Personal experience and expert advice on how being true to ourselves, enjoying life, and dating intentionally can lead to true love and authentic relationships.
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Dating With Intention: Exploring Love Compatibility and Chemistry
Affection runs deep, so why do we often skim the surface when we assess love compatibility? When we evaluate potential love partners, our media and culture, including the messages we receive about attraction based on looks or feelings, can influence our views and behavior. In my early dating years, I coasted more on my feelings…
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Why Am I Attracted to Someone? About The Psychology of Attraction
While considering the psychology of attraction, I used to wonder, “Why am I attracted to narcissistic men?” In the afterglow of the sparks I’d feel when they arrived, I’d recall when they showed interest in my hopes and dreams, like when my lover would read my latest article. His compliments about my writing made me…
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“Love Yourself First Before You Can Find Love”: Fact or Fiction?
After a bad relationship ended, a spiritual advisor kept telling me to “love yourself first” to attract the right partner. Once I did, the process sounded mystical — like the man of my dreams would float in on a magic carpet. I had low self-esteem then and have worked on loving myself, so that advice…
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Healing Relationship Cycles and Unhealthy Patterns
I sensed the start of another one of those “push-pull” relationship cycles. I left my phone on my desk and told myself I’d wait for my lover to reach out. The longer the silence, the more my chest tightened, probably reflecting my attachment style, rooted in my babyhood when no one arrived soon enough to…
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External Factors Affecting Relationships
Have you considered how external factors affecting relationships — like fairy tale love stories and social media — can skew your hopes and dreams from behind the scenes? My parents’ love story cast a long shadow. After my father died, my mother often told it to complete strangers as proof of true love (and her…
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How Relationship Personality Types and Temperament Affect You
Do relationship personality types matter more than love at first sight? Think of the friend who wants to talk after a fight and the one who needs space. Or the date who plans every detail versus the one who wings it. Our personality — how we think, feel, and behave — and our temperament —…
Future Dating Intentionally and Authentic Relationships Topics Include:
- Why we can struggle to accept ourselves and how to welcome ourselves as we are
- What we tend to hide when we get to know others, and how to feel more comfortable being ourselves
- Reflecting on past relationships and the lessons we learned from them
- Why embracing life’s joys is crucial for arriving at authenticity, building authentic relationships, and dating intentionally