Selection From Love 2.0 Barbara Fredrickson Analysis

They say in isolation and only in isolation can you hear the internal voice that is you. How many people do you know that honestly enjoy spending most of there time alone? It’s a difficult question not only to ask others but one to ask to ourselves. Isolation is connected to feeling loved as many people can attest to. Love as an emotion on its own is a hard one to define. In the essay, “Selections from Love 2.0” Barbara Fredrickson explains, this whole new view and perspective on love and what we have known of it so far. She goes into detail explaining how love is not just psychological but more biological than we think. Fredrickson explains the effects love has not just on our minds but bodies as well. Through out this essay Fredrickson is

From the times of Ancient Greek, love was called Eros which meant sexual passion or Philla which meant deep friendship. Different cultures and civilizations have defined love and its many aspects in different ways. Fredrickson on the other hand has addressed to us that to understand love more we must get rid of all ideas we have heard since birth. Fredrickson proposes a new perspective on this feeling called love that we have so many phrase and stories to describe it. In the essay, “Selections from Love 2.0” Fredrickson states, “Just as your body was designed to extract oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere and nutrients from the foods you ingest, your body was designed to love. Love---like taking a deep breath or eating an orange when you’re depleted and thirsty---not only feels great but is also life-giving, an indispensable source of energy, sustenance, and health” (107). Fredrickson proposes that love is something your body craves and longs for. It is not just an emotion as people still believe but a “indispensable source of energy” as she describes it. It nourishes the body and fuels us not just emotionally but psychically too. Now this is not just some idea that she came up with to support her claim but more there is science behind this that she explains. In the essay, “Selections from Love 2.0” Fredrickson explains, “I’m drawing on science: new science that illuminates for the first time how love, and its absence, fundamentally alters the biochemicals in which your body is steeped. They, in turn, can alter the very ways your DNA gets expressed within your cells. The love you do or do not experience today may quite literally change key aspects of your cellular architecture next season and next year—cells that affect your physical health, your vitality, and overall well-being. (107). Fredrickson is stating that there is scientific proof that states how love can affect the body in positive or negative ways depending on the