Defining the soul mate relationship as opposed to any other kind of relationship is not so hard once you understand what soul mates are all about. So few people really know how to go about doing this, but its not as difficult as it seems.

I had a client not too long ago tell me that she had been with a man for a long time and that she was positive she was totally in love with himand not lust loveand that she didnt know how to tell if he was her soul mate and if he felt the same. She wanted to know how she could tell, which is one of the more common questions I hear.

Im in love, but is it the real thing?

The real thing. Just what is the real thing and how can you tell?

First of all, if you are in love with someone, he/she is your soul mate, but just as there are varying degrees of love, there are varying kinds of soul mates. It sounded to me like in this womans case, it was the companion soul mate to whom she was referring.

All companion soul mates, unless they choose not to for various reasons, involve intimacy on different levels. The other two kinds of soul mateskarmic soul mates and twin soulsrarely involve sexual relations. Hard to believe, but its true.

As with all companion soul mates, these people come into your life for a particular reason. Is it for marriage? Is it to produce offspring?

Only you can determine that as the relationship gets further along, but one thing is for sure: he or she is meant to be a part of your life. No two soul mates come together without a purpose. That is how you can differentiate acquaintances you meet in your daily life from people with whom you share a soul mate bond.

If you are in love, you are in love. You feel it, it makes you happy and fulfilled and you want to spend the rest of your life with this person. A natural thing to happen to two people who are soul mates.

However, if further down the road, the two soul mates should part because of differences, that soul mate was still meant to come into your life.

When two people come together as soul mates, there is a purpose for them to do so; but when that purpose has been realized as well as finalized, the two may part but that is not because they werent meant to be a part of each others lives.

It is because their mission together on earth has been accomplished.

When this happens, the two begin to feel as if they are drifting apart and they have no idea what is going on. Their inner self is trying to tell them that there are other soul mates out there that they need in their life in order to be complete.

Yes, it may be sad for one or even both partners, but this is the nature of things, especially if you are just starting out in life.

You need to go through necessary steps in order to be complete and it may take one, or it may take several, soul mates to help you with this, but every last one of them that comes into your life are important, and necessary.

My advice is to: live, love, learn. Live to your highest expectations, love like there is no tomorrow and learn what each soul mate that enters into your life is meant to teach you about life, about yourself, and about why the two of you were brought together in the first place.

Once we learn to do this, we are that much closer to finding our higher self and on the road toward a productive and happy life.