Furthermore, whether you're a Baby Boomer or Senior Citizen... looking for love Online can be a tricky business. You'll find a plethora of Personals and Matchmaking websites aimed at Mature Singles for you to navigate through. Below we have assembled some handy advice to help you on your way.

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Being a senior citizen does not mean that you will not desire love and romance as well as the companionship that comes with a relationship. Yet for some seniors it has been a while since they have been in the mood for a date, and getting back in the game is not that easy. Here are some smart senior dating tips that will help you make the transition into dating easy and also safe:

Be honest with yourself about what you want out of a dating relationship. Do you want a long-term relationship? Are you looking for a spouse? Do you just want a buddy with whom to hang out or go places? Are you looking for a sexual relationship with few strings attached? Once you are certain about what it is that you are looking for, make sure to also be honest about it to potential mates. Do not lead someone on who is looking for a serious relationship if you are not in the game for the same.

If you sign up with a dating serving, be honest about your age and your looks. If you are bald, say so. If you are 79 years young, say so. Do not shave 14 years off your actual age and hope that you can pull off that look when it gets around to meeting your date. If she or he thinks they are connecting with a 65 year young senior, they will be very disappointed to meet up with someone who is 79. This disappointment is probably not because of your age, but because you have seen it fit to be dishonest.

Similarly, if you are dating online, keep in mind that things might have changed a bit since you were last in the game. While there have always been those who sought to prey on unsuspecting seniors, usually in order to steal their nest egg, now you have to contend with a whole new crop of thugs: online stalkers. For this reason, set up a special email address that you will maintain for your online dating purposes.

Do not answer questions about your telephone number or address, and instead be evasive by listing the next big city that is close to the city in which you live. When you are getting to meet up face to face with your Internet beau, do it in a public setting, and even better, do it as part of a double date. There is always strength in numbers, and you should plan on meeting your date with a reliable couple by your side.

Do not discuss financial things, such as your investments or social security checks. This is information that should be given out on a need-to-know basis, and an Internet date does not need to know this information.

If Internet dating seems a bit too modern for your taste, sign up with your local senior center to learn about their activities. Many times you will be able to meet up with other seniors who may also be looking for companionship or love.

Of course, once you are back in the game, you will find that some things that may have irked you about your spouse for the past twenty years will also irk you about a new date. Similarly, you may find that you will slip back into old patterns that you had in your last long-term relationship. Sometimes these patterns can be comforting, yet at other times you might have found them annoying then, and so you will probably also find them annoying now.

Therefore, if your date begins to behave like a cantankerous spouse, and perhaps begins to criticize your every move, and belittle you to others, do not feel that you will have to endure this kind of behavior once again, just for the privilege of having someone new to love or care about. Instead, kindly, politely, but firmly bid your date farewell and do not entertain requests for subsequent dates.

 After all, there really is no reason to put up with behavior that bothers you or that is downright rude. You are worth so much more than that, and while it may be easy to slip into old habits, it most certainly is not required!

A lot has been written about romance but there isn't much available data about senior romance. It's actually in a class by itself and needs special treatment.

First of all, the normal hurdles that younger couples have to work their way through are seldom of concern. Careers are over for most seniors. Children are raised and have left home. Home buying and other major acquisitions were made in the distant past. Well, then, it sounds like all should be quiet on the romantic front, doesn't it?
That's not necessarily so.

Seniors who have reached an advanced age, say past seventy, have often established some very strong opinions. One person put it to me this way..."There are a lot of ways to go to the mailbox." It isn't something that is often noticed on the surface. Habits become solidified and attitudes, opinions and reactions become pretty firmly entrenched without much fanfare. Long, comfortable marriages seem to support the "I Did It My Way" that Frank Sinatra once sang about.

Seniors who find themselves alone, usually because of the loss of a partner, don't have current skills at dating and selecting a mate. How could they? And what worked in their late teens or early twenties is usually way beyond obsolete. Unfortunately, most "don't know that they don't know" and assumptions are usually rampant.

