In a strong relationship, each partner deems the other as an enhancement to his or her life. But that's different from expecting the person to complete them, which is indicative of an unhealthy relationship. When one turns to a partner to make them whole, it goes beyond merely calling them their soulmate. They rely heavily on one another to meet each other's every need -- whether physical, financial, or emotional -- potentially leaving both individuals' feeling drained and frustrated. Oftentimes, though, one person is far more dependent on the other, and if they feel their partner isn't there to quell all their worries and fix all their problems, it sends them into a panic. A relationship is a partnership, with both making individual contributions that, at the end of the day, make you one cohesive unit. But to expect your partner to do everything you want, when you want it, is unrealistic -- and unfair. For example, there will be nights where your partne...

Many people swear by the notion that there is only have one person in the world whom we can call our "soulmate." In their view, destiny has picked out one individual who complements them on myriad levels -- physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually -- like no one else. And the ones lucky enough to be in long-term relationships, not surprisingly, say they're confident their partner is their other half. But is this really true? Can only one person in this entire world -- mind you, there are 7.6 billion human beings living on this planet -- be ideally suited for us? While I would love to believe that life plays out like a fairy tale, I can't subscribe to the idea that we couldn't click and carry on successful relationships with several people -- whether we live in London or Las Vegas. Instead, I believe that we can have varying degrees of compatibility with different people, and it's up to us to decide which differences are too much to bea...

Before you enter into a relationship, it's important that two conditions be met: (1) You love yourself, and (2) You feel happy and content without a partner. Relationship satisfaction is closely tied to personal life satisfaction, so the happier a person is in general, the happier he or she is likely to be in a relationship. Don't rely on a partner to make your life great; your life should already be great regardless of whom you're dating. If you don't love yourself, you'll always feel as though something is missing in your life -- even if your partner professes to love you to the moon and back. It isn't fair to depend on anyone else to fill that void. And why should they? A relationship isn't meant to "complete" you. A relationship isn't intended to "fulfill" you. It's meant to enrich your life. You're your own person with or without a partner. Just because you're single doesn't mean you enjoy eating a d...

It's a question that gets thrown my way quite frequently. While others may maintain that only one soulmate exists for every individual on this planet, I contend that there's more than one person in the world with whom we can have a fruitful relationship/marriage. Otherwise, no one would ever remarry in the event that their first marriage goes awry. To assert that the person you're with is the only person you can achieve a deep physical, mental, and spiritual connection with -- and that no one else could fill those shoes -- is, in my view, very naive. What if you'd been born at a different time or in a different place?  What if you had met someone a year before you came across your partner? What if you had opted not to go to that college, party, coffee shop, or other venue where you and your significant other first locked eyes? Exactly. You could very well be with someone else right now. Context and happenstance matter. I'm not saying that we can hook ...

How do you know it's time to close the door on a friendship or relationship? It's simple: You know the time is now when you couldn't care less about the person. Not only do you become completely indifferent to the individual, but you reason that your life would be better without him or her. You feel there would be more peace and less hostility if that person were given the boot. Doing this isn't always the easy, especially when you've known the person for a long time. But let's face it -- legacy alone can't sustain a relationship through the passage of time. People and things change. A person you deemed your closest friend or soulmate 10 years ago could feel like a nuisance today. You know that's the case when you hear the person's voice or see they're calling you and you instantly roll your eyes. I'm actually going through this as we speak with a friend I have known since high school. Long story short, this once-humble guy got a good j...

I think the primary reason why so many people want to believe they have a soulmate is because they wish to see their lives play out like a fairytale -- one in which they end up with their princess or prince charming. That might seem plausible when it comes to couples who meet as teenagers, get married, have kids, and live out the rest of their lives together. But how often does this really happen? After all, the divorce rate in the U.S. is somewhere around 50 percent, with some people -- including my boss --  remarrying two or more times. There isn't just one person in the whole world who we're compatible with enough to maintain a long-lasting relationship.  For all we know, there could be hundreds of would-be "soulmates" for us residing in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, and China. There's no way to meet all these people, so what do people do? They reason that whoever they end up with in a relationship must be their soulmate. But think about ho...

A study conducted in the late 1990s revealed that a whopping 75% of respondents believed in soulmates. Of those, nearly the same proportion (3/4) were women. So, the big question is: Is there only one person in the whole world that can complete us? As much as I would love to buy into this notion, I just don't believe it to be true. People loosely throw around the word "soulmate" as a means of validating their choice of partner. We can have only so many partners in our lives-- that's why sooner or later we convince ourselves that our partner is "the one" after all. But to say that only one person in the whole world can be totally compatible with you on a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual level just doesn't hold water in my book. I respect those who believe in fate, but I believe that what happens to us in life is a combination of fate and free will. You may be destined to meet, date, and marry John Doe, but if you're a social hermit...