A first date is often nerve-racking, especially if we’ve been out of the game for a while. The truth is, almost everyone is nervous on a first date, including the person you’re going on the date with. Sometimes even the 2nd, 3rd, or 403rd date can cause a little anxiety. I’ve compiled 5 tips that I’ve recommended to clients in the past and also applied in my own life. Read on and conquer that dating anxiety! 1. You’ve heard that saying “Check yourself before you wreck yoursel

Each of us has an unwritten but deeply inscribed “book” inside that catalogs our insanities, insecurities, and imperfections… but when do you show your lover those chapters? I’ve been enamored, of late, with The Course of Love, a book by Allain de Botton, and his other work exploring and exposing Romanticism. (He has books, videos, newsletters, and more, if the bug of debunking romanticism bites you too!) He says in one of his lectures that “We don’t need people to be perfec

Fall is upon us, the end of the year is around the corner. Did you make New Years Resolutions at the beginning of this year? I know, the conversation should be all about jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin spice lattes, and falling leaves but, I'm not one to stick to the script. So I'll ask again: Did you set (and keep) New Year's Resolutions? Did you follow through? Maybe you resolved to branch out, challenge yourself, and try something new. Maybe meeting someone new was one of your re

Your couch keeps you comfortable. That’s kind of the essence, form, and function of it, right? However, comfort is the antithesis of what it takes to get you up and out and socializing and dating. The saying “Life starts outside your comfort zone” is totally true. If you enjoy sports, attend sporting events. If you enjoy the arts, attend arts & cultural events. Strike up conversations with individuals in ticket lines, coffee lines, grocery store lines, any lines! (I got hit o

Shame. It’s been a hot topic in the self-help universe since Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly came out. I’ve wanted to talk about it for a long time. But I wasn’t ready yet. I had my own shame to process: Shame over projects started but not finished (at least not very quickly). Shame about squishy, jiggly, middle-of-the-body parts. Shame about relationships that didn’t turn out the way I thought they would. Shame about other people's feelings I disregarded or trampled on.

If you are guilty of at least one (or a few), you're not alone. Even my married friends are making at least one of these relationship mistakes! Let me explain... In the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe – a drama I studied enthusiastically in grad school that has remained memorable all these years later — Doctor Faustus, a German scholar, grew discontent with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge and learning. He yearned to go beyond law, logic, medicine, and rel