What is a soulmate?

20 July 2005

A friend of mine lamented today that she may never get to meet her soulmate. It got me thinking - what exactly is a soulmate? Is it someone you can share your innermost secrets and fears without fear of betrayal? Someone you can trust to do the right thing for your own good and not always for his/her good? Someone who is a friend as well as a lover? What is a soulmate?

If I had a soulmate (which right now, I doubt I do) I think my soulmate would be a friend as well as a lover (though not necessarily so) - someone who knows exactly what I'm thinking even before I can talk about it. Someone who doesn't need me around and yet strangely enough does need me around.

I feel sorry for my friend - partly because I think she's looking too hard around her, partly because I know the truth about soulmates. Just like the love of one's life, soulmates don't appear when you want them to. They often appear when you least expect them, and sometimes they turn out to be the unlikeliest of people. They could be standing right infront of you - or they could be separated from you by several oceans. The trick is to not look.

It'll come when you are ready for it.