Love is courtesy -- which is by no means a mask, but a mark of thoughtfulness and sensitivity. Between two persons who love each other, courtesy, like a delicate waterfall, keeps the mountain pool of their love ever fresh.

Love is respect; for while feelings fluctuate, respect can remain a constant. Listen respectfully to your partner's views when they differ from your own. Preserve a certain dignity in your relationship: that dignity which give others freedom to be themselves.

Love is not making demands of each other. Love that is not freely given is bondage.

Love is performing some little act daily to give happiness to your beloved: an act of service, perhaps; a small gift; a word of appreciation; a special smile of affection. Let not the happy brook of your love run dry for lack of replenishing rain.

Love is creativity. Lovingly tend your relationship, like a garden. Keep it seeded with fresh interests, fresh ideas, that it grow always more beautiful. Weed it, lest the flower beds overrun with weeds of unconscious habits. For love to be ever new, it must be approached creatively, as an art.

Love is a sense of humor. Share together a sense of the absurd. At the same time, be careful how you tease each other. Never tease if the teasing is unappreciated. Let your humor be kindly, never sarcastic.

Love is never losing sight of the underlying reality of your love. Reflect: Isn't your long-term relationship more important than any passing disagreement? Flow with the longer rhythms of your love.

Love is not voicing negative emotions, but waiting for calmness to return to its post. One who is upset perceives few things with clarity, though Emotion parades itself in the garb of revelation. Calm the heart: Only by so doing can you perceive things as they really are.

Love is SHOWING the appreciation you feel. Never take your beloved's awareness of this appreciation for granted. No matter how often you say with sincere feeling, "I love you," though the sentiment is as old as the human race, your words will sound forever fresh and new.

Love is holding hands together silently. Gradually, you will learn to communicate together telepathically.

Love is reverence -- less for each other than for Love itself, the eternal gift of God.

Love is paying more attention to the tones of your voice. To magnetize the voice, lift it up from the heart, then release it to soar out through the forehead. Keep the vocal chords relaxed. Your voice will be a delight to listen to if you express through it the calm feelings of your heart.

Love is speaking more with the eyes -- "the windows of your soul." If you use your eyes when you speak, it will be as if those windows were framed with colorful curtains, making the home warm and inviting.

Love is holding realistic expectations of one another. For imperfection is inherent in humanity. Concentrate on qualities that have drawn you both together, not on others that might keep you apart.

Love is non-possessiveness. For one can never truly own another human being. Don't bind your beloved too closely with the cord of your own needs. A plant flourishes when it has free access to air and sunlight.

Love is not trying to re-shape your partner into a mold of your own making. Criticism is corrosive. Accept what IS, and you will both be happier. A good rule is this: Encourage the strengths you see, but don't feed or cauterize the weaknesses.

Love is not dwelling on how your partner has disappointed you when misunderstandings occur. Ask yourself, rather, what you can do to improve YOURSELF, that misunderstandings not arise in the future.

Love is for neither of you to assume the role of teacher to the other where personal issues are concerned. On the other hand, be grateful for anything you can learn from each other.

Love is feeling inspired to make suggestions, concentrating not on your own need to make them, but on the other's need to hear. Wait even then -- months, if need be -- until you perceive in your partner a readiness to hear what you have to say.

Love is sharing with each other your deeper beliefs, your ideals, your aspirations.

Love is stillness. For it is in stillness that love attains perfection. Love is not passion. Human love is a reflection of divine love, and God is perfect stillness.

Love is loving God in each other. Thus you will always feel drawn to the divine perfection behind the human error. For humanity struggles, in the face of countless obstacles and by many and various routes, toward ideals that are eternal.

Love is expanding your love for each other until it transcends human love, and embraces all humanity, all living beings, all things, as the Creator's handiwork.

Love is giving pleasure to each other, and not demanding it. For true love is not desire. The stronger the passion, the greater its demands; and the stronger passion's demands, the greater its emphasis on self-love. Not in passion, but in tenderness and kindness love finds its ideal expression.

Love is consideration. To whatever extent you are considerate toward others, be even more so to your beloved.

Love is sharing magnetism. The magnetism between you is that subtle power each feels from the other. Only in mutual sharing can this magnetism grow.

Love is seeking variety in your life together, and never letting routine chords dull the melody of your romance.

Love is seeking opportunities to relax together, sharing your interests and ideas. Depend less on outer stimuli for entertainment. (The louder the noise, the hollower the drum!) Make it a point to be alone together frequently, simply to be yourselves.

Love is adaptability. Keep your love fluid, that it fill every vessel that life places before you.

Love is giving strength and comfort to the one you love; receiving strength and comfort gratefully in return, but not demanding them.

Love is steadfastness: Keep your love immovable, like a high mountain. Keep it ever fertile, like rich soil, through the changing seasons of your lives. And keep it ever central, like the sun as the planets move around it through the vastness of time and space.