A Letter From Fred

A month after ninety-six-year-old Fred Stobaugh of Peoria, Illinois, lost his beloved wife of nearly seventy-three years, he saw a notice for a singer-songwriter contest. He sat down, poured out a lyric to his sweet Lorraine, and mailed it off to Green Shoe Studio.

The people behind the contest were so touched that they brought in professionals to record Fred’s lyrics. They also filmed the whole process The result? Fred’s

From Rubbish to Rubies

Adele

After being handed the Grammy tonight for Album of the Year, Adele, who ended up with six Grammys on the night, said:

This record is inspired by something that is really no more, and everyone’s been through it: a rubbish relationship.

Adele’s trash-to-treasure turnaround may be more dramatic than yours or mine, but there’s a valuable lesson embedded in her words that apply to everyone. All of us can look back at any kind of painful loss and see now that

Sand in Your Hand

Recognizing that change and growth are as enriching as they are inevitable, they neither resist nor resent each other’s budding new interests and aspirations.

If we have the self-confidence and the wisdom to be the friend of our partner’s growth, then growth is no threat. If we set ourselves against it, we invite tragedy.
Nathaniel Branden

Viewing their life together as an ever-evolving adventure, they encourage each other to follow their bliss wherever it might lead.

Relationships—of all kinds—are like sand

Love Is Always Open Arms

"Sleeping Couple" by Ivan Koulakov (ivan-art.com)

Spiritual partners place no restrictions upon each other. They grant each other complete freedom to do whatever they like with whomever they choose.

Him that I love, I wish to be free—even from me.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

First, however, they thoroughly discuss the

Love Is Like a River

Photo by Preston Palmer (brovadoweddings.com)

Joining hands, spiritual partners step into the world together, certain only that no matter what comes their way, they will not be alone in facing it.

Love does not consist in gazing at

Let There Be Spaces in Your Togetherness

Photo by Preston Palmer (brovadoweddings.com)

In a spiritual relationship, while each longs for the other during long stretches apart, they know they are separated by distance only, that such breaks enrich their relationship.

Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great.
Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

Even when they are together, and in each other’s arms, they inwardly bow to the other, honoring one another’s spirit.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving

Feeling the Sun From Both Sides

A romantic relationship will continue to flourish as long as both participants feel loved and cherished.

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott

While both partners cherish their time together, they respect each other as individuals who need time alone to reflect, recharge, and relate to the world on their own terms in their own way.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and

The Secret to a Lifelong Love Affair

Photo by Preston Palmer (brovadoweddings.com)

In a spiritual union, even when both partners’ love, loyalty, and support for each other are unconditional, the relationship will inevitably deteriorate unless each truly admires the other.

To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.
Théophile Gautier

Admiration is the cornerstone of

Like a Mansion Built Upon the Sand

A spiritual union is a divine friendship between two people who are equally devoted to each other’s well-being and best interests.

All love that has not friendship for its base,
Is like a mansion built upon the sand.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Hand in hand, they step down from pedestals of preconceived notions and delight in

Loving the Distance Between You and Your Partner

In romantic relationships, “opposites” often attract, although the contrasts in question are typically not opposites at all but rather complementary differences.

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
George Levinger

We are drawn to those who possess qualities we admire and wish to possess for ourselves. Such a person may have a different temperament, sensibility, or lifestyle, or simply

Locks That Fit Each Other’s Keys

Only when you are comfortable with who you are can you truly be comfortable with who your significant other is.

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
Thomas Merton

The more authentic you both are, the safer you both will feel and the stronger your relationship will be.

A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the

A Day-to-Day Work of Art

In an authentic spiritual relationship, each partner feels free to express their fears, frustrations, and longings, knowing that the other will listen carefully and respond thoughtfully.

The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but hold hands.
Alexandria Penney

Recognizing that wants can be sacrificed but needs cannot, they give special attention to exploring how

Joy Is a Nutrient of Love

Intimacy flourishes through effort, but love itself grows effortlessly when both partners feel blessed by the sweet caress of joy in each other’s presence.

Joy is a nutrient of love: it makes love grow.
Nathaniel Branden

Communication is the linchpin of spiritual unions. No subject is off limits. Soulmates do not argue, they discuss.

The first duty of love is

Love Is Now or Never

"Stolen Kiss" by Pierre Michaud (NouvellesImages.com)

Spiritual partners make nourishing their relationship a priority and revel in dreaming up new ways to express their love for each other.

Knowing how to keep our excitement for another person alive is not different from knowing how to keep alive our excitement for life.
Nathaniel Branden

They know that the full potential of their life together will be achieved only through

Long Before I’m Tired of Watching You

Soulmates are certain that no one else in the history of the world has ever loved more truly, more madly, more deeply.

The lover is a monotheist who knows that other people worship different gods but cannot himself imagine that there could be other gods.
Theodor Reik

Romantic partners view each other like Jim Carrey’s character in Bruce Almighty learned to do. He had taken his girlfriend for granted but when God asks him if he wants her back, he selflessly

Let Your Love Be Like the Misty Rains

Your soulmate is a means to your destiny, the only person who can reveal and draw out parts of you that you have yet to explore.

Our partner is essential to the discovery of our own calling, and in a curious way shows us what we want, or more exactly, shows us what is wanted of us from within ourselves and our world.
Thomas Moore

Love may come naturally, but sustaining and deepening a loving relationship requires