Linda Johnson - Giving From the Heart: 57 Ways To Show Your Love

By Linda Johnson

Copyright 2012 by Angelico Press

Cover art Depositphotos/Dundanim

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Do you want to give your partner, parents, kids and other loved ones the perfect gifts? The gifts that bring a big grin to their faces and show them how much you really care?

Would you like to be able to express love to the people you care about so that they really, totally get how much you care?

Do you want to feel loved and cherished in return?

Do you want to have relationships filled with love that last and last? Do you want to amaze your loved ones with expressions of love they will treasure for a lifetime?

Sounds like a lot? Surpisingly, it's actually quite easy when you give gifts based on love styles.

In this book we're going to talk a bit about love styles and how you determine your partners love style, then give you 57 very concrete types of gifts you can give your loved ones based on love styles. If you are one of those people who want to just jump to the list, . But to get the most out of this book, read through the whole thing. It's quite short and to the point!

Since you're reading this book, I know you really want your loved ones to light up when you give to them. Yet you may have had some negative experiences -- putting a lot of effort into doing something special for a loved one, only for it to be unappreciated, or even worse, for them to burst into tears.

I know. I've had it happen to me, and my clients have told me stories like this over and over. We put ourselves -- time, energy, love -- into an expression of love... only to be told that it's not enough. It's sad and frustrating, and ultimately many people just give up.

So, what's going on?

In many instances you and your loved one are using different styles. Love styles, that is.

What is a love style?

Your love style is the primary way that you express and receive love and affection.

Each of your loved ones also has a love style or styles -- preferred ways they express and receive love.

For each person, their love style is the strongest way that messages of love get through. There are other ways that people express love -- ways that would work just fine for someone else -- that won't work well for that person. If they were a TV, they'd be tuned to a different channel. Their loved ones are broadcasting love signals, but they're just not receiving.

Let's start with your experience, because it's what you understand from the inside.

No matter how much others try to express their love, you will only really "get it" and feel it when they use your style(s) of loving.

Have you ever wondered how you can be with one or more people you love, and still feel lonely, needy, or unloved? That's how! They may be expressing love as strongly as they know how in their styles... but you can only receive love in your style. It's like you're starving... and they keep offering you a warm blanket. You need food!

But they don't need food. Unlike you, they're comfortably full, but cold. If you try to express love by giving them what would please you -- food -- it won't work. They'll feel unloved because they really need that warm blanket.

That's how you can express love for all you're worth, yet have a loved one claim they just don't feel loved, wanted, or appreciated. You're saying "I love you" in a language they don't understand.

This problem has destroyed millions of relationships. But you're about to take your first step to solving it forever.

Imagine, for a moment, giving your loved one that unconditional love you feel in the exact way they need to feel loved and secure in your relationship.

Imagine now how you would feel if your loved one could do the same -- express their unconditional love in a way that you understand and feel.

Think of how much richer and loving all your relationships could be. Your relationship with your children, your parents, your friends, and especially with your partner.

If you think this is just "pie in the sky" thinking straight from some romance novel, think again. There is absolutely no reason why your relationship -- the one you entered with such hope, with such optimism -- needs to be damaged or destroyed by a failure to communicate.

In addition, taking this extra effort to understand what makes your partner feel most loved, will provide lasting benefits on the health and longevity of your relationship. It'll probably even improve your sex life (we all know that the brain is our biggest sex organ, and feeling truly loved and understood is a big turn-on).

There's no reason why your love story can't end like it began, like a romance novel. And we all know that every good romance novel ends with a "happily ever after."

Sound impossible? Trust me, it isn't!

How can I be so sure? Because I turned my own relationship around... then helped over 200 couples do the same.

I was on the edge of despair, ready to give up on the love of my life, simply because we had different love styles -- and didn't know it. Both my husband and I were trying to express love in the strongest ways we knew. But because our love styles differed, both of us ended up feeling frustrated and unloved.

We were close to divorcing when someone told me about a book called The 5 Love Languages, written by Dr. Gary Chapman. Chapman's theory is that we all have different ways of expressing and receiving love, which he calls love languages. One person might feel really loved when they get a physical gift, whereas someone else might see that as a mere token and only really feel loved when they are told "I love you" or given a great hug.

With this information I finally broke through the love barrier and was able to translate what my husband was trying to express when he spoke certain words or gave me gifts or tried to help me in various ways. I was also able to greatly improve my relationships with my children, grandchildren, and friends. I learned that my love style is Practical Assistance. My husband needs words of love, and our daughter needs loving touch.

Soon I started working with my clients using Chapman's theory. While I was able to help most of the couples I worked with, it wasn't until I updated and expanded Chapman's ideas that I became able to help virtually