Gary Chapman wrote a bestselling book in which he details the 5 most common love languages. He names them Quality Time, Physical Touch, Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, and Gifts. If you don’t know yours, there’s quizzes online that you can take to figure it out.
Quality Time
I feel the most loved when I have uninterrupted time (with a partner, with a friend, with your pets, with nature, with your art, etc)
Physical Touch
I feel the most loved when I can feel anothers warmth. (Could be sexy time with a partner, but also could be a hug from a friend, or petting an animal.)
Acts of Service
I feel the most loved when people show me that they care by doing things for me (like the dishes, or cleaning my car, cooking me dinner etc)
Words of Affirmation
I feel the most loved when people tell me how much they care about me. It especially means more when they tell me why, and all the good things about me.
Gifts
I feel the most loved when someone brings me a present. It makes me feel like they were thinking of me, and I love little tokens of that care.
Knowing what speaks to you the most, knowing what you do for others the most, and maybe even more important than all of that, is knowing which of these (or combination of these) you do for yourself, is so vital to who you are as a person. We need to able to identify what we need, either from the people around us or to find a way to give it to ourselves. Love languages can be learned over time, and modified to fit the occasion and the need.
How do you express love? Is it the same way that you receive love?