“Mature love is union under the condition of preserving one’s integrity, one’s individuality. Love is an active power in man, a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which unites him with others; love makes him overcome the sense of isolation and sepateness, yet permits him to be himself, to retain his integrity. In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.”

- Erich Fromm, from “The Art of Loving”

Matchmaking has a lot to do with faith and trust. First of all, you need faith in yourself, you need to feel desirable as a single and you need to believe in happy relationships. There was a time when singles trusted their parents or professional matchmakers to arrange a marriage. Today, singles often trust friends to set them up or search for a relationship through online matchmaking.

But obviously some singles trust no one more than… God. Well, you could say God was the first matchmaker in history, because that relationship between Adam und Eve surely wouldn’t have been possible without his help. The logical next step for faithful catholic singles is obviously to pray for a relationship.

Seeing how God probably has lots of other requests to deal with, they direct their prayers to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of singles. This article was interesting for that snippet of information alone – we never knew singles had their own saint! (more…)

Ever since we’ve been writing about online dating developments for the be2 blog, we’ve been waiting for the moment we could use this cheesy headline.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 million singles started online dating with be2, but that wasn’t enough for us, because none of those occasions offered the opportunity to abuse this cheesy cliché.

So there you have it: online dating with be2 is 7th heaven for 7 million singles! Okay, so it’s heaven for them, but what the hell will we do when be2 reaches the 8 million? Anyone got a good pun?

The Quick Match is barely a month old, but the first couple has already been matched – and has fallen in love - thanks to the Quick Match. Here’s the first success story from a couple that was matched by the Quick Match:

“I sent him a Quick Match, he won my photo. Long mails followed and, a week later, the first date. Now we’ve fallen in love head over heels.”

That’s how quickly the Quick Match can work and of course the product mangers are mighty proud that their hard work developing the Quick Match has been worth it! You can read more about this couple’s success story – and many others here.

St. Patrick’s Day isn’t primarily a romantic occasion, but it’s a great occasion for singles. The Irish national holiday is a day of celebration, socialising and meeting new people.

Singles could do worse than seek out their local Irish Pub, where t-shirts proudly proclaim “Kiss me, I’m Irish” and “Everyone loves an Irish girl/boy.” That doesn’t necessarily make for a romantic atmosphere and you probably won’t find love in a packed pub, but at least the luck of the Irish is with Singles on Paddy’s Day. Did you know the Irish national emblem, the Shamrock, represents courage, wit and love?

You also might not know that Irish singles have been able to find the love of their life at be2 for almost a year now. We wish all Irish be2 members an extra portion of luck and “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

Our mothers always told us never to go to bed fighting with your loved ones. This love quote explains why.

“Don’t try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.”

- Philip K. Dick

Identity theft is usually associated with material losses. Credit card, bank or insurance details can be used to do serious financial damage. We know these risks and we protect ourselves against them. Now, there’s a new type: online-matchmaking profile theft.

Apparently, some singles looking for a partner are so lazy (unoriginal, uninventive, insecure…?) that they can’t describe themselves the way they really are in their online-matchmaking profile. Instead, they copy other singles’ profiles, probably in the hope of improving their chances with those looking for a partner. (more…)

We mentioned International Women’s Day briefly yesterday; more about that today. International Women’s Day was originally a political occasion to honor women’s social and economical contributions. Women would hold rallies to protest their disadvantages in politics and society.

In many socialist countries, International Women’s Day was declared a holiday and promoted by the state. Today, International Women’s Day is still an important day for women who want to call attention to their political goals.

In many countries, however, International Women’s Day is no longer political or feminist, rather it’s become an International Women’s Gift-Giving Day, much like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. In Russia, men give gifts to the important women in their lives and congratulate every woman they happen to come across on that day.

The nice thing about Women’s Day is that no woman is excluded. Not single women - like Valentine’s Day - or childless women - like Mother’s Day. It’s about honoring women, without glossing over the fact that women still are disadvantaged in many ways. To balance out all that women’s interest stuff, there’s also a World Men’s Day (Ha! Sponsored by a chocolate bar manufacturer - how fitting!)

Is “Happy Women’s Day” the customary greeting on this occasion? We’re quite unsure, but we wish all the ladies reading this a great day, whether or not they celebrate it as Women’s Day!

We have a habit of choosing happy love quotes. This one is a bit of a change, being about the death of love.

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”

- Anais Nin