to have a successful partnership and marriage? Not happening...because many still do not know what it is but can tell you what it is not. So we 'love' the word love today, without understanding it. Love is a presence of something. It is not butterflies in our stomach and giggles...it is made up of two independently strong, enlightened, realized people that have connected hearts and souls with one another because they understand that with the 'right person' they are better off together than alone. Our partner makes us better. They offer something to our life that brings substance and meaning to it. Love is not for the weary. Love takes courage, strength, commitment, trust, compassion, acceptance. forgiveness and it requires that we know ourselves first so that we can always remain true to who we ARE for ourselves and our partner. If we are going to change the direction of where love is going now and in the future it requires we KNOW what it is first and then remain conscious of it at all times. Commitment like this requires we go in with our whole heart open, not holding anything back. Find THAT person...and then it's easy to stay forever