Love and Destiny

Destiny. One of the most romantic notions we can possibly attach to the concept of love, that you will meet someone and right away you will both know that it was just "meant to be". But, is this true? Are we "destined" to meet our soul mate? And, does that mean that it is all predetermined and therefore we don't have a choice anyway? How does destiny work when it comes to love?

Let's first define what destiny is. In order to do that, I need to establish here that destiny is a concept that relies on a belief that there is some kind of natural order to the cosmos. Now, I'm not looking to spark a heavy theological debate over the existence or not of God, because what I am talking about here is a natural order. It can be as simple as believing that the sun will rise in the morning and that the seasons will change because there is a greater design, energy, or power greater than us that causes these things to happen. So, if you can make that leap, and embrace that possibility, then you can also believe in destiny.

Destiny is how this natural order I described above impacts our lives directly, or rather how we experience it. If we thought about it, we could sit every morning in the pre-dawn light in awe as the sun emerged and wonder in amazement at how it must have been destined to appear in the sky. Most of us take it for granted that certain things will happen, and therefore we only decide to call it destiny when something occurs that we were not expecting.

We also tend to confuse the terms destiny and fate, thinking that they are identical and interchangeable. Although they are related, they are different in that fate is something that is fixed and unchangeable. Fate is something that absolutely happens, so we can only look back at something that happened in the past and call it fate. This is because nothing in the future is absolute, only the past can be a sure thing. Destiny is how we describe something that can and probably will happen in the future, but yet it allows for choices to be made. So, quite simply, fate happens. But, destiny is something that we actively participate in. We choose our destiny.

So, how does this relate to soul mates? Do we get to choose our destined love? How do we participate in meeting them, especially when we only call it destiny if it is something that we were not expecting? Well, we have many soul mates of different types. And, our meeting all of them is and was destiny. Some we meet because we have karma to work out, and others we meet in order to learn lessons about giving and receiving love. And, each and every one of these soul mates was our destiny, meaning that we made choices that led to our meeting.

The idea of the soul mate has shown up in nearly every culture on the globe throughout history, and it has also consistently been linked to the concept of destiny. In East Asia, there is a legend called the "red thread of destiny" in which a mystical red string is tied to the fingertips of two meant to be lovers that connects them. And, although the string can twist, turn, and bend, this tie to one another will ultimately ensure their destined meeting.

In Ancient Greek mythology, there are three women called "Fates", or Moirae who were weavers that spun intricate webs of intertwining threads that represented different life paths of human beings. When these threads overlapped one another, they represented two lives intersecting, or a destined meeting. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship can relate to this imagery, that for a time your threads were intertwined and your paths on the same trajectory, and upon separating your threads continue on, but in different directions. This thread idea also shows up in Norse and Roman mythology, in Navajo legend, and in some Pacific and African traditions as well.

In Kabbalah, the Hebrew word for destiny, B'shert, has a dual meaning. It is also the word for soul mate, or the "beloved". This term actually marries the two concepts together, making them one and the same. Because destiny implies an order to the universe, and allows us to make choices, our path through life (and lifetimes) consists of what the universe throws our way and the subsequent choices that we make. And this path ultimately leads to our B'shert, or our destined love.

Now, keep in mind that the path I am referring to is your path. We do not find our destiny by searching for it; we discover it on our journey through life. We meet our destined love by doing what we love doing and going to the places that we enjoy going to. Although you can meet someone nice by hanging out at the golf course because you would love to date an avid golfer, if you are not a golf lover yourself, they will not be your destined love. This is because the journey to our beloved, or our destiny, is actually a journey inward. We meet our destined love by being ourselves and doing what we do anyway.

I have seen this at work in my own life. The last relationship I was in, the only thing I had to do to meet him was to get up and go to work that day. And, this phenomenon is incredibly far reaching, as the universe will conspire to bring two people together despite any obstacles. My ex-husband was born completely on the other side of the world from where I was, yet by following my own life path, and he his, we managed to make it to our destined meeting. Which leads me to my next point; destined loves are not always destined to last. Even if a relationship does not work out, it does not change the fact that it was destined for both of you to meet.

When we encounter a soul mate, or someone with whom we have a connection, they come along in order to represent a choice. Soul mates appear in our lives to open up new doors, new possibilities for our future, and show us that there is a fork in the road. We are destined to meet, but how we deal with it is entirely our choice. Do we allow ourselves to be open to love? Or, do we ignore it and let the opportunity to be in a relationship with them pass us by? Once in the relationship, does our fear create power and control issues? Are we cruel to them, and cheat and lie? Or, do we choose to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and let them into our lives and our hearts, thereby discovering the beauty of love?

