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Dating Advice for the Rom Com Generation - Hollywood, I’ve Got a Bone to Pick With You

When we were little girls we listened to fairy tales like Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty. As we grew up, we watched movies like Pretty Woman. All contribute to fairy-tale brainwash, the belief that the right man or woman will just show up in our life at the right place and right time, without us having to do anything to make it happen. I first started thinking about the impact of Hollywood on relationships and single women, when one of my clients, who had been single for 10 years, was talking ab...

Dating Advice for Friends - Is Dating Your Friend a Good Idea?

My oldest friends from New Zealand, Dave and Julie met at university when they shared student accommodation. They got on really well as friends and one night they decided to play a prank on a friend they had staying for the weekend. They slept in the same bed so the friend would find them together in the morning and think they were a couple. The pretence worked too well and they've now been married many years. More recently Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino, who are very old friends, revealed ...

Five Ways to Spring Clean Your Relationship – Relationship Coach Elizabeth Tells How

There comes a time in most relationships when the gloss has definitely gone, and you find yourself complaining about your partner, wondering what went wrong… Well, since we can't change other people, the only way to change your partner's behaviour is to change yours (we give out what we receive). Why not review the following five areas to see where you could put the spring back into your relationship? 1. You're fault finding – Constant criticism can be hard for any partner to take. When ...

Online Dating Tips. Disenchanted with Online Dating and Want to Try Something New?

In the late 20th century the most common way men and women met was through friends or through work. There were many benefits to this; when meeting through friends, you know something about their history and background as well as being more likely to have shared values and interest. In the last 15 years this has started to change with the event of online dating. Online dating can be a great way to meet other single people, with a much larger pool of people to meet than through friends or work. ...

Dating Tips for Xmas - How to Flirt in the Festive Season? (Part 2)

There are many different ways of getting someone you like the look of to initiate contact, particularly in the festive season when people are out and about and there is far more opportunity to say hello and wish someone a Happy Christmas or Happy New Year. One time I was on a train journey, an attractive guy was sitting a couple of seats away, and an older woman who had just got on was trying to get her suitcase onto the overhead luggage rack above me. I jumped up to help, and the guy jumped up ...

Dating Tips for Xmas - How to Flirt in the Festive Season? (Part 1)

As we all know flirting is all about letting someone know you are interested in them, being relaxed enough to have fun chatting about light hearted things, with the plus factor of making someone feel a little bit special. It brightens up the occasion, and can sometimes be the start of something beautiful. Make the most of all the Christmas drinks and parties you may be invited to – wear a brightly colored dress, scarf or shirt – something that suits your coloring, so that you stand out (re...

How To Quiet that Inner Voice on a Date?

I was chatting recently with one of my clients who was finding it hard to relax when she was going on a date. Sometimes when we go on a date our inner voice is chattering – he's gorgeous, he's so successful, why is he interested in me? We can sometimes be even more negative than that! What is the cause of this inner voice? Well, it's to do with your level of confidence, what you think of yourself in relation to the people around you. Imagine a professional dancer dancing with other profession...

Dating Advice - Dating Mr Wrong - Part 2

Women normally know they are dating the wrong guy. But what about when it's the "right guy" and he lives abroad – Does that mean he's not the right guy? Or not? Ellie was involved in a long distance relationship where they had been together and then he decide it wasn't for him – though they were still talking and emailing for hours every day a year later & she was still very emotionally involved. She was convinced he was the right guy for her in every way. She was finding it hard to let...

Dating Advice - Dating Mr Wrong?

Sometimes dating the wrong guy can be really insightful – you can learn a lot about yourself. A lot about what you like most, a lot about what you don't like and also a lot about what's most important to you. Sometimes it's only in these situations that what's right for you becomes clear. A dating opportunity can come up, maybe you've not defined what it is you're looking for and you don't want to plan – you think I've never tried this before – why not? Monica age 29 was dating a 48 year...

International Women’s Day

It's the week of International Women's Day. We are living in a time when women have more choice than ever before. I grew up in New Zealand – it was the land where the women first got the vote in 1893 – where of the last 15 years 11 of the years women were the leaders of the country, where I was told I could have it all when I was growing up.And indeed it was true – one of my friends became the Minister of Women's and Youth affairs at the age of 26. I was very fortunate to be told as I was...

Why Women Postpone their Love Life - Is Now Never the Right Time for Your Love Life? A Dating Coach Explains

One of the reasons I became a Dating & Relationship Coach is because I spent a lot of my life alone, I spent a lot of my life single. Initially I was focused on my career as an accountant, that was my priority, the relationship could wait. Then I was involved in a property project – a fixer upper that took several years and my time went by trying to resolve it. And all those years I always thought I would have a relationship soon, that by Christmas, by summer, after the project was done I woul...

Dating Advice for the New Year - Have a Story that Empowers You in 2013!

Christmas has just been and gone. The season of joy and festivity – and season's greetings – where people often overindulge in wine, in food, in champagne and it's a new year starting. And I wonder if you have made any changes in your love life this past year – if you are in a relationship, is your relationship closer, deeper, more intimate than this time last year? If you are single – what are your plans for 2013? – if you are wanting to be in a relationship and it hasn't happened fo...

Why am I Single? (Part 2) A Dating Coach Explains

Here are several more of the most common reasons women are single… If you are single, ask yourself – do any of these apply to me? 1. Having a very narrow criteria about who they can love – some single women have a very narrow idea about the kind of man they can date and start a relationship with. Jane was only interested in dating actors and wouldn't even consider speaking to men who did not meet this criteria in social and dating situations. She was occasionally being introduced to actor...

Why am I Single? A Dating Coach Explains

'The most commonly asked question attractive, successful and intelligent women ask is….' Why am I single?' Some of the most common reasons include: 1. Your love life is not a priority. Despite saying they want a relationship; some women are so focused on their career they don't make time for a social life and meeting and dating men. They go to work early, they work hard all day, and they leave late. They can be attractive and successful and go home and be alone. i.e. Sarah had a very demandi...