Echoes of the Past: Soul Mates by Susanne Matthews

Are soul mates a fantasy, only a dream? The Write Way Café welcomes author Susanne Matthews, who doesn't think so. Check her list of tell-tale signs.

Thank you so much for having me here today. Soul mates, love at first sight. What do both of these have in common? Some would say they’re impossible dreams—pie-in-the-sky theories that don’t exist—and that’s sad. In this busy world of ours, people have little time to form relationships let alone hunt for that elusive Mr. or Ms. Right. Instead, like butterflies they flit from one unsatisfactory relationship to another. For many, the outside appearance is everything. For others, there has to be a connection below the surface, a common interest, something beyond the body. Sadly, there are a number of people today who don’t believe in soul mates. Most settle for what they believe are life partners, life mates, people with whom they’re compatible and happy, but not all of those relationships last. 

American author Richard Bach believes, "A soul mate 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."

According to Dr. Carmen Harra, Author, clinical psychologist and relationship expert, soul mates exist, and finding them is the key to real happiness. In Echoes of the Past, neither Michelle nor Tony has been able to have a real relationship. Why? Because these soul mates found one another two centuries ago, and then were ripped apart by those who wouldn’t accept their love. Now, after two hundred years, they have a chance to be together again. To believe in soul mates is to believe in forces and time beyond the here and now. 

Are you looking for love? Here is a short version of Dr. Harra’s Ten Elements of a Soul Mate.

1. It’s in the way they make you feel. In the words of Jerry Maguire, they complete you. You’re whole. You have everything you need to be completely content with life. 

2. They’re familiar and comfortable.  Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, when you meet your soul mate, it’s as if you’ve known them forever. You might even have a sense of déjà vu—that haven’t we met before feeling—because you very well could have in another time and place.  

3. You get one another. Have you ever seen people who can finish one another’s sentences? While you might experience it if you spend too much time with a friend or a family member, when it happens with someone you’ve just met or known a short while, it’s a sign of what Dr. Harra calls the soul mate connection. 

4. You love them for who they are—warts and all. There are no perfect men and women. We are all flawed in some way. Even soul mates will disagree and have ups and downs, but those episodes will straighten rather than damage the relationship. A soul mate loves you just as you are. They don’t try to change you, but accept you wholeheartedly, and love even the quirky things you do that occasionally drive them nuts. 

5. It's passionate. Your relationship with a soul mate is deeper and more intense than anything you’ve ever experienced. This can be both good and bad, but soul mates can get beyond the dark days to the happiness waiting for them.

6. You can do anything TOGETHER. Soul mates are united against the world. They can overcome anything together. The relationship is built on mutual respect and compromise with togetherness as the glue to hold everything in place. 

7. You're on the same mental wavelength. Soul mates often think of one another. It’s not uncommon for them to call one another at the same time. Out shopping they might pick up something the other needs without it even having been mentioned. Life might separate them physically at times, but the mental connection still exists. 

8. You have faith in one another and feel safe. This is a critical aspect. Trust and faith. No matter the size or gender of your soul mate, when you are with them, you feel secure and protected. If the person you’re with plays on your insecurities in any way, even if the other nine points fit, you can be sure they aren’t your soul mate. 

9. You can't imagine life without them. Walking away voluntarily from your soul mate is an impossible task. Many people who lose their soul mates spend the rest of their days alone because it’s impossible to replace them. In the movie, The Notebook, the scene at the end illustrates the power of the connection between soul mates. 

10. You are honest and forthcoming with them. There are no secrets, no hidden agendas between soul mates. You look one another in the eye. Your connection is deep and demands the truth at all times.

Not everyone will find their soul mate, but in Echoes of the Past, Tony and Michelle do. As you read the novel, see if you can find the Ten Elements of the Soul Mate in their story.

Born Mohawk, raised white, forensic pathologist, Michelle Thomas is trapped between two worlds—this one and the spirit world where the ghosts of those who’ve drowned speak to her. Haunted by crippling nightmares of her own drowning death and erotic dreams of a phantom lover, she strives to make sense of her life. When two suspicious deaths occur at the Lake of the Mountain Resort, she’s sent to investigate. She’ll face the greatest challenge of her career when her past and her present collide. One of these men is her future, but which one—the rich and powerful Mayor Ron Davies, or Tony Steele, the hydrology professor who may be responsible for his students’ deaths? Charged by the spirits of her Mohawk ancestors to atone for her previous sins by protecting Lake of the Gods, can Michelle solve the murders, save the sacred waters, and fulfil her destiny?

Release Date July 11, 2014

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About Susanne:  Susanne Matthews was born and raised in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.  She’s always been an avid reader of all types of books, but always with a penchant for happily ever after romances. In her imagination, she travelled to foreign lands, past and present, and soared into the future. Today, gets to spend her time writing, so she can share her adventures with her readers. She loves the ins and outs of romance, and the complex journey it takes to get from the first word to the last period of a novel. As she writes, her characters take on a life of their own, and she shares their fears and agonies on the road to self-discovery and love.

Follow Susanne on her:  Website    Blog    Facebook page    Twitter @jandsmatt

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