Dating advice is often given by the most well-meaning of people. Unfortunately they are often the least qualified people to give it. How many times have mothers mentioned that there are "plenty more fish in the sea" when we announce our partner has finished the relationship. Most advice we receive is well meaning but also unhelpful. This is primarily because when we need advice the most if is usually from the wrong sources. When we need to talk, our friends just want us to get "better", be more positive etc.

The best dating advice often seems to come from people who have been in the same situations as ourselves and have gained some comforting wisdom that we can equate to. The more we understand and agree with what is being said, the more common and shared the experience the more it is something we will choose to take in. The problem when seeing dating advice is that there are not too many places to turn. Sure there is Relate for marriage counseling and there are professional agencies and "experts" to help those of us who are getting divorced, but there is almost nothing to help us when we do what everyone does - date.

I personally feel that the best dating advice available to us is from single people, those of us who are at the sharp end of the dating equation. When you are trying to find someone to take to dinner, or accompany you to a function, when you have weekend after weekend to fill and yearn to spend time in stimulating company then it is to single people that you must look for inspiration.

Strangely we seek out those who are in couples for support in times of crisis, perhaps because they have "made it", they are where we want to be, so we trust their judgment. But what brought them together is not necessarily of help to you. And believe me, people in relationships soon forget what it was like to be single. I have heard some of the most useless dating advice of all from couples so I recommend that if you are currently single and playing the dating game, compare notes with like minded people. Couples will drive you crazy and remind you too often how smugly nice it is to be happy.

When dating, the thing we should always remember is that advice is simply what someone else thinks might assist you. The person giving this advice may not necessarily have any idea of your true state of mind of your particular circumstances. How can someone know what you should say or what you should so, or where you should meet apart from the usual practical ideas. But then there is an equally and opposite forceful argument.

Your friends who are not dating are often able to see things from  distance that you sometimes cannot. One good example of this was when I was in a two year relationship with a particularly nasty person and I was continually advised to run away as fast as I could. I was being used and abused and chose not to see it. I ignored the advice that may have saved me. Friends may be single and not currently dating. They may have just been through the dating treadmill and are full of good ideas. Therefore whilst we can discount the happy couple's advice, don't cut off the advice of friends fully.

Trust your own instincts and trust your judgment. Once you are in a  relationship you will need all the judgment skills you can muster anyway. Personally though, I get tired of people working out set formulas about how we date. I get tired of lifestyle gurus who often have no idea what they are talking about. To some, dishing out the same old dating advice and garbage is a way of making a living. The fact is, if you are out there calling people, meeting for lunch dates or evening dinners. If you are making calls and waiting for your phone to ring, if you are having plenty of ups and downs then you are as much a dating expert as anyone and have as much right to your views on the dating scene as anyone. That is why I like to hear about single people's experiences.

Dating advice is not a fixed theorem with a fixed set of answers. Dating advice is varied, unique and individual and comes from the heart. This site is owned and written by me, as a single person who has been on hundreds of dates and has had some really lovely relationships. Dating advice is simply my way of sharing my dating experiences and views on the world with you guys.