soulmate

A friend asked me the other day- can you love romantically only once? Although there are some that may disagree, I didn’t hesitate to say that you certainly could. I chatted about this to a few people at work, and one colleague quite adamantly gushed that there was only one person for everyone and that was what a soulmate was.

Righteo then. This prompted me to give it a little more thought.

Definition of SOULMATE: Basically, just two souls who share an amazing, personal connection.

However, thanks to the numerous romantic movies and fairytales out there, when you think of the term “soulmate” you cannot help but conjure up an over romanticised notion that there is just one person out there for you. JUST ONE?!

Think about it a little more carefully however. Just the one- in a world of over 6.7 billion people, in this day and age of constant migration, technology which enables us to travel across the globe in less than a day and communicate with strangers across entire nations, even with all this, we only have one person which we will meet, fall in love with and be together for the rest of our lives?

Perhaps. But given the infinite number of chances that is now possible in meeting more people than ever before, can you really rule out never falling in love again? Doesn’t that make the whole concept of the soulmate terribly, terribly limiting?

Becasue say, for whatever reason, the two of you just start growing in different directions or something should happen to your partner? Suddenly you are on your own, the love of your life, “supposedly” the only one you will ever have has now gone.

Do you remain resigned to the possibility of love never entering your life again? How does that begin to serve you in any kind of positive way? Would it be worth closing the door to someone else wanting to love you, wanting to walk hand in hand with you down a beautiful new path adorned with new experiences and joy?

Does loving again mean you are disrespecting or taking away from a love you may once have had? I think not. Love is bigger than that.

Years ago, I was a big believer in there being just that one person for everyone.

I first fell in love when I was 21 years old. I believed it would be forever. And two years later when it ended, for the first few months I was shell-shocked. How could this be? I truly loved with all that I had! Was that my soulmate come and gone? Was that it for me? I’m only 23!!!

However, as it would turn out, life can be as complex as it can be simple, and I learned that if you choose to remain open to infinite possibilities, and a happiness that is formless, love could indeed find you again. And it did.

I believe it was because I opened myself up to it after years of healing and gave the “rules” of the soulmate a good kick up the backside.

The love I share with my partner now is much deeper, more meaningful and feels just as new because I realised the person I was at 21 is very different to the person I am at 26.

So can you love again? I reckon you can. And I’m happy I did!