These are the major problems. 

 1. Most people believe they know what love is. As discussed in the section, Eric Fromm, “…human beings are Starved for Love,” this belief is clearly erroneous.

2. Even when told that love is nourishment, which they claim to know, they rarely understand the depths and applications of its meaning.

3. There is the myth that unconditionally loving behavior is out of reach (Frederickson ’13).

Stefan Deutsch’s theory and work introduces both professionals and public to the accurate, effective and useful definition of love. It teaches the essential quality of love as life-sustaining nourishment which must be given and when withheld is painful, unhealthy and creates enormous emotional suffering. Finally, it also disproves the myth that unconditional behavior is unattainable.  One place he points to is the ability of parents, especially mothers, to love their infants unconditionally. Loving unconditionally is not only possible but necessary at all ages.

 What is needed is for the public to be re-educated.  This has to start with the people best equipped to educate them, medical and wellness professionals. It was this community that educated people about the risks of smoking, stress, and the need for a healthy diet and exercise. The time has come to include love. This community and their clients must understand that love is not a sufficient goal; only unconditional love is.

You the health or wellness professional need to be able to guide your patient or client to a fundamental understanding that love is nourishment and that only unconditional behavior towards self and others is acceptable- whether coming to treat pain or for their annual checkup, to learn more about diet, to get a chiropractic treatment, or for a yoga class. This fosters SELF-LOVE/SELF-CARE, which is required in order to have any intervention, methodology, exercise or diet regimen be taken to heart, persist with, and finally create optimal results.  

In order to do this, you need to become educated in the science of loving unconditionally.

This science needs to be applied to your life fully so that you can connect with your patients or clients in a way that supports their journey towards unconditionality.

You may think that Deutsch’s position on unconditional love is asking you to reach for the farthest corners of the universe. In fact, he is simply asking you to start your journey by going to the moon. Every journey needs to start somewhere.

To begin your re-education process CLICK HERE.