Reading Portion #1 - Introduction and Chapter 1 - Pages 5-39

Please respond to this post with anything you'd like to comment on or discuss. Any ideas, perceptions, questions, interpretations, criticisms, etc are what we're looking for.

On Page 15-16 is says "The first thing you worry about after saying 'I love you' is whether you'll hear it back. And if you hear it back, then you begin immediately to worry that the love you have found, you will lose." I read this twice, and thought, OH MY that is me. I never thought of it like that. Did this effect or hit home to any of you?

I re-read that sentence also. I started wondering if everyone feels that way at one time or another. If you haven't felt that way when saying I love you, then how did you feel when you weren't really ready to say "I love you" back to the person that just told you? Were you wondering "What will they think if I don't reply fast enough or at all? Do I pretend I didn't hear them?" I kind of feel bad whether I'm the giver or recipient, if the response isn't timely enough.

I can completely understand where you are coming from. People expect the "I love you" in a certain timeframe. If you pause to think about it first, or not sure if your ready to say it, there is this awkwardness. You know they are expecting to hear it back from you, and there is an underlying timeframe. That is a lot of pressure. But I think our human nature is to long for someone to love us and for us to love someone back. I think we just need to find the right person to make both of those things possible. Sometimes, I think we make love complicated, when it doesn't have to be.