Falling in love with a friend

Falling in love seems difficult, doesn’t it? Nearly impossible if you ask millennials who are currently swiping left on Tinder a million times a day.

When you look at love from a completely logical standpoint, though, falling in love is easy as long as you know the steps. At least that’s what Hetty Rombouts, a Dutch researcher, has found after conducting interviews of her students. Her findings show that there are only few steps to falling in love.

Step 1:

You must be willing to fall in love, and you must meet another person who is willing to fall in love.

It sounds easy, but you’d be surprised how many people go out on dates with people who clearly aren’t ready and willing to fall in love (themselves included). People who have just left serious or long term relationships or people who are clearly not willing to commit time to the process are good examples of someone not willing to fall in love – whether they actually know that or not is a different story. So, first step. Be ready to fall in love and find someone equally ready.

Step 2:

Meet a person who attracts your attention. And, again, because this is a two-way road, you need to attract the other person’s attention as well.

What exactly do we mean by attract attention?

It could be as simple as physical attraction or as (sad as it may be) a case of just being at the right place at the right time. Each person should become a target of desire for the other.

Step 3:

Each person needs signs of interest from the other when expressing opinions.

These signs of interest in the partner’s opinion can be as minimal as a smile or even a slight nodding of the head.