Dating often becomes a stiff affair involving a meal out with friends or alone and maybe a movie. More often than not, a marriage is contracted with no baseline of reality to hold it together. Each partner knows how things should be, which is how they always were in the past, right? Wrong! Issues of all kinds arise when no serious consideration is given to varying points of view.

The land of assumptions is the direct opposite of deep, investigative conversations. What should be seriously addressed are attitudes about sexual behavior, the handling of finances, the division of labor in the home and yard and how various adult children are going to be involved. And that's just for starters.

Even when this is done, deep honesty may be by-passed. Telling it how it would be "lov-er-ly"...not how it is can be an easy trap to fall into when trying to win someone over. Often adult children react to a late in life marriage of a cherished parent differently than the hopeful parent thought they would. In other words, they may be hard to second guess.

One senior couple I know quite well sailed into marital bliss with the wife being promised "nooners" by a husband who was sure she would be the cure for his sexual impotence. He also guaranteed that his grown kids would love anyone he loved and that turned out to be a bust. They hadn't talked about finances because neither of them was comfortable with the subject, so another hurdle loomed. A decade later they are doing very well but it looked, from my vantage point at least, like it was a long, uphill climb.

What seems to work is to take it slow and easy, and see what evolves. Neither partner can be a replacement for the one who is gone. New attitudes may have to be considered and new patterns created. When seniors marry it is not usually a rerun of an early-in-life romance where the pieces just fall in place automatically. It is new and different and needs to be treated with great respect. Seniors are wiser, we can all hope, but not as durable in most cases. The resilience of youth has usually come and gone.

Anyone wanting to remarry late in life might be wise to talk with other senior newly-weds, their own grown kids, a beloved minister and/or even a counselor. Why not stack the deck favorably?

About the Author: Luise Volta's life has included careers in nursing, teaching pre-school, interior design, Real Estate sales, insurance adjusting, and dairy herd testing.
 

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Your online dating profile is your first point of contact with potential friends and love interests... make it count! Online dating has become so competitive that you often have only a few seconds to catch your potential mate's attention as they browse through the site. The good news about that competitive nature is that it means there are more people than ever online looking for someone just like you. Showcase your personality and style to stand out above the rest.

Sit down to work on your profile when you have time to think through the answers. Being vague or misleading will only limit the amount of compatible people that may contact you. Follow these guidelines to create a profile that is an accurate and flattering reflection of your true self!

1. Use Your Filters. Your personal filters are your best weapon in turning away incompatible people as soon as they read your profile. You can save yourself a good deal of time sifting through a mountain of emails from people you would never think of dating by simply stating exactly what it is that you are looking for in your profile.
If you refuse to date smokers, say so in your profile. If you prefer a certain build or body type, get it out in the open right away. Shallow? Not at all. It is crucial to your online dating success that you make it as easy as possible for the right person to find you without wasting time communicating with people you have nothing in common with or no interest in.

Be upfront and clearly state your expectations. After all, the internet has brought dating a long way, but has yet to teach us to read each other's minds!

2. Write As You Would Speak. Many people freeze when it comes time to fill out their online dating profile. But you don't have to have a big ego or great writing skills to write something nice about yourself!

Don't fall into the trap of submitting one word answers and same old, same old responses. What would you say if you were speaking to your potential love interest in person? Write it down!

Be unique and creative. Active, descriptive words can really help to dress up your profile. Instead of "I like: dogs and beaches", try saying "I like: tanning at the beach and hanging out in the park with my dog, Rover". Using this conversational tone in your profile gives people more insight into your personality and makes them more inclined to contact you if they like what they're reading!

3. Stay Positive. So maybe it's the tenth online profile you've filled out in recent months. Don't let your jaded or disappointed attitude right now spoil the impression that every person who reads your profile is forming about you over the next few weeks or months!

Negativity can shine through in your writing. Think of how you feel about negative people; you know the type, the constant complainer... the person whom you can never please. They're really not much fun to be around! If you didn't know them already, would you be eager to meet them? Of course not - so don't sabotage your own online dating experience with sarcasm or negativity.

How could negativity show up in your profile? Failing to take the time to fill it out completely might tell people that you really aren't putting much thought into the experience... so why should they put a second thought your way? Listing online dating as one of your dislikes certainly doesn't send out a warm and fuzzy message to readers.

