by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com
Listen to the podcast of this post here!
Yum! Capuccino Date. (Image Courtesy Of Flickr)
I’m bringing back one of my favorite posts this week. Read the magic of dating yourself as a way of upping your self care and amplifying your attraction factor. Enjoy!
Recently, I had the pleasure of going to a lovely dinner with my friend (let’s call her Amanda). The subject turned to the topic of dating. She told me how, about a year ago, she had wanted to meet a guy but wasn’t meeting anyone who piqued her interest, so she decided to start dating herself. In essence, she decided to be her own lover. She would take herself out to restaurants that she had been dying to go to, she would buy herself flowers, write herself love letters, make beautiful dinners for herself, and enjoy sensual time with herself. She so enjoyed dating herself that she ended up attracting a really great relationship in a matter of months. She joked that she was in a polyamorous relationship — her primary relationship was with herself and her secondary relationship was with her boyfriend.
What I loved about Amanda’s story was that she kept dating herself even though she now had a boyfriend because the benefits of dating herself were so great.
So what are some of the benefits of dating yourself?
- Dating yourself allows you to get in touch with what you really want in relationships. It allows you to connect with how you want to be loved, how you want to be touched, how much space you need, etc.
- Dating yourself allows you to see how much you have and how much you are able to fulfill your own desires, without relying on someone else to do it for you. In essence, you realize your completeness.
- Dating yourself allows you to assert boundaries in your relationships in an easy and loving way. Sometimes it’s easier to say, “I need to go on a date with myself” than “I need to be left alone”.
- Dating yourself allows you to spend time enjoying the sensual pleasure of your body, which is so healing in terms of body acceptance (and so wonderful nonetheless)!
- If you are looking for a relationship, dating yourself gives yourself a reminder of how it feels to be dating. And, as you may have found, people often get more attention from potential lovers when they’re already in a relationship. Therefore, dating yourself can actually make you more attractive because you’re already in a relationship.
In the work that I do, I often find that different techniques work for different people when it comes to increasing their sense of self love and well being. If dating yourself sounds like fun to you, I encourage you to do it! In order to support you, answer these questions and start acting on your answers. Your lover is waiting!
- What kinds of communication would you like to get from the person you’re dating? (Consider: sexy text messages, love letters, loving voice mails.)
- Where would you like to go on dates? (Consider: restaurants, movies, museums, parks, boatrides, at home.)
- What kind of gifts would you like to get from a lover? (Consider: flowers, books, clothes, jewelry.)
- What kind of sensual experiences would you like to have with a lover? (Experiment with exploring your body. There are some great books on this topic.)
- What would you like to wear on these dates? (Consider: dressing up, lingerie, perfume, makeup, hair.)
- How do you like to set the mood for myself? (Consider: music, baths, self massage.)
Have fun with this. Do the things that sound pleasurable to you and forget about the things that don’t. And remember, the first rule of the Body Love Club is it’s all research.
Finally, the idea of fulfilling your own desires doesn’t have to be limited to dating yourself. Pick a desire that you feel you need someone else to fulfill, and try to fulfill it yourself, even in a small way. For example, if you’re looking for a new job, perhaps you want to pay yourself for a task that you do, just to get the feeling into your body of being paid for different work.
As always, let me know how it goes!
And… please join me for my FREE TELECLASS THIS WEDNESDAY: The Rules Of FATtraction: Body Love For Better Dating! I’ll be sharing even more flirtation tips, ways to change how you feel about your body, and so much more! To check it out or register, click here: http://www.bodylovewellness.com/2011/07/10/the-rules-of-fattraction-body-love-for-better-dating-new-free-teleclass/
Looking for more support with intuitive eating and getting off diets? Click here to sign up for your FREE Body Love Wellness Consultation.
This is exactly what I needed to read today! Great post; thanks for sharing.
Date Yourself! http://bit.ly/o11fJR
Love this!
I will definitely take myself on a couple of dates this week :)
I love this idea! Maybe I’ve heard it before, but I can’t recall…this is one of those radically obvious yet somehow unknown ways of getting back in touch with your needs/desires without having to navigate through a relationship or with another person (and all of their baggage) first. Lovely! Self-care!!! <3
I think I do this whenever my husband goes fishing, actually. I put in a movie I'd been dying to see, have a lovely glass of wine and just relax and enjoy. Sometimes I do beauty treatments, too. I know it's not the same as going out, but with my budget it keeps me plenty happy. Thanks for this! <3
I love this idea. I am happily married, so not looking for anyone – BUT – we have both become lazy. I think I’ll meet this challenge by cleaning the house the way I would if a new lover were coming over – preparing the sort of dinners I might prepare to try to impress a lover – dressing the way I might for someone I was just getting to know, etc. I had already been thinking that I needed to start serving wine with dinner more often, this will just add another layer. Thanks for lighting a fire under my ample bottom!