Soul mate is a phrase used to refer to a person with whom we are in a type of relationship, usually a romantic relationship. We all know what it is; yet, everyone will have a different description of it based on his or her experiences. We know and feel it when we meet one. Some people have even described their experiences with their soul mate as a "relationship made in heaven," and they are partly correct, whatever heaven means to them and wherever it may exist.

Gregarious beings, humans have tremendous capacity to form different types of relationships including platonic, friendship, association, business, family, social, and romantic, to mention just a few. Humans do not exist in isolation. As we go through life, we have great impact on the people we encounter, and those who encounter us to varying degrees affect us. Almost every contact we have with another person can be thought of as some type of relationship, having some degree of impact on us as it does on the other person. These impacts may or may not be positive. However, the impact from our so-called soul mate is mostly positive, and to say the least, memorable.

In today's world of electrons, such contacts do not necessarily have to be physical in order for them to have some impact on both people. The mode of contact could be by phone, letter, email, video, audio, or reading the work of another. For example, someone recently contacted me by phone with a business proposition. Within the first two minutes or so of that phone discussion, I was overcame with a strong feeling that I found repelling and I knew then that this person is not someone I'd be interested in having any kind of business relationship with, although the person sounded nice on the phone.

It was not what this person said that I found repelling, but there is much more than what we say and do. Instead, it has to do with the energy that was being exchanged during that contact. Every contact involves some exchange of, for a lack of a better term, universal energy. We can either be attracted to this person or repelled by them due to this energy. Whether we are attracted to, or repelled by, the person is not an indicative of the type of person he or she is. It simply means that in a giving circumstance, we are better off not getting involved in that kind of relationship.

This may explain why we may sometimes have an unfavorable first impression of a person and later change our opinion of that person. Under a different set of circumstances, this person may be right for us to enter into some kind of relationship with. The point here is, whatever negative feelings we may perceive about a person, it is not a good basis for making a judgment of a person in all circumstances.

Conversely, there have been stories of people meeting through electronic means such as emails, where that contact led to a romantic and marriage relationships. For some people, their relationship may be so rewarding and fulfilling that they declare, "I have met my soul mate!" Others hope that their next romantic partner is their long-awaited soul mate, only to be disappointed if that relationship does not meet their expectations of what a relationship with a soul mate should be like. Very rarely do people expect to meet a soul mate in any other type of relationship, but we do.

I am almost certain that someone in the past coined the phrase, "soul mate" to describe some concept. Whatever the original intent or context, the phrase has been used to apply exclusively to romantic relationships. In almost every context, the use of the phrase implied living together "happily ever after till death do us part." Consequently, the concept of soul mate may have come to represent an illusive, fairy-tale ideal of a "perfect" partner in a "perfect" relationship to those who seek their soul mates.