You might not even realize that your profile has a negative overtone. For example, saying "I hate club music" really isn't providing any useful information about yourself. Try "I love listening to country music and dancing with friends". It's telling the reader more about you and sounds so much more inviting and friendly. Which person would you want to speak with or meet in person?

About the Author: Lee Blackspur is the owner of My-Dating-Advice.com, a website that offers all sorts of free online and offline dating tips and advice for men, women and teens of all ages and experience.
 

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What prevents most people from opening themselves up to love is not trusting their hearts' wisdom (intuition) and fearing that someone will take advantage of them. But living in your head, on guard, making sure that no one will take advantage of you (which they do anyways) can prevent you from experiencing the very same thing that you long for with all your heart - boundless love and intimacy.

Using your heart wisdom or intuition will not guarantee that no one will take advantage of you because as long as your soul has lessons to learn, you will continue to experience pain, betrayal and disappointment. Using your heart wisdom will guarantee that you do not linger in pain and feeling victimized, you can easily recognize how your perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors are keeping you in pain and move forward on your path with a new awareness - transforming that pain into wisdom and power.

To help you date with conscious intentionality, I have compiled a list of heart wisdom dating practices that I believe you will find very empowering. Hopefully they'll help you make healthy and successful choices in your next relationship.

1. Attraction is not enough to make a relationship work -- you need compatibility and commitment.

2. If you feel emotionally empty before you start a relationship, you will feel just as empty once you are in one.

3. Strong believers of "love at first sight" often look for all the wrong qualities in a partner and overlook the right qualities.

4. To find out the kind of partner you've been looking for, look at the kind of partners you've ended up with. You don't attract the same type of person over and over by bad luck - you get what you ask for.

5. Your unconscious programming is responsible for much of the pain you experience in your love life.

6. Becoming aware of your unconscious decisions is the first step to eliminating those unwanted patterns in your love life.

7. It is possible to experience true love with more than one person - there are many potential partners you could be happy with.

8. There is no "perfect' person out there who will fulfill you in every way - your right partner will fulfill many of your needs. It is unrealistic to expect one person to fulfill every one of your needs.

9. When you are feeling lonely and desperate, you are much more likely to make poor choices and end up in unfulfilling relationships.

10. When you change and edit your values with the hope that you and your new partner will get along, you lose your sense of self early in the relationship and create a false sense of compatibility.

11. When you fall in love with someone's potential rather than who they actually are, you will only end up frustrating and hurting yourself.

12. People who go on emotional rescue missions often mistake sympathy for love.

13. When you fall in love with someone who is your role model, it is difficult to have a normal relationship.

14. Don't cultivate a relationship with someone "superior" who you think will "elevate" you in some way, but with an equal you enjoy and can't get enough of.

15. When you experience powerful sexual chemistry with someone, its NOT always love.

16. Good sex has nothing to do with true love but making love has everything to do with being truly in love.

17. The closer your sexual style is to your partner's the more likely both of you will enjoy your sexual experiences.

18. If you are with someone who will not communicate with you about emotions, you are NOT in a love relationship, you are in social arrangement.

19. A long distance romance makes it easy for you to think the relationship is much better than it actually is.

20.. The more you love yourself, the less likely you are to allow others to treat you with disrespect, or mistreat and abuse you.

21. The more anger towards the past that you carry in your heart, the less capable you are of loving in the present.

22. When you learn to "feel' people with your heart rather than just your eyes, ears or mind, you will attract much more healthier and compatible people in your life.
Allow your heart - wisdom to create your future, moment-to- moment. Live in your heart knowing that your logical, organized left-brain is still available to you as a tool. It stores information for you to retrieve at any time.

Go to your head for facts you have filed there, and present them from your heart. When you can trust your heart's wisdom your physical being becomes more attractively relaxed, your mental being becomes more clear, your emotional being becomes more balanced, and your spiritual being becomes more open bringing you closer and closer to pure and true love.

You can also go to my website in the "about me" page and read how I transformed my own pain caused by paralyzing and destructive fear of commitment into wisdom, power and life's calling.
 

