Everyone has heard about soul mates, but what about twin flames? Joy Leo, a clinical psychologist and spiritual counsellor, says more and more people are meeting their spiritual other half. The key is to make sure you are in good shape - or you might mess up the chance.
When Dr Leo heard the name of this column, she was quick to point out that not only is she not psychic, but that she earned her PhD at Stanford University and has a healthy scepticism about such matters. This made what she had to say all the more fascinating.
Dr Leo believes that we are all spiritual beings. She is in Hong Kong this week to give a series of workshops focusing on relationships and spiritual awareness. Relationships, she says, offer the surest and fastest way to learn about your soul. She doesn't just mean romantic relationships. We have relationships with lots of people - our parents, siblings, teachers and friends.
'Cosmic relationships are very much on our plates at the moment. Everyone is having to re-examine their relationships,' says Dr Leo. Re-examining relationships can be hard work and requires serious soul searching, but there is good news. Provided that you have sorted through all of your 'stuff', many young people could meet their soul mate, or better still, their twin flame. Dr Leo says you can have relationships with several soul mates, but there is only one twin flame.
'Before the term twin flame became well known, many people thought a soul mate was the ultimate. Maybe in the past that was, but now, because of the evolution of the planet, people really are capable of going into more profound relationships,' says Dr Leo.
The term twin flame is nothing new. The philosopher Plato's twin-flame soul mate theory held that one soul split into a male and a female half in order to incarnate on earth. He said that everyone went around with a yearning in life to find their twin.