Do you believe in soulmates? I was out walking with a friend today and we touched on the subject of soulmates. Soulmates...what an emotive word! Here's Wikipedia on the subject...

Some people believe that souls are literally made and/or fated to be the mates of each other, or to play certain other important roles in each other's lives.

According to theories popularized by Theosophy and in a modified form by Edgar Cayce, God created androgynous souls, equally male and female. The souls split into separate genders later, perhaps because they incurred karma while playing around on the Earth, or "separation from God". Over countless reincarnations, each half seeks the other. When all karmic debt is purged, the two will fuse back together and return to the ultimate. Soulmate is a term sometimes used to designate someone with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, and/or compatibility. A related concept is that of the twin flame or twin soul – which is thought to be the ultimate soulmate, the one and only other half of one's soul, for which all souls are driven to find and join. However, not everyone who uses these terms intends them to carry such mystical connotations.

I used to be believe very strongly in the soulmate concept. Well, it is pretty wonderful to think of finding the other half of yourself - surely the recipe for endless bliss?

I'm not sure now that I don't think the soulmate idea grossly over-rated and in certain circumstances downright dangerous, indeed destructive.

Have I ever met my soulmate? Well, for a start I'll say Phil doesn't believe in soulmates so that probably disqualifies him from the get-go! The closest I've felt to another human being apart from Phil was my friendship with Karen. In terms of a connection that at times seemed almost spooky I'd say she was my soulmate - in friendship terms, of course. We had a great rapport from the start.

When I was young, I believed very much in love at first sight, soulmates, the one "right" person for everyone - I felt anything else was second best, a compromise. I thought that love wasn't love without the soulmate element.

Today I find it much harder to define love - it's fuzzier around the edges. i think I've got a grip on it and it slips away from me. People my age will remember those little "Love is..." cartoons you used to see in newspapers. And the film "Love Story" - where they say love means never having to say you're sorry (never could get my head around that!)

So today I'll say that today, for me, "Love is..." thinking that Phil had gone to work and then finding out (via text!) that he was working from home and hadn't actually left the house - and getting a little thrill out of knowing I'd see him when I went downstairs!!