We make pacts and agreements with one another before we are born, or soul contracts, that our paths will cross in order to present this intersection to one another in order to help each other grow and develop spiritually. So, in this way, each of our destined loves have played a role in propelling us forward in some way on our spiritual paths. This idea might be difficult for some to swallow, because I am suggesting that the abusive and even violent relationships are based on soul contracts as well and came into our lives to teach us and present us with an opportunity for growth. Remember, it comes with a choice, and anyone who has ever empowered themselves enough to leave such a relationship can tell you that the choice to do so was not a step, but rather a giant leap in their spiritual evolution.

This is also why it is important to allow yourself time to heal between relationships, and not jump into a new one right away. By spending some time reviewing the issues that came up in you, and being truly honest with yourself about why it failed, you can honor this soul contract process and really do some work on yourself. If you don't take the time to do this, you will inadvertently take all of your baggage with you into your next relationship and you will find yourself on a virtual hamster wheel, dealing with the same issues in one relationship after another. Although they might look different, you could end up dating the same person over and over again because you have not spent the time to reflect and properly heal.

During my own meditation practice, I have found it quite useful when I need to reflect on my previous relationships, to conjure up an image in my mind of a past love who has hurt me in some way, or were somehow incapable of giving and showing love properly. If you try this exercise, look at them, in their eyes if it is not too difficult, but you have to be careful not to connect too much energetically to an abuser or someone that you have already worked hard to distance yourself from, and ask them to return to you the pieces of yourself that were lost as a result of the pain you suffered from that failed relationship. Holding out your hands, take these parts of yourself back (they can be literal objects, or symbolic) and return them to you by placing them into your heart chakra, which is located at the center of your chest. But, if you do this exercise, be prepared to do the reverse exchange as well, and give them back the pieces of themselves that they have lost at your hands. Doing exercises such as this help to set a powerful intent to heal the relationship, and to more objectively understand it and the role it played in your life and your spiritual development, and then to move on from it.

When you take the time to do this type of inner work, and spend time contemplating and becoming more self-aware of your issues surrounding relationships, you will heal and subsequently begin to vibrate energetically at a higher level. And, because a destined soul mate is someone whose level of vibration matches your own, you will eventually attract a new destined love of a higher caliber.

By climbing the ladder of your own spiritual growth and development, you will meet someone who has done the same, and enter into a relationship that vibrates at a higher rate as well. Yes, it is true that the higher you climb, the fewer potential partners you will find, but they are out there. The more we heal and learn about ourselves through the work of being in a relationship with another person, the better quality relationship we will be capable of. And remember, your destined love is also doing this inner work and is hoping that their destined path will lead them to you.

What we need to remember here is to keep the focus on ourselves, as the journey to your beloved, or your destined love, is ultimately a journey to yourself. This does not mean that we should be selfish, which is the act of taking power away from others for our own gain, because being selfish will not ever lead to a spiritually evolved relationship. What I mean is that you should keep your focus directed inward, and therefore create your own power within yourself. When you can do that, you will have a real magnetism that will attract all of the right people and circumstances into your life. You create your own destiny by following your own path, and your destined soul mate lies along that path.

In Plato's "Symposium", he describes a legend in which Zeus decided to split human beings into two separate halves. These splintered pieces would be doomed to spend many lifetimes searching for one another, longing to be whole again. According to this story, the reason that Zeus did this was because he was afraid of our power. And, hereby is the key to the idea of destined love. When we are with another in a true partnership, we are not twice as strong, but exponentially so. But, we first have to cultivate ourselves so that a true partnership can exist. A relationship based on need, control, insecurities, dishonesty, and fear cannot be such a partnership.

What we are looking for is not our match, but rather our compliment. Like a spoon in a drawer, putting two spoons together implies that one alone is not sufficient, that it needs a "match". But, if you place a fork next to the spoon, the spoon is fine on its' own, but when used together with the fork they will compliment each other, work together more efficiently and in result will accomplish a great deal more than they ever could on their own. In order to find our compliment, we first have to learn how to be "enough" on our own. Looking for someone to "complete you" gives your potential mate way too much power, and so you will attract a partner who will exploit and abuse that power. When you are a whole person on your own, then you will attract someone else who is as well, and your relationship will be missing the drama and pain of your previous ones.

