Lately, in my work, I often have to deal with the problem of so-called “unhappy” or “unrequited love”. What is this really: the fate (destiny) of the unfortunate, “deceived” by love, or is it a punishment for not wanting to truly love? Let’s start from the very beginning. So, the eternal question: What is Love? This definition has not acquired a single meaning over many centuries. For everyone it was and remains somehow different, unique. Our topic is much more interesting: Can we truly love? Is this an innate ability or does it need to be learned? Agree, what pleasant and beautiful words: “I love.” As a rule, they have two meanings: I want to love because it’s necessary, because without it I feel bad, or I can’t live without love at all. (conditional) I want to love because it makes me feel good, I like this state, it’s mine, my own feeling, and no one can destroy it. (certainly) Is there a difference? In the second case, there is no object of love, there is only one’s own activity, which brings true joy, no matter what. Even in the absence of the object of love, this feeling does not die and does not cause pain. If, for example, you love ice cream, when you don’t eat it, you don’t stop loving it? It’s another thing to love to the point of “horror”, to the point of overeating, insatiability, and constantly wanting it again and again. That's when we become dependent on our desires. Of course, a person is not an ice cream, but the mechanisms of attraction are very similar. When we love a person, just as we love objects and things. Then for us there is only the object of desire itself, and not our ability to love. What happens when this “object” disappears, along with it all the joy from love disappears, and it begins to cause us pain. Love in its essence cannot cause suffering, it is the path to liberation from it. Our unsatisfied desires in connection with the object of love suffer. Everyone wants to love and be loved. But desire alone is still not enough. You need specific actions, and for real success you also need certain abilities. Where does the ability to “love” come from? Love is an art, and any art or skill should be learned. Of course, a lot is laid down in childhood: mother’s love, respect and acceptance from loved ones. But even if you don’t get all this in due time, this does not mean that you cannot learn to love yourself. If we want to master the “Art of Loving,” we should act in the same way when we want to learn any other skill or craft: music, painting, medicine. The process of mastering any art consists of two parts: theory and practice. But this is still not enough. “To become a master, the chosen business must be the most important in life; nothing else in the whole world should be more important than it. Sometimes it becomes unclear why, despite the deeply rooted thirst for love, anything is considered more important than it: success, prestige, power, money... So much of our energy goes into learning to achieve these goals, and so little on developing your ability to truly love." (E. Fromm) It is important to understand that in the process of “learning”, of course, it will not be without mistakes, pain, and failures. But this is a rare case when “the end justifies the means.” We still need time. We all also didn’t learn to walk right away. So, does “unhappy” or “unrequited love” exist? Maybe it’s all about the ability to receive happiness from the process of love itself and the ability to “share”: love with a person or object. ******There is no such thing as unhappy love, It may be bitter, difficult, Unrequited and reckless. It may be mortally dangerous, But love is not unhappy, Even if it kills, Those who do not learn this, Neither unhappy nor happy Love worth it.( B. Zakhoder)