Congratulations to meet you

I am reading this really great book right now by Elizabeth Gilbert called Eat Pray Live. Yesterday I came across something in the book that I knew I would need to share. This book is about this lady's (Elizabeth's) nine month journey in three different countries. She lives for three months in Italy, in an Ahsram in India, and with a monk in Indionesia looking for peace and spiritual growth. She embarks on this journey after a nasty divorce closely followed by parting ways with a lover whom she had fallen in love with immediately after her marriage. While talking with a friend at the Ashram about the lover, she tells him that she believed the former lover to be her soul mate. And this is what he told her:

"People think a soul mate is a perfect fit...but a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. And thank God for it."

How amazingly insightful this was. I am of the belief that no one on this Earth has only one soul mate. I believe we each have many walking around in the world who we might or might not come across at different points in our lives. They may present to us in the form of a lover, a spouse, a friend, or even a stranger. I have been fortunate enough to encounter a handful of true soul mates over the years. The thing is, it always hurts like hell to have to let them go. But this, this eased some past pain I was holding on to.

Because each of these people have caused me to change. They have caused me to examine something in myself and spark forward motion in my life. And if this forward motion occurs, and I am a better person because of their presence in my life, then losing them isn't really a loss. Their presence was merely a catalyst and they have served their purpose. And Liz's friend, Richard from Texas, is right. To hang on to them forever would be more pain than a person can tolerate. We would forever remain stuck in repeating cycles of whatever was supposed to start the internal change without ever changing.

Now, I feel compelled to add one more thing here. I do have a few soul mates still present in my life. Some are newer than others, and my relationships with them are constantly being defined and redefined. Painful? Hell yes, sometimes it is. But love is painful, I've learned.

Anyway, like I said, this beautiful little insight Mr. Richard from Texas was kind enough to share with Liz offered me a little healing and growth. I thought it might do the same for some of you.

Love and light, beautiful people.