General Dating Questions/Expert Profile

Expertise

A combination of the study of human behavior, the psychology behind those actions, interviews and significant personal experience. That intensive study has provided a deep understanding of interactions, an excellent education. Behavior, for both genders, is often about unspoken feelings, underlying motives and patterns. Learning to recognize what you're seeing in others and how to interpret the meaning will tell you what people are really thinking and why they're acting as they are. Understanding others is also about what is said and what isn't, what words are used and which ones aren't. The devil, it is said, is in the details. Subtleties matter. They often determine whether you connect as you desire, have disharmony or nothing at all with someone. If you are knowledgeable, naturally focused, experienced and perceptive, you can almost predict with certainty what is coming next.

Experience in the area

Reporter who has done hundreds of interviews, researched material, approached strangers and dozens of acquaintances with dating, relationship and behavior questions as well as learned from numerous dating experiences. A highly attentive listener with strong skills of perception and a student of gender differences and nuances and human behavior. Answering questions around the world.

Publications

Newspaper and radio reporter, talk show host, freelance magazine writer on dating and online feature writer. Talk show guest in Atlanta, Georgia and San Francisco, California. Please share what country you live in and if you are comfortable doing so, list the city. Thank you.

Education/Credentials

B.A. in communications/public relations. Additional coursework and three internships in speech communications/broadcasting. Fieldwork and library of relationship & psychology literature. Have worked with over 700 people at Michael Talks Behavior, Culture and Relationships (U.S.) and over 30 more at the same name (U.K.), personal email and face-to-face.

Past/Present Clients

College students, military, divorced, people with romance in the workplace, substance abuse in relationships, emotional abuse in relationships, more.

What do you like about this subject?

There is nothing more exciting than meeting new, interesting people and finding out who they are and if there is chemistry between you. The study of relationships and how people think and behave is fascinating and my passion.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

Continue to learn the subtleties about human interaction, the words and actions that occur that tell stories of someone's feelings and needs. There is so much that is unspoken that determines whether a relationship will thrive or go bust. Learning those nuances and sharing them with others is highly rewarding.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

We may be slow or clueless picking up dating or relationship clues. We may also be, sadly, selfish -- both men and women. No one gender has the market cornered on that one. In the end, even the best people are out for themselves. We are, and should be, highly selective in who we associate with and date. The people we choose to be with can be the frosting on our cake or the poison in our drink.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

We can focus on the risk or reward in stepping out and meeting someone. In the end, I find the reward drives me forward and outweighs the chance of meeting someone who isn't the ideal match. Read your situation quickly, ask yourself if you're interested and then take a deep breath and be bold in going for gold.