I was once chatting with a friend on facebook when he asked me to find him a girlfriend. I proceeded to ask him his intention of wanting to have for himself a girlfriend. His answer was quite shocking to me. All that he was interested in was a girlfriend he could date for fun, since almost all his friends were into relationships. To cut a long story short, he was never concerned about the emotional stress he would take somebody’s daughter through.

A psychoanalyst once said love is the only enterprise which is started with incredible hopes and expectations and yet fails regularly.

When a romance fails, the result is often pain and heartbreak. And the sad fact of life is that the only sure way to avoid getting a broken heart is to avoid getting romantically involved in the first place.

Dating is a serious business in which one embarks on to select a suitable marriage mate. Nevertheless, the very nature of dating often makes it somewhat of a trial-and-error process. So it is not unusual for two people to begin dating with the best of intentions, only to find that they simply are not suitable for each other as marriage mates.

For most young people, relationships with the opposite sex are frequently aggravated by an abundance of confusing sex drives. No wonder then that youths often fall in love with the greatest of ease.

Simply being older does not make one immune to heartbreak. Older ones sometimes leap into relationships too fast. They want commitment too fast. Giving your heart to someone you hardly know is one sure way to break it.

Majority of people look at things according to face value. Do not make a similar mistake by getting romantically involved purely on the basis of physical appearance. First try to find out what kind of person the one you are trying to date is.

Even when someone’s reputation seems to be good and the interest is mutual, I think it is still premature to start planning your wedding immediately. A closer examination of this person may well reveal serious personality flaws. How then can you get to know what this one is really like?

While there is nothing wrong with engaging in recreational activities together, courtship serves its purpose best when it also includes some serious confidential talk. This would help you get to know the person well enough.

Also, learning where he or she stands on key issues is something that should be done at the outset, not later on when both are too emotionally involved. If you wait till you are emotionally involved, breaking up will surely cause heartbreak.

Courtship has the potential both for happiness and for misery. How you handle courtship has a lot to do with the outcome. To me, there is no way of guaranteeing that a relationship will work out.

And even after taking every precaution, heartbreak can still occur. Nevertheless, by dating only when you are ready for marriage, keeping your emotions under control, and exercising due caution, you can do much to minimize heartbreak and maximize the possibility of a courtship that will result in a happy marriage.