Soulmates, déjà vu and familiar strangers.

Have you ever met somebody and felt as though you’ve known them for years?

Or walked into a place that seems familiar even though you’re sure you’ve never been there?

Humans have plenty of names for these moments. Déjà vu. Chemistry. Soulmates. Fate. An uncanny feeling.

I don’t claim to know that any of them reveals a previous life or a hidden cosmic connection. There are ordinary psychological explanations for familiarity, too.

But I’m interested in why the feeling is so powerful.

The memories we build together

When two people spend time together, they accumulate a shared language. Little references nobody else understands. Ways of finishing each other’s sentences. A look that says more than a whole paragraph.

Perhaps part of the magic people call a ‘soulmate’ is the extraordinary amount of meaning carried by those shared memories.

Sometimes that connection seems immediate. Sometimes it develops over years. Either way, the experience is real to the people having it, even if the explanation is less certain.

The thought to take away

I don’t need proof of destiny to believe that some connections are unusually meaningful.

If you’re lucky enough to find someone who understands your jokes without needing them explained, hang on to them. Particularly if the jokes are terrible.