Twin Flame or Soul Mate: 17 Twin Flame Signs to Tell Them Apart

Twin flames are the mirror image of us. Often mistaken for our soul mate, here are all the twin flame signs so you can recognize them.

Who out there wouldn’t love to believe that there is something called a soul mate? A soul mate is someone who exists to make our lives complete and absolutely perfect. Unlike a soul mate, a twin flame is a person who is the perfect mirror reflection of ourselves. And the typical twin flames signs are much different from soul mate ones, and sometimes can be much more problematic.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to really understand what’s a twin flame, and what sets them apart.

What is a twin flame?

To define a twin flame isn’t easy, but the simplest way to answer it is this – A twin flame is a person who enters your life to teach you things that you need to learn and understand, but still haven’t. A twin flame is a person who will force you to deal with issues that you haven’t confronted or resolved in your life so far.

And in return, you’ll be teaching them to confront the parts of them that they haven’t faced or are unwilling to face themselves.

[Read: On-off relationships and why you should never stay in one]

How to recognize the twin flame when they enter your life

Have you ever felt instantly connected to someone and you can’t explain why? It doesn’t have to be a romantic partner, but it usually is.

When you meet your twin flame, there are signs that are undeniable. Being our mirror image, there is an odd feeling like you have met before. Typically, that is because you have met every day of your life when looking at your own reflection.

Although opposites attract, there is something real and life-affirming about finding someone who thinks, acts, and loves, the same way that you do. But, that doesn’t make for a peaceful union.

Sometimes, twin flame relationships have a tendency to be very on or very off. When things are good, they are the best you’ve ever had. When they are bad, you almost wish that you hadn’t ever met. [Read: 19 signs of emotional damage and ways to get past each of them]

How is a twin flame different from a soul mate?

Soul mates are supposed to be a perfect match for us, as if a special force made one soul and split them apart to search for one another eternally. Once found, a soul mate is supposed to make us feel whole again.

A twin flame, however, is a perfect mirror image of ourselves. They are someone who shows us who we are, inspires us, challenges us, and knows us like no one else ever has.

The problem?

Twin flames tend to be much more tumultuous, unpredictable, and provide us with a much less feeling of wholeness and a much more intense feeling of love and hate combined into one. [Read: The secrets of a love-hate relationship and how it works]

Why people mistake the twin flame with the soul mate

The biggest mistake is when people make the mistake of thinking that their twin flame is their soul mate. A twin flame is sent to us to reveal things about ourselves we don’t already know by seeing it in someone else. [Read: What are twin souls? 16 signs to know if you’ve found yours]

Their job isn’t happily ever after, but rather to heal and mature those things that are broken within us. So, when our soul mate does appear, we are open and ready to love eternally as we were supposed to.

17 twin flame signs that are different from a soul mate

Here are some twin flame signs that can help you clearly see the difference between a twin flame vs a soul mate.

#1 You think they are the one you are supposed to be with. But you can’t seem to make it work. Your twin flame feels so right that you convince yourself that they most certainly have to be your soul mate.

Having basically everything in common and seeing things from the same perspective, you think you were made for one another. The problem is that the twin flame is sent to you so that you can see yourself in another person and correct yourself so you become a better version of YOU.

A soul mate is your yin to their yang. A twin flame is a yang to your yang which rarely works. Your twin flame is supposed to define what it is that you need, not the one you need forever. It is just difficult to know when you are in a twin flame relationship that it isn’t right. Your heart is telling you one thing, but the fact that you can’t ever make it right is telling you another.

#2 You have begun to see things in a completely different light more than ever before. Never before have you been with someone who wholly believes in the same things as you. It is an affirmation that everything you believe, feel, and think is not only right, but shared.

Meeting your twin flame is like finally finding someone who validates everything you have always known and believed.

The problem is that just because someone agrees with you, that doesn’t make it right. What it does do is strengthen who you are and what you believe.

Being able to speak openly and honestly because you share the same ideals, compassion, and opinions, your twin flame is a healthy way to reaffirm those things that you presumed you knew. [Read: 10 things you do that’ll bring your soul mate to you]

#3 They bounce in and out of your life. Another one of the twin flame signs is that you are either on the way in or the way out. Despite the love you have for each other, there is one of you who seems never to be able to handle the relationship or the intensity that it elicits.

Being together is like standing too close to the sun, which makes one of you ditch out for periods of time. When they have forgotten how intense it was, they want back in, and so starts the whole cycle again. [Read: 23 secret signs of narcissism people overlook until it’s too late]

#4 When you meet, it is like finding “home.” The twin flame is that person in your life who tends to come in and out when you need them. When you first meet, the familