1. You are able to spend time apart to pursue outside friendships and goals, and you're happy to do so. You don’t feel the compelling need to be sustained by one another all the time, but you easily find happiness when you're together.
2. Despite the cliché, you are the most fulfilled by seeing them happy. You want to do whatever you can to help them achieve that, whether it’s sending them a funny picture or hearing them talk through something that’s on their mind at 2 a.m.
3. They have the same fundamental values as you. If you share similar ideals about politics, spirituality, and general life principles, it is more likely that you will be able to build a successful life together. When your relationship progresses to the point where you're considering having children, these values will really come into play, as you'll have to make joint decisions on the raising of your child/children, if you choose to start a family. More diminutive opinions will differ, but soulmates generally have the same virtues and values and see the world through a similar lens.
4. You've been totally comfortable around each other since day one. Soulmates connect with ease right off the bat and let their true colors show without fear of judgment. Many people say it's easier to relax around that person and allow themselves to be vulnerable. The One will open up to you and let you in, so you can see them, wholly.
5. You accept your friends’ and loved ones’ opinions about them and the relationship as great feedback and important advice, but at the end of the day, you realize that the only person who can really decide is you, and that there are many successful couples (throughout history, literature, practice) that are together despite others’ disapproval.
6. You take it slow. You know there’s no rush to the finish line. What’s more: happily ever after won’t start after a certain point. You’re living in the now, and you don’t need to take the next step forward unless you know you’re ready.
7. The concept of growing with them, which once might have seemed so abstract, doesn’t seem so strange, or even all that difficult. You know that you'll grow at your own pace and develop into new people as time goes on, but you’ll do so with the knowledge that they will, as well, and each new person complements the other.
8. You know that any relationship isn't all rainbows and butterflies. He or she challenges you like no one else can. The soulmate relationship, despite what people might assume, isn't always smooth sailing. It isn't always wrapped in the perfect package, physically or in terms of life circumstances but that doesn't mean that the relationship will come without challenge. The difference is that the life circumstances and the difficult challenges are a strengthening power that becomes the glue that keeps you together through the difficult times and helps each of you become your most authentic self.
What's more, we rely on our partner to help us evolve as people. You might find any relationship to be rocky, and that your partner is someone who pushes your buttons and aggravates you at first because they bring with them some of the more difficult lessons for the soul.
9. The physical chemistry you two have is palpable. Sexual chemistry is important, because your sex life, even though only a part of your love life, is important.
10. Ultimately, I believe there is just a sense of “knowing” that doesn’t require a reason. It will feel like you’ve known it all along, or that you can’t remember a point at which you didn’t really know, deep down, that they’re it for you. There really is no guessing or wondering when the real thing comes along and you've found your true love.
If you're out there, looking for love, and are maybe unsure of what you're looking for, I hope this helps you in some way.
I love love.
