| I guess it depends on the reason you're doing it. If you're doing it as a "bit" in order to "get" something, I don't know if I can help you. If you're doing it because you're serious about it or it comes from within because that's your feelings and your reaction to the situation, then I probably can.
Also, remember what you may be thinking of as romantic may not be in line with what she thinks is romantic. Girls can think the smallest thing is romantic. Probably the best way I can describe it is if it's a situation where you two are connecting on a deeper level than the superficial, that generally has some level of romanticism (and the reason I say it's not for one night stands). Sometimes it's a big thing - like taking a trip together, even if it's just camping for a night or two, sometimes it's the smallest things - like holding the door for her.
I'll give you a couple of examples.
Last year summer, I was big into off-roading. I had a nice lifted truck I took out on the trails almost daily. I met a girl and started taking her off-roading with me (I've not met a girl who doesn't like off-roading, btw...there's a tip for you). At first we were with friends and just hanging out as friends, but as we started getting closer, I found times for it to be just her and me. One of the things we really connected on was a love of astronomy, so one night, I packed a blanket and some pillows and we went to a nice clearing. I laid out the blanket and pillows, and we went to look at the stars. I didn't pour out my feelings for her like you see in the movies or anything, we just talked, and when the time was right, there were no words spoken...I went for what I wanted. She later told me it was one of the most romantic things she's ever experienced.
Another time quite a few years ago, I met this girl late night after a party at a pancake house (like IHOP), and we hit it off. I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride, and we just drove around for a while. At some point, I realized I hadn't seen the ocean in the moonlight before, so I drove us out there. We literally just sat on the car hood for an hour or so mostly just watching and listening to the ocean in the moonlight. We barely talked when we got back in the car except to discuss which hotel we wanted to spend the night in (because we were "too tired to go back"), and the next day she called me a romantic.
Do you need to go through all that trouble to be romantic? No, certainly not, it just happened that those were the situations that presented themselves, and I did things that were congruent with the type of person I am and the things I enjoy. I mean, the second example only took a quarter tank of gas, a couple hours, and the price of a hotel room.
According to what I read here and what I've seen of PUA advice, technically a lot of what I do in regards to this stuff would generally be considered AFC. The difference is that I have extremely strong boundaries (something I'm very good at), quite a bit of confidence (I can actually be an egotistical prick at times, so it's a double-edged sword), and I essentially speak body language like it was my first language before English - for me this is HUGE.
Looking back on my experiences, it's mostly about the frame you build about yourself BEFORE you get in the situation when you're trying to be romantic. If I had to put it into words, I would say that - for the most part - I build strong frame in many small, every day situations so that I can allow myself some AFC when I want to. This is what I mean by being able to do certain (CERTAIN) AFC things if you have the right frame. When I do these things the girl will know that I'm not doing it because I'm needy or clingy or a creep or whatever, I'm doing it because I'm allowing her to connect with me on a deeper level.
I'm not sure I know what you're asking by "which switches it flips", but I hope you got something from what I've typed here.
|