Love. It makes the world go ‘round, right? Well, at least that’s the how the saying goes. But is it true? It should be, but so many people confuse love with things like jealousy or possessiveness. True love isn’t either of those things. But these 17 things are. So here are the lessons that real love teaches us:

有句話叫做“愛讓世界轉動”，果真如此么？應該是吧。可是，很多人卻把嫉妒或占有誤以為是愛。真愛既不是嫉妒也不是占有。但下面這17個蘊意卻能闡釋愛。請看真愛能教會我們什么吧：

1. Love means letting go of expectations

愛意味著拋開期望

Sure, we all want people to behave the way we want them to. We want them to be more affectionate. Or more outgoing. Or smarter. Or more ambitious. All of these things are expectations. Expectations are just your requirements for “acceptability” of loving someone. But true love has no expectations. It simply loves “as is.”

自然，我們都希望別人能成為我們所期望的那樣。我們要求他們更柔情、更陽光、更聰明或更有抱負。所有這些都是期望，而期望就是你“愿意”愛上某人的條件。可是，真愛并不盡是期望——真愛是能夠接受對方本來的樣子。

2. Love doesn’t play the victim role or blame others

愛沒有“玻璃心”，也不會苛責對方

Love works together. It takes responsibility. It forgives and allows other people’s actions to be their journey. Love doesn’t take things personally.

愛是同心協力，是同舟共濟，是寬容對方并放手讓對方啟程。愛不會狹隘地斤斤計較。

3. Love includes letting go

愛也是放手

Love doesn’t equal possession. Just as the saying goes, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, then it never was.” There is truth to that. Love allows people their freedom. It doesn’t hold tightly and crush their wings in attempt to keep them. True love doesn’t want to possess. It is willing to set you free if you want to be.

愛不等于占有。常言道：“如果你喜歡它，就請給它自由。它若能再回來，便是你的；若不愿回來，那么它永遠也不會屬于你。” 確實如此呵！愛會給對方自由。愛不應緊緊拽著對方，不應為了留住對方而折斷他的翅膀。真愛不是占有，而是如你所愿地給你自由。

4. Love doesn’t require you to continue a relationship

愛不勉強維持

You may love someone very much. But you may not be compatible with them. Or they may drive you crazy with their continued disregard for your feelings. You can still love them, but that doesn’t mean you have to be with them. Love doesn’t mean that you have to stay, and stay, and stay. You can leave the relationship and love them anyway.

或許你非常愛他，可你們根本就性格不投；或者他總漠視你的情感，讓你痛苦糾纏。當然，你仍然可以愛著他，但這不表示你必須陪在他身邊。愛不是強作維持無奈停留。你可以選擇離開，但在心里仍然愛著對方。

5. Love has no room for jealousy

愛沒有嫉妒

Like possession, jealousy doesn’t equal love. We think that if we’re not jealous of our loved ones that it means that we don’t love them. True love has confidence in the quality of the relationship. It knows that the other person is happy and content coming back to you, and only you.

和占有欲一樣，嫉妒也不是愛。我們以為要是不嫉妒吃醋，就表示我們根本不愛對方。其實，真愛完全相信彼此關系多么可靠，確信那個人會很開心地選擇你——而且只有你。

6. Love is the absence of fear

愛沒有恐懼

You can put all emotions on a continuum. On one end, you have love. Then appreciation. After that, it’s joy, happiness, contentment, and satisfaction. On the opposite end of the continuum of love is fear. Other fear-based emotions include, hatred, insecurity, jealousy, or greed.

將所有情緒排列順序，從頭開始是愛、感恩、喜悅、快樂、知足、滿意，而排在最末尾的便是恐懼。恐懼類情緒還有憎惡、不安、嫉妒或貪婪。