We take the time and effort to be incarnated in human form so that we can learn, and life is truly a school filled with lessons of various types. But, the most important lesson we are confronted with during our experiences over many lifetimes involves love. Quite simply, relationships with others is why we are here. And, our relationships reflect our current level of healing; we can see where we are at by examining the quality of the relationship we are in.

And, if you are not currently in a relationship, then it is important to examine that as well. Are you still healing from the last one? Do you still feel anger, bitterness, and resentment toward any of your previous partners? Are you afraid? Or, are you being confronted with the lesson of being patient and waiting for the right person to cross paths with you? Taking note of this, and becoming aware of where you are at regarding relationship issues is a vital step toward uncovering your destiny. Find out more about who you really are, do what you love, and discover the places that you enjoy. Keep your focus on yourself, create your own power, and walk your life's path with your heart and your eyes open, because somewhere on the road ahead you will encounter your love. It is your destiny.

Past Lives: A Return To Our Roots

Since the dawn of time, we human beings have pondered our existence. We have sat gazing up at the starry night sky, marveling at its' vastness, discovering order in it's seemingly chaotic patterns, and even realizing our own personal connection to it. Archeologists have found evidence that even the earliest of our species spent time wondering who we are, why we are here, and what happens to us after we die. So then, maybe to question our state of being is an integral part of being human, as well as the quest to experience a realm of spirit and that which seems to lie beyond our physicality.

This belief in what we call 'spirit' is nearly as old as history itself. Our ancient ancestors pan-globally believed that there was a part of us that was not connected to our physical form, containing our consciousness, that survived death. These people also, nearly universally, came to the conclusion that we would subsequently be reborn after death. Early humans did believe in reincarnation. How did they formulate this idea? Well, all they had to do was look around them.

Because ancient people lived in a way that was deeply connected to the natural world, they recognized and honored the cycles of life that turn continually all around us. Before we humans took ourselves out of nature and into our studio apartments, we understood that we were not separate from nature. And so, because we recognized that we were a part of these life cycles, we could therefore conclude that what we saw happening around us in nature would happen within us as well.

The constant patterns of life, death and rebirth that we see in the plant and animal world, as well as the daily miracle of the return of the sun in the morning after its' light was extinguished from the sky the night before, meant for them that we would do the same. Because our ancestors knew that we were inexorably linked to every living thing, they could conclude that after we died our own life cycle would continue and we would eventually return in a new form; restored, refreshed and renewed. To them, the concept of reincarnation made much more sense than the idea that death was an abrupt ending, rather than a transformation and a continuation.

In the modern world, however, the notion of reincarnation has been relegated to something that we call "new-age-y". We associate it with certain religions, gurus, crystals, and coffee-after-yoga-class philosophical talk. In our Western culture, many of us dismiss belief in past lives as something Eastern, esoteric, and therefore not having anything at all to do with us. Perhaps we have just been living outside of the forest for way too long and have therefore forgotten this connection that we have with all of nature.

The idea here is to return to our roots, and to uncover our past and remember the lessons that we have already been presented with over many lifetimes. I believe that who we are is a cumulative of our experience, and that we are incredibly complex beings who have grown old and wise as many times as we have had our lives cut tragically short. I feel that we are born in order to learn, and maybe one of the many things that we need to learn is how to remember. Because, we can never really know where it is that we are going without first understanding where we have already been.

Hypnosis and Past Life Regression- Myths and Misconceptions

By far, my most frequently asked question is "what is a past life regression"? Simply stated, a past life regression is the act of visiting the subconscious mind for the purpose of uncovering memories from a previous incarnation. Or, put even simpler, you remember your past lives. But, how can we do this? How do we visit the subconscious, and how do we find these memories?

We actually converse with our subconscious all the time, and it is an ever present part of our daily lives. Most of us know that our dreams contain material directly from the subconscious, but we also can attribute it to behavior and attitudes that are an inherent part of our personality. Our subconscious is actually right there, just under the surface and in order to visit it we need only to relax enough to let go of our active, busy conscious minds. This is where hypnosis comes in.

Hypnosis is the process of this relaxing. That's all it is. Despite all of the myths and misconceptions about it, hypnosis is actually just a state of relaxed, focused concentration. Many people think that they will be "going to sleep" or that hypnosis will feel like being "knocked out", but it is actually just closing your eyes, breathing deeply and allowing your mind to go a bit beyond its' normal limits and leave the confines of our everyday existence as we perceive it.

