You're on your own again and you feel you should start looking for someone new. But are you really ready for love? Best-selling novelist Isabel Wolff highlights the signs that tell you you're ready to love again

Even if you hate being single, to find love, you need to be feeling strong, confident and, above all, happy. Read the signs below, and work out whether now is the right time for you to start dating, or whether you should focus your attention first on your own wellbeing, before considering anyone else's.

You're not ready for love if:

• You're still not over your last relationship. To form a new one you need to be in neutral gear emotionally - i.e. not in love, not in hate. If you're still reading his horoscope, hoping he'll ring, or delivering deranged monologues to him in your head, then don't even think about it. You will hardly endear yourself to anyone new if you're clearly still obsessed with your ex.

• You've got problems in other areas of your life. To find love, you need to be on an even keel - so if you're having difficulties at work, or at home, it's best to wait until these have been resolved. Ditto if you're about to take an exam, move house, or change job. It's vital that anyone new meets you when you're feeling calm and positive, not twitchy and stressed.

You are ready for love if:

• You hear your ex is seeing someone else, and you realise that you don't really care. If you were meant to be with him, then you'd still be together, right? Right. You truly now know that it's your destiny to meet someone new.

• You're really quite enjoying your single life. You're working hard, playing hard, planning weekends and holidays with friends, giving dinner parties, taking evening classes, laughing and smiling, living each day to the full. This is you at your most attractive - and magnetic - best. You won't even have to look for someone new - your happy sparkle means that they'll have zoomed in on you first.

  If you want to know more about Isabel and her books, then visit www.isabelwolff.com