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Online Dating Safety Tips

How safe is Online Dating?

Safety-wise, meeting on the Net is inherently similar to meeting offline.

As long as the same standard dating precautions are followed, cyber-savvy daters can feel truly at ease while getting to know each other. The main thing to remember: trust your instincts and use common sense just like you would offline.

Helpful Hints

• Remember that you are in control of your online experience at all times. You can remain completely anonymous until you feel ready.

• You are also in control when it comes to taking an online relationship offline. Plus, you have an advantage online because you can get to know each other before you meet. Remember that you don't need to take anything further than the computer or phone wires until you feel completely at ease. Go at your own pace!

• When you do decide to meet face to face, pick a public place and provide your own transportation to and fro. Tell a friend where you're going and check in when you return home.

• Never include your personal contact information in your profile, especially telephone numbers, email, home address or your last name, and only give them out when your instincts tell you this is someone you can trust. It's okay to take your time.

• Set up an email account just for online personals.

• Ask a lot of questions and watch for inconsistencies.

• Stay away from members who won't take no for an answer or pressure you for any kind of personal information. Serious cyber-savvy daters will respect your space and allow you to take your time.

• If someone asks you to go to their personal web site or asks you for money, use common sense not to oblige and then report the situation to the dating site.

• If someone gives you a phone number with a strange area code, check it out to make sure it's not a charge number before you make the call.

• Using your own good judgment is your best bet because ultimately you are responsible for your personal dating experience. Trust your instincts and then have fun with the right people!

Dating can be stressful and nerve wracking. You might feel like you are under a microscope and all your failures and faults are exposed in the open. But you can make things easier on yourself by boosting your confidence. You'll be much more attractive to any date when you exude self confidence plus you'll be able to enjoy yourself more and get much more out of the dating experience.

Since the whole point of dating is getting to know someone better, most people are nervous about making a good impression. Self doubts can creep in - are you smart enough? Attractive enough? Successful enough? That coupled with the threat of rejection is enough to make anyone's confidence go south.

So how can you increase your confidence for your next date?

First off, don't blow the date all out of proportion. It is just a date - one afternoon or evening. The rest of your life does not depend on it, although of course, you could be meeting your future spouse! Whether you are just looking for a fun night out or desperately trying to find Mr or Mrs right, it is best to just focus on the date itself. Take it for what it is and don't put a lot of pressure on the event. Enjoy the person you are on the date with and the meal, movie or whatever - don't have any great expectations other than a fun date.

Go into the date thinking of yourself as a person that has a lot of confidence. We've all seen them, the person that sweeps into the room and turns heads even when they might not be the most attractive or best dressed. If you picture yourself as confident then you will act this way - even when you don't really feel it.

You've heard it before but the best way to have confidence on a date is to be yourself. Don't try to impress your date by acting like someone you are not because you will not have the confidence to pull it off. If you hit it off with your date, you'll be glad you weren't pretending to be someone else as it will only be exposed later and could really muss things up for you. Plus it just takes too much effort to pretend to be someone else and you won't be able to enjoy yourself as much. And anyway, why wouldn't your date like you for who you are?

If you feel insecure about yourself, focus on the other person. Become interested in their hobbies, likes dislikes and really think about what they have to say. When you put them in the spotlight it takes the spotlight off of you, plus you get to learn a lot about them. Ask questions and really hear the answers then ask more questions about the answers. Of course, you want to do this in a conversational way and not make your date feel like you are grilling them! While you don't want to talk just about yourself the whole time you also don't want to make it seem like you are avoiding answering their questions. When you do talk about yourself highlight your positive points.

Another way to take some of the pressure out of a date is to do something different instead of sitting at dinner and feeling insecure about coming up with 3 hours of conversation with someone you don't know. Find a common interest, perhaps hiking or bird watching and make that date to do that. This way you can talk about your experiences related to t his interest and it will take a lot of the pressure off as well as boost your self confidence as you will be talking about something you know a lot about!

The main thing when dating is to remember that you are a valuable and special person. Don't feel inferior to anyone and be confident - this will help win you many friends and, maybe even that special someone!