Although men and women are different in many ways, in some basic ways, we are all the same. We all want to love and be loved in return. Love is an action word, not just the name of a feeling.
Therefore, to prove our devotion, we must show it so that our partner can feel it. Despite popular misconceptions, men need the reassurance of love and of feeling special to their partner just as women do.
However, as much as it's good to celebrate our similarities, we cannot ignore our differences. Men's love language is not the same as women's, so you'll need to learn what it is that makes them feel loved. It may not be quite what you think.
10 Ways to Show Love to Your Man
It's in a man's nature to want to make the woman they love happy. Whereas for women, it comes naturally to simply receive the gifts, attention, and affection their man rains on them. However, it's just as important for you, as a woman, to be willing to learn how to love your man in the ways he'll feel it. Here is a list of ways to make him feel your love.
1. Give him kisses and tell him "I love you"
This is the most obvious way of showing your love - shout it out. It might not have occurred to you that men are even interested in hearing this and being frequently kissed, but they do. It makes them feel just as loved and cherished as it would make you feel if he were to often cover you in kisses and tell you how much he loves you.
2. A present he has wanted for a long time
Men love surprises too! Gifts are some people's love language; this is how they know that they are valued. This goes both ways. Some people might not be very physically affectionate, but they are very good at finding the perfect sweater their loved one has been looking for, surprise them with Chinese food on a Friday night, or even pay for a dream holiday.
Keep in mind that most men have their particular preferences in fashion, so a good tip would be to check what he has chosen to place in his online shopping cart to see exactly what he'll be excited to get from you.
3. Cook for him or a plan a romantic dinner
The old wives' tale says that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It's a very dated saying, but it still rings true. If you're serious about learning how to love your man, then you need to find out how to cook the foods he likes, and then plan a romantic dinner with his favorite meals from time to time.
Luckily, you don't have to break the bank booking tables at fancy restaurants. Many supermarkets now sell prepared meals that merely require putting them in the oven. Buy some side dishes such as fries, salad, or garlic bread. Pair the meal with a bottle of good wine, and finish everything off with a divine dessert. Your husband will be positively swept off of his feet, and you will feel like wife of the year.
4. Let him enjoy his boys' night
A lot of women struggle with the idea of their man going out for a boys' night. It's easy to understand because we have all seen the movies and heard stories of the kinds of things that men can be up to when they go out at night together. When there's alcohol and other women involved, all kinds of "mistakes" can happen. But women must learn not to let their imaginations run away with them. Boys' nights are, for the most part, not as exciting as girls imagine.
Although some guys do get a little too crazy when they are out with their friends, the chances are, he'll enjoy an innocent night just hanging out with his friends. This is especially true if your partner doesn't feel like he must have as much fun as possible because he doesn't know when he's going to be allowed out next.
Let your man know that you are happy for him to go out with his friends, and he'll love you for being the cool girlfriend that you have shown him you are.
5. Encourage and support him doing his favorite things
Even if his favorite thing to do annoys you, if it relaxes him or makes him happy and it's not bad for him, then you should encourage him to do it. Many girls hate when their boyfriends spend time playing computer games. What these women fail to understand is that computer games are a way for men to relax the side of their brains that are usually stressed out with life's daily problems.
If you truly want to know how to show love to a man, then offer to play his computer games with him. He'll know that you support him taking time for himself to relax and you don't resent him for it. Also, everyone knows that 2 player is more fun than 1.
6. Dress the way he likes you to
This can seem like an old fashioned or even chauvinistic idea, but it's actually very reasonable. Men are visual creatures; they enjoy seeing attractive things. So rather than have him admiring women that wear the kind of jeans he asked you to wear or the kind of dress he suggested you buy, you should wear those styles yourself.
Think of it this way: you like your man to cut his hair a certain way or you prefer him with his full masculine beard. However, he feels bothered to maintain it and insists that it's wrong that you even have a preference for his hair. If he shaved off his beard that you love so much, you might still be attracted to him because you love him, but you would be so much more attracted to him with his handsome beard!
It's kind of like that. It doesn't have to be every day, but once in a while, show him your sexiest looks in the styles he likes to see you in. He'll know that you are dressing that way just to please him. This will make him feel loved, and you will have a happy and proud man for your partner.
7. Give him your full attention
This is one of the ways to make your partner feel loved that applies to women as well as men. The reason this has to be pointed out is that most women are aware that one of their feminine strengths is the ability to multitask. You might think that you know how to show a man you love him in this way. However, if you are making lunch or checking your inbox while he's telling you about an incident at work, then you are not giving him your full attention, even though you are listening to everything he's saying and giving appropriate responses.
Giving full attention is stopping what you are doing and looking at him while he's speaking to you. Give him facial expressions and use your body language to indicate that you are paying full attention and are interested in what he's saying to you. If you do this often enough, an additional benefit to making him feel loved is that he will start to reflect this behavior back to you. Then you will experience that special feeling of love from your partner, too. It's a win-win!
8. Don't struggle for power
If you have spent time socializing with other couples, you might have witnessed what power struggles look like. A woman might say something like "no more beer, sweetie." You've had enough. She will tell him that she's saying this in public because she cares about his health. However, if she's brutally honest with herself, she's doing this to show him and everyone around that she has the power to tell him what to do.
The guy will likely respond with an irritated, slightly embarrassed come-back if he's a little shy, or he might brush off her comment if he's bold enough to show her that her opinion doesn't matter and he's in charge of the decisions he makes for himself.
When you watch these kinds of power struggles, they can be uncomfortable and seem inappropriate. Engaging in a struggle for power will only leave you with unnecessary conflicts and resentments. You might even force him to start avoiding you or hiding things from you. A man should be allowed to be his own man. This is a graceful way to show him you love him.
9. Stroke his ego
Try to refrain from doing this in an insincere or brown-nosing kind of way, or you'll only succeed in making yourself cringe and causing him to feel patronized. By stroking his ego, we mean compliment him on something he did well.
Make sure you let him know when you appreciate something he has done for you. This is even more effective if you do it in public or in front of his friends. This is how to show love to a man, making him understand how much everything he does for you is acknowledged and appreciated.
10. Respect
What many women don't know is how much respect means to a man. This is one of the major differences between what love means to a man and a woman. A study was carried out that asked men across a range of ages what is more important to them: to feel loved or respected?
Almost all of the men questioned said they would rather feel respected. This is because, to a man, love is respect. Not only will the respect you show your man make him feel loved by you, but you'll also be pleasantly surprised by how extra loving he'll become towards you!
Summary
In some ways, it's easy to know how to love your man. They are not that much different from women. In the ways they are the same, you simply need to show him in the way you would like it shown to you. Remember that men crave it also!
Just learn to respect the differences and make the effort to love them in the ways that are meaningful to them. You will soon have a man that feels so loved that he'll be loving you much better as well.