Are you on the lookout for your soulmate or perfect partner? Someone who you feel comfortable with, who understands you and cares for you with all their heart…
In this age, adding to conventional practices, dating is accompanied and characterized by interactions on social media and dating apps. Mindful dating is one practice that can help you undertake this process with awareness and involvement.
What Is Mindful Dating?
As the name suggests, mindful dating is the process of being aware while dating. All too often, we end up getting emotionally invested and losing sight of reality in the process of dating. While these feelings are an essential part of the process, mindfulness can help us make better decisions and pave a healthier path toward our love life.
Mindfulness meditation is a practice that originates from Buddhism and early Vedic traditions. It requires awareness of your emotions, bodily sensations, and mental processes and being in tune with the present moment. According to American Psychological Association, mindfulness provides you with the following benefits:
-reduced rumination,
-stress reduction,
-focus,
-boost in working memory,
-increased cognitive flexibility,
-less emotional reactivity,
-relationship satisfaction, etc.
All the outcomes of mindfulness above can enrich your dating experience while making it possible for you to stay sensible, clear-headed, and conscious. Now that you’ve learned about mindfulness’s different benefits let’s look at how to practice it while dating.
Read more: What is mindfulness and how can you practice it?
How To Practice Mindful Dating?
1. Be Aware Of How You Feel Throughout The Date(s)
As mentioned above, one essential aspect of mindfulness is self-awareness. Observe how the other person makes you feel. Can they help you feel comfortable, pleasant, or happy?
Remember that your initial feelings might not always be the right ones, and take some time to observe how your mood changes throughout the interaction.
2. Listen To Your Partner While Giving Them Your Time And Attention
The 5 Love Languages is a volume by Gary Chapman explaining the different “languages” or ways people like to express and receive affection. One of these languages is quality time. Spending quality time with someone involves giving them your attention, actively listening to them, developing an interest, and responding to them appropriately.
3. Discover What You Like In A Life Partner
By meeting different people, observing them, and observing how you feel about them, you can develop a better sense of your type of person. Over time, observation could lead you to identify what you like, dislike, and can’t tolerate in a significant other.
4. Observe And Try To Understand Your Partner
In any interaction, words or verbal communication are only a tiny portion of the information conveyed. Body language, including posture, placement of the limbs, sweating, etc., and voice attributes like tone, pitch, amplitude, etc., can tell a lot about your partner’s mental state.
Read more: Relationship advice for dating an introvert
5. Deal With Rejection Or Difficult Feelings Mindfully
Rejection is hard on anyone. If you get rejected or have to reject someone, try to make the process considerate and mindful for both parties. You may gain a good friend from the date if not a life partner.
Conclusion
Mindful dating is the process of being conscious while dating someone. But being mindful in your interactions and relationships is a skill cultivated over time, so how do you apply it immediately?
Don’t worry. There are a lot of platforms that can help guide you toward more conscious dating experiences. On that note, here is our free list of the best mindfulness apps.
For more information on mindfulness, dating, or mental wellness, subscribe to Your Mental Health Pal.