Kindred Spirits: 8 Signs You’ve Met One

Sometimes you meet someone and you just click. You just feel like they get you, and in turn, you get them. It may even feel like you’ve met them before. It’s quite possible you’ve met a kindred spirit.

This kind of connection can enrich your life (and theirs). It could be a relationship that endures for a lifetime, or it may just last for a particular stage of life.

What are Kindred Spirits

Put at its simplest – a kindred spirit is someone who you share a mutual meaningful connection with.

The relationship is a positive, supportive one. Kindred spirits will encourage each other to develop as people and offer positive energy to each other. They think in the same kind of way and share similar values and underlying understandings of the world.

This isn’t to say kindred spirits will be exactly the same as each other – everyone’s. In fact, these differences are a key part of what makes these kindred relationships valuable. After all, how can someone exactly like you teach or help you on your journey through life? After all, the most meaningful connections are ones that offer the chance to learn and develop.

Kindred Definition

A key part of a kindred soul connection is that it allows us to learn about ourselves and our relationships with other people. In turn, we provide that same opportunity for self-development to them. A kindred spirit connection will highlight our talents and our potential, fostering the very best parts of us and allowing us to grow as a person.

Kindred spirits come in all shapes and sizes, representing relationships from across the whole spectrum of human connection. They could be a friend, a family member, a teacher, a lover, or even a pet. Someone people have even made reference to feeling a kindred connection with specific places.

The connection may be a deep one and, as you each take your life paths, you stay closely in touch. Like we mentioned earlier though, it could simply be a friendly acquaintance with whom you have an encouraging, supportive relationship for just a particular period or phase of your life. However deep the connection though, it’s always positive.

Many people will talk about energy when it comes to kindred connections. It’s well known that everything in the world we know is made up of energy, and the same goes for people. A kindred spirit is someone who resonates at the same frequency and level that we do – and that’s where that feeling of instant connection can come in. You might meet someone and feel that you immediately know them, which can be the result of the inherent energy matching.

Some people would argue that you may very well have met them before, just in a previous life. Kindred spirits can also be soul connections and although we might actually be meeting a person for the first time, it could be it’s just the first time in this incarnation. If you subscribe to the idea of previous lives, someone who you feel a particularly strong connection with may be a person you’ve made a soul contract with. This is an agreement made before the current life where you agree with another soul to work together to test yourself and help your respective souls attain their goals.

Signs of a Kindred Spirit

But let’s look at how you can recognize a kindred spirit.

  • You have similar values, at least, when it comes to the big things (especially religious beliefs and politics). This makes it easy to share a person’s company, and to develop ideas about the world. Although you’ll have differences, alignment on major topics aligns your general approach.
  • You learn from each other. You’re open and honest. A kindred spirit could bring new perspectives and objectivity, and sometimes this will be challenging. But that’s part of growing as an individual. You help each other move forwards on your personal life journeys.
  • You feel respected. Even when your opinions differ, you feel respected and in turn have a natural respect for them. It’s a supportive relationship, and you encourage each other to grow.
  • Your energies match. Some people would describe this as your kindred spirit vibrating and the same frequency. It’s your life force energy that animates your physical body, the spark of spirit. You feel like you’ve known someone for a long time – you’re just comfortable with them.
  • You add to each other’s lives. You enjoy spending time together and feel relaxed. You’re able to just be yourself. You feel happy, uplifted, and comforted just by being in each other’s company.
  • You intuitively know what each other needs. If you’re struggling, a kindred friend may just call you up to invite you to the movies without even knowing.

Kindred Spirit vs. Soulmate

Some of these descriptions might sound a bit like a soulmate. There’s a lot of similarity between kindred spirits and soulmates, and the two can overlap, but there are differences.

While a kindred spirit can teach us to respect everyone’s life paths, as well as better understand ourselves and our connections with others, they may not always have the strength of connection that characterizes a soulmate.

A soulmate is when two people feel bonded on a very deep level. It’s the truest of friendships where everything and anything can be shared. A soulmate will always play a very significant role in their mate’s development. They influence each other’s entire life, even if they’re not always in it. The connection is undeniable.

A kindred spirit can be a soulmate as well, but generally will have a more passive role.

What is a Soulmate

Contrary to a lot of what popular culture tells us, soul mates aren’t always about romance. There are three types of soul mate:

  • Soul friend – very similar to a kindred spirit, but the connection is more about sharing “essence” where a kindred spirit can be more about personality.
  • Soul teacher – a person who appears in our lives to help us learn specific lessons. They could be deliberate lessons or they could be taught unintentionally, and they could come from anyone.
  • Soul companion – a combination of the friend and the teacher, this is closest to the idea we usually have when we think of a soulmate. There’s a deep understanding and unconditional love.

One other connection that’s worth noting is the twin flame. This is someone who mirrors back our own strengths to us, as well as our shadows and fears. It’s different from a kindred spirit or soulmate because it can have a much darker streak.

This kind of relationship can help us undertake the deep development work needed to become the best version of ourselves particularly because of the darker, shadow elements. It can be a very intense relationship and isn’t always easy. A twin flame could be your wildest dream or your worst nightmare – even both. But if the rockiness of this connection can be worked through, after time it could develop into an extremely deep and valuable attachment.

Not So Scarce

However they come into our lives, kindred spirit connections are to be cherished. They might seem like a rare thing but, if you’re open, you may find the spark more often than you expect. To take a line from the classic novel Anne of Green Gables, “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

author avatar
Angel Rivera
I am a Bilingual (Spanish) Psychiatrist with a mixture of strong clinical skills including Emergency Psychiatry, Consultation Liaison, Forensic Psychiatry, Telepsychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry training in treatment of the elderly. I have training in EMR records thus very comfortable in working with computers. I served the difficult to treat patients in challenging environments in outpatient and inpatient settings
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