Secrets of Romance

• There is no substitute for genuinely loving and deeply caring about the person you are romancing.

• Spend time thinking about the wonderful person they are, recalling their fine and endearing qualities, all the loving, caring things they do.

• If you don't know the person well, ask them about themselves and listen carefully to what they tell you. Ask them about their dreams, their aspirations, their biggest challenges, their greatest triumphs. Listen and love them as they speak.

• If you don't like what you hear, STOP! If you cannot love and genuinely affirm the person they are you are not meant to be with them. Friendship, trust and teamwork are the basis for romance and for all good relationships.

• Genuinely Affirming a person means really listening and truly caring about what they say. It's far different from Flattery which is feigned interest and false praise designed to get what you want.

New Relationships

• Expensive dinners on first dates are not real and place pressure on all parties "to perform." Begin low key, find interesting, fun things to do where you both can easily be yourselves.

• Romance is always all about them - not about you. If they are loving, caring people, they will turn the conversation around and extend the same interest and concern to you. If not, look elsewhere.

• Be yourself. Don't try to impress. You want them to see you as you truly are and as you would be in a relationship with them.