There is no "mind control" involved in hypnosis, as you can never give yourself over to someone else's control against your will. It is a fact that those who choose to participate in what we call "stage hypnosis" have indeed elected to quack like a duck or bark like a dog, even if it was only subconsciously. There is a trust involved with hypnosis, as you cannot let go and relax around someone that you have not chosen to give your trust to. In my opinion, having someone make a spectacle of themselves or cause them any public embarrassment is a violation of this trust, but the fact that they volunteered in the first place meant that they willingly chose to participate in being the entertainment.

For the purposes of a past life regression, hypnosis works in exactly this same way. Someone cannot hypnotize you unless you have decided to trust that person and have allowed them to guide you into your subconscious mind, and we all know that it is nearly impossible to relax fully in a situation in which we feel uncomfortable in any way. You also cannot do something that goes against your desires or your morals while under hypnosis, unless you allow this to happen.

It is true, unfortunately, that there are some unscrupulous and untrustworthy people out there who are hypnotists, as in any profession. The important thing to remember here is to always use your intuition as your guide. Always analyze the individuals with whom you trust with any aspect of your spiritual seeking or deep personal and psychological work for trustworthiness, just like you would scrutinize anyone seeking entry into a privileged place of confidence in your life.

And, this is also where it gets tricky. Any time we are doing any kind of "seeking", we inevitably do become somewhat vulnerable. It is possible to be coerced into adopting someone else's belief system if they manage to convince us that they are an authority somehow because they know something that we don't, or have had experiences that we have not. This phenomenon happens all the time, especially on the quest for a spiritual path, either by friends, colleagues, gurus, yogis, shamans (I have had a particularly hard time myself with that one!), counselors, psychiatrists, religious figures, etc.

No one has all of the answers, and although there are many enlightened and wise teachers out there, these people are meant to represent those who are a bit farther along on their spiritual path than we are. Just make sure that the evidence of this is clear in how they choose to live their lives, as a true "spiritual person" is honest, forthright, kind, compassionate, and has an integrity that will be obvious to all those who meet and come in contact with them.

A past life regression can be an incredible and even life changing experience. Hypnosis is one of several ways that we can discover this part of our inner selves, and to visit our subconscious minds. But, when you do choose to embark on this amazing journey, remember that the process of seeking is always a solitary one. Any companion you may encounter on your spiritual path is only a signpost, pointing this way or that. But, the direction you choose is inevitably entirely up to you.

The Eternal Nature of Love

Love never dies. In fact, love is truly the only thing that we can take with us when we die, and then beyond into our next life. But how does love "survive death"? Do we really have soul mates that we have loved and lost over the course of many lifetimes? How will we recognize them? Is this what we mean by "love at first sight"? How will we meet them, and is it destined that we will? What is love anyway?

Well, let's begin with the last question. What is love? It is quite possible the most over- and misused term in the world, love is something that we use to describe our favorite food, a movie we really enjoyed, the color we just painted our bedroom, and George Clooney (whom I love). We even sign letters and email correspondence with this word, even if it is to someone that we have only met a few times.

But, we all love to talk about, think about and even dream about love. It is an essential part of being human, and no matter how many times we can "fall" in or out of love; we still feel a powerful drive toward it. Our desire to love and be loved is deeply embedded in our consciousness, and it will make us act in the oddest ways sometimes.

Perhaps what love actually is has been encoded in our collective psyche, and our loose usage of the term might reflect this. We use the "L word" to describe everything and everyone that we find pleasing, or positive in some way. We "love" everything that we perceive as "good" (and therefore we can actually love all by perceiving it as "good"- but we're working on that one, right?). This positive perception that we make about someone or something is energy, or intent, and love is this energy.

Think about it. You love chocolate, but your best friend hates it (probably not a viable example, as I can't imagine anyone would actually hate chocolate, but follow me here). Is it different chocolate that you are both consuming? No, it is only your perception of the chocolate that differs. You are emanating positive energy toward the chocolate that you are enjoying, as you choose (mostly subconsciously) to perceive it as pleasant. That vibration, or energy that you give off with each pleasurable bite creates an emotional reaction that becomes what we recognize as the feeling of "being in love".

