Romancing the Dark Side of Love

 Flowers, chocolates, cute stuffed animals, and other lavish gifts, or even love notes, these are some of the most common and accepted symbols of love within our society; it generates positive feelings of being loved by people we care most about in our lives.

Aside from the occasional gift-giving process, kissing, hugging, and exercising intimacy in a relationship constitutes to that feeling of absolute happiness and contentment we often craved for and strive to achieve.

Love indeed is a positive feeling if given and received the right way; but just like any other feelings or emotion, it also has a dark side to it that is not openly accepted nor discussed publicly by concerned parties due to some personal reason, most especially during earlier period where society adheres to that strong bond of social norms.  However, in today’s modern world, it’s already an open secret that has quite caught the attention of many.

Looking through the watchful eyes of society and media people, we are introduced to the irrational, thought provoking, and sometimes violent world of love and relationship. How many times have we heard of a person ending up getting killed or mutilated by his or her significant partner; or a battered wife/girlfriend drama? Physical, emotional, and verbal abuse are the key words that are synonymous to this side of love…the DARK side.

What motivates a person to show his or her dark side to others constitutes a lot of things, such as a deep inner wound from the past that failed to heal in time and therefore caused a lifelong trauma that might blow out of proportion if provoked, The drive to achieve superiority over the other person, or even unmet expectations that is yet to be satisfied, among other factors. It is this same pain which causes best-forgotten issue of the past to arise when unconsciously provoked in later years.

Healing takes time for both the perpetrator and victim, starting with the painful recognition and acceptance of the existence of this down side of the relationship. Seek professional medical and spiritual guidance as much as possible because there is no such thing as a “shortcut” to the healing process.

Whether you’re into a long time relationship or has just started a new one, you may perhaps discover along the way that love is not a bed of roses after all. Love and sex alone is not enough to make a relationship work…that’s a fact. It has to have that complete sense of respect, honesty, and unconditional commitment towards one another, because no matter what, you’re still two different individuals that may have the same longings but with different lifestyles, background, or perspective in life that could hinder your “happily ever after” story.