When you find it... you just know!

Someone asked me recently... how do you know when you have found love and are not just caught up in the excitement around the idea of falling in love?

My answer is quite simple... You just know.

That may sound like a flippant answer, or even a condescending response. On the contrary, it is actually a thoughtful and humble reply. I have contemplated the question at great length and I have decided that it is not something I can describe logically. It has everything to do with personal intuition and is only really understood once it happens. How you know may be different from how I know... or how your best friends know or how your family members know.

The best I can do for an explanation is describe commonalities between my personal experiences and the experiences of my clients and friends....

1. The relationship progresses forward with fluidity... with ease. Even amidst disagreements or the chaotic uncertainty at the beginning of a relationship, still the love unfolds naturally and you are both committed to the continuance of that love.

2. You heart feels full and at peace. You are joyful and grounded, simultaneously.

3. When you close your eyes and picture your future, your partner is standing right beside you. You have certainty, even if you have your insecurities in the newness of a relationship. You have confidence that you are right where you need to be and you will go where you need to go... and your partner will help you get there.

4. Synchronicity. Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which are causally unrelated occurring together in a supposedly meaningful manner. In other words, meaningful coincidences. When you find love, you start experiencing mysterious coincidences and feel that things are happening or have happened "for a reason."

5. You feel "different" than you have felt in the past. The "different" feeling is for you to interpret and is unique to you. For some, it is more alive, more familiar, more grounded, more real, more intense, warmer, softer, etc. Whatever it is... it is profoundly different than you've felt with anyone else.

So, the best reply that I've come up with to date is... you just know!