This love energy works the exact same way with people. For example, two people standing next to each other can have completely different energy toward, and therefore subsequent emotional response, to a potential romantic partner who walks by. One will "love them" with a positive perception, while the other might either find them neutral or even negative and regard that person with disdain. The point here is that the person exuding the energy has a choice (acted upon subconsciously, mind you) as to whether that vibration is positive or negative. And, as equally as we can give love energy, we can also receive it. And also, the person walking by these two different energy sources will usually feel the difference in the way that they have been perceived; this is what we call feeling a "vibe" from someone.

The fact that love is actually just energy is the key to understanding how it can survive death, and then subsequently be brought back with us as we reincarnate. This is because, according to physics and the law of conservation of energy, it (meaning energy, or love energy) cannot be created nor destroyed; it can only change forms. Thanks to Galileo (whom I also love), we have an example of how this works. His experiment with a swinging pendulum demonstrated that kinetic energy (movement) when it was interrupted still contained the same amount of energy, only in potential form. If this theory is true then, and love energy cannot be created or destroyed, then it can only change forms. So, when we die (and change forms as well, as we are in essence made of energy too) we take all of our love with us and then bring it back again when we reincarnate in our next life.

Now, the science behind love and attraction is an incredibly complicated (sorry for the obvious major understatement here) process, as our subconscious minds do play an enormous role in it. Our subconscious is a vast space filled with suppressed thoughts, unexpressed emotions, intense fears, deeply embedded attitudes, as well as our memories from this, and other lifetimes. Because it is such a large and complex place, the fact that our choice of love partners is mainly ruled by our subconscious mind is exactly why the how and why of this process is so darn confusing.

The most important thing to be aware of here is that energetically (subconsciously) we are all seeking a soul mate. And remember, there are different types of soul mates, so this can be more than a little bit tricky to navigate. Because a soul mate is anyone that you have known before in a past life, there are a lot of different ways that this can work, both positively and negatively. (For more on this, please refer to the previous post "The Reality of Soul Mates").

You can have a crazy, animalistic attraction that defies all reason to someone that you have some heavy karma to work out with, as well as to the soul mate that is the biggest love of this millennium. This is important to remember as we try to understand how it is possible to be separated or divorced from your soul mate, as well as the role that destiny plays in this process. You meet the soul mate that you are meant to meet, when, where and how you are destined to meet, for a divine purpose that involves our spiritual growth and development.

So then, how does this never destroyed love energy translate into our incredibly complex romantic love lives in our current incarnation? The energy of romantic love is actually in essence the same as our feelings of love toward others that we love such as parents, children, siblings, friends, etc. (and on a very simple level, maybe it's even energetically the same as our feelings of love for our favorite sandwich), only on steroids.

Our romantic partnerships can and do become quite intense. We all subconsciously seek a partner, the "yin to our yang", the one who will "complete us", even though being in this type of one-on-one relationship is actually one of the most difficult things we can do in life. It's incredibly tough to live with someone else, to share the bills and the bathroom, and to allow another human being to see all of you, complete with your flaws and weaknesses. And, I am sorry to inform you that there is no such thing as a soul mate that will come along and "complete us". This is unfortunately, a total myth.

Being a "whole", or complete person yourself and fully balanced both mentally and spiritually, who is committed to another "whole" person is the goal here. So, the work that needs to be done here is the work that we do on ourselves, becoming whole and balanced as individuals. And then in addition to that, we need to learn to be open, communicative, receptive, present, passionate and compassionate to our partner as well. We all know that this is something that even the most enlightened among us struggle with, as love is really, really hard work, even for soul mates.

When you have spent many lifetimes loving another person, you will have a powerful connection that most people will recognize when they encounter it. And, because your love never dies, it is possible to pick up where you have left off in a previous life. Although you will have some catching up to do concerning your comings and going the last few hundred years, your soul mate relationship has a story to it, and you have a history together. So, maybe what we call "love at first sight" is really just a love reunion.

This type of a soul mate with whom you have loved and lost over many centuries will feature an eerie sense of familiarity, like you have known each other before, and sometimes even an uncanny innate understanding of each other. And, this connection will become more and more intense with each lifetime that a couple spends together. The grief, loss, sorrow, and therefore longing for one another after having been separated by death again and again creates a powerful energy link between two people. In fact, this link can be so profound that it is possible to have a psychic, or even telepathic connection to this person that can be very real indeed, even if you have never met. I often hear of soul mates that dreamed of one another years before their initial meeting, or felt a deja vu sensation when they first saw each other. Soul mates can even sometimes read one another's thoughts or finish each others' sentences. A soul mate connection on this level may very well freak you or your partner out.

