ARE WE FOOLS FOR LOVE?

The definition of a fool is……..a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense.

How many of us have been fools for love and the sake of love? I was out to lunch with my girlfriends a few days ago and I posed the question, “why are we fools for love?” They all replied, “because we love to fall in love.”

So my question to you is, when we fall in love do we lose the ability to make good judgments, and exercise common sense? I read in National Geographic that some scientists have stated that the brain chemistry of infatuation is akin to mental illness – which gives new meaning to the phrase “madly in love.” In this article it states, “for the first time, new research has begun to illuminate where love lies in the brain, the particulars of its chemical components.” The birthplace of judgment resides in the brain, so there is a similarity to why we are fools for love.

Anthropologist Helen Fisher has devoted much of her career to studying the biochemical pathways of love in all its manifestations; lust, romance, attachment, and the way they wax and wane. Fisher, with the aid of an MRI machine recruited subjects who professed to be madly in love for an average of seven months. Once they were inside the MRI machine, subjects were shown two photographs, one neutral, the other of their loved one. Fisher discovered that when each subject looked at his or her loved one, the parts of the brain linked to reward and pleasure – the ventral tegmental area, and the caudate nucleus, each lit up. Love lights up the caudate nucleus, home to the neurotransmitter we’ve all heard of named dopamine, and which Fisher has concluded is part of our own endogenous love potion. Furthermore, in the right proportions, dopamine creates intense energy, exhilaration, focused attention, and motivation to win rewards. This is why when newly in love we can stay up all night, watch the sun rise, run a race, and dance with childlike enthusiasm. Love makes us bold, makes us radiate, and inspires us to get out of our comfort zone and take risks.

Does our risky behavior reflect a lack of good judgment and common sense when we experience the sensation of being in love? This is why we can’t explain love – it’s different for everyone. Some people can’t understand why we are in love with a specific person – we break up and make up, over and over again – the answer may be – “I AM A FOOL FOR LOVE!”

So here’s to love, and love, and more love!

Remember, may the possibilities of today excite us all!