Like the song says, breaking up is hard to do. With some time and distance though, we're (hopefully) able to get some perspective on the whole situation, why it ended, what we learned, and what we'll do differently next time. Sometimes though, our progress can get interrupted by the dreaded ex-sighting. Just when you've started to feel like you're moving on with your life, you see them, and a flood of emotion and memories come back taking you completely off-guard. And with all this emotion swirling around, it's certainly not easy to think clearly about how this could be the… more

Personal growth is something every conscientious human being thinks about at some point in their lives. From the time we're born to the day we pass, the opportunities for self-betterment are overwhelmingly abundant, but it's up to us to recognize them and turn them into advantageous experiences. When we're small, personal growth often happens by proxy, due to the fact that we don't have a lot of control over what happens to us or when. When we're older however, our positive or negative perspective is the key, and coupled with the life choices we make, we have a perfect opportunity… more

All relationships we engage in have a certain power dynamic, whether obvious or subtle. Between two people, there's often a leader and a follower, one passive and one more aggressive, and these roles can be constant, or we can alternate between the two. When it comes to romantic relationships, the stakes are higher, and the dynamic often more apparent. As children, we commonly model ourselves after our same sex parent, and this can have a great influence in how we act within our love relationships as adults. If you're a woman who had a mom who had overbearing tendencies and… more

As we go through life, one of the common lessons we often learn is the concept of mind over matter. There are many behavioural, psychological and spiritual concepts which point to just how much power our minds can have over our lives, like positive thinking, cognitive therapy and the law of attraction. And while our minds can be amazing tools we can use to add positive things to our lives, our minds can just as easily, if not more so, impact us negatively. Self-sabotage is one way we stop ourselves from getting what we want and deserve out of life,… more

It can be daunting to get back into the dating game, whether it's after a divorce, the break-up of a serious relationship, or even after a self-imposed dating hiatus. To think of ourselves as individuals after having been part of a couple for a prolonged period of time, can cause us some anxiety as we learn to re-define our selves.
We tend to ask ourselves questions like, Who am I? Will anyone find me interesting? What if people judge me by my "baggage"? etc. Ever heard the expressions, "Fake it till you make it", or "Practice makes perfect"? These… more

So you've just had a great night of speed dating, you're pretty sure you've made some promising connections, but what now? The first email of course! And while it's important to maximize your dating experience by writing that all-important 1st contact, you want to sound natural, not overly eager, and not like you're trying too hard. So what should be included in this email? Do you need to be funny? How much should you tell about yourself? How much should you ask about the other person? How long should it be?
These are all valid and important points you… more

Have you ever noticed how a brand new relationship can make you feel excited, but can also be nerve-racking? Meeting someone new that you could potentially fall in love with
can bring with it hopes, fears, expectations, surprises and that wonderful warm and fuzzy feeling. But with all those emotions swirling around, we might also admit it's possible we don't exactly see things as clearly as we should. We always want them to be "the one" and for it to work out, and it's not always easy to come to terms with the fact that they're not...

Signs You… more

It's a tricky business isn't it, the first date? It would be great if we could all be zen about it, live in the moment, whatever happens, happens - but this isn't always easy; we're human and we do live in a world where our expectations can often be quite different from reality. While optimism is a wonderful quality to possess, and certainly more useful than its angry sibling pessimism, it's important that we learn to view things from other peoples' perspectives. Doing this not only helps us find common ground with others, but it's the basis of compassion. The… more

The feelings that arise when we've met someone new we're interested in are like none other. There's excitement at the possibility of falling in love, a general sense of elation/happiness, and sometimes fear too, as we might be a little gun-shy from a previous relationship gone bad. The bottom line is, with so many emotions, it can be difficult to see the reality of a situation and the person we think we might be falling in love with. For people who live their lives from a more emotional standpoint as opposed to a pragmatic one, overwhelming emotions can cloud our… more

For most of us, finding the right partner is not a simple task. Because we now live in an era where self-discovery is as important as marrying into the right family once was, the search for a potential mate can be that much longer, the priority now shifting to finding out exactly who we are and what we want. As with anything as important as relationships,
there's a learning curve, and with that curve comes experience, often learned by trial and error.

The movies and fairy tales would have us believe we instantly know when we've met "the… more