Usually there are more than a few synchronicities, or strange parallels in the lives of two soul mates as well. They will have things in common that go far beyond their favorite color or food, such as maybe they will have both lost their father at the same early age, gotten married or divorced in the same year, their families have vacationed in the same place every summer for years, or had the same life threatening illness simultaneously several years before they met. I worked with a New York City based couple once who had both worked in the same restaurant in Cleveland, although a few years apart. I know someone else who had worked down the hall from where his future wife's office was, probably passing each other in the hall or the elevator almost daily, ten years before they actually met. There is a reason for the existence of all of the various romantic legends involving soul mates, because sometimes the truth really can be stranger than fiction.

I have a good friend who, when she was in her late teens, saw a man performing a musical number on television. Upon seeing him, she told everyone who was with her that he was the man that she would marry. Years later when she met her husband at a party given by mutual friends, she felt a connection with this man like she had never felt, as if they knew each other already. Only after they had been dating for several months did she realize that it was he who she had seen on TV so many years before, and they have now been married for many years and have two children together. Nearly everyone who knows them or has been around them can feel the powerful, yet peaceful connection that this dynamic couple has with each other. This is an actual romantic, real life soul mate story about two people who were destined to meet and be together, and have been together many times before in other lifetimes. Their love for each other had never died, and was waiting to be rediscovered and then built upon in this life.

Now, not all of us are as psychic and in tune as my friend, or are lucky enough to have seen their soul mate on TV (although I do love George Clooney, food for thought perhaps...). So, how will we recognize them when we do meet them? In addition to the way that a soul mate connection feels, as well as the sense of familiarity, there are several ways that we can recognize a soul mate. When you look deeply into someone's eyes, which are truly the "windows of the soul", you can find the part of a person that goes beyond their current physical appearance. Another way that you can recognize someone's soul, or the part of him or her that is immortal and knew you before comes from hearing the sound of their voice. There will be a spark, or a reminiscent quality in the voice of a soul mate that will arouse an ancient memory buried deep in your subconscious.

Another way to recognize a soul mate is through their touch. A soul mate's skin on yours can feel tingly, or if you are receptive enough to the energy exchange between you, it will be downright electric. This is due to the magnetic pull toward each other that we have, which is created by this love energy connection that we have built up over many lifetimes. I have heard people describe the sensation of someone brushing past them that felt like a jolt, a handshake that took their breath away, or a kiss that felt like an explosion. This is soul mate stuff.

One of the worst things that we can endure romantically is when only one of the soul mates recognizes and feels this connection. Unfortunately, not only is this possible, but it is actually more common than we all might wish. Sometimes this occurs because one of the soul mates is distracted, angry, or otherwise has a veil over their heart and mind that does not allow them to be open to the often still, small and subtle soul mate clues.

Also, it is important to remember that there is such a thing as right person, wrong time. Destiny can often seen so cruel, as it feel so amazing to find someone with whom you have a connection like this, and then to have it ripped away from you can be utterly devastating. Sadly, there is nothing you can do in this situation except move on, sending your soul mate your love and wish them well on their journey. Your connection will always remain, as will your love, and perhaps you will meet again at a later time (in this, or a future life) and maybe then they will be ready for you.

What we are working on here with all of this love life drama is to learn to be better at love. In fact, on a basic level, the whole reason we are even here and have gone through all of the trouble to be reincarnated is to learn how to love. And, just as important as the act of giving out our love energy, we also need to equally know how to receive it. And so, it is important to remember when we are grieving the loss of a soul mate, either from having been separated once more by the inevitability of death, or from a lack of readiness or recognition, that your love for each other can never die. But, the lesson needs to continue and we need to keep loving, and being open to love even though we have been hurt before.

Since we have had many lifetimes, and therefore have many loving soul mates, there are always the loves that lie ahead, just down the path. These lost loves have been searching for you, have dreamed of you, and have waited centuries for destiny to allow your paths to cross once more. We need to work on ourselves in order to be ready for them, and have hearts that are open enough to recognize them, or it will be they who grieve and then have to move on. But, when two ready soul mates are reunited, the love energy of this union is unparalleled. Because they didn't fall in love, they simply remembered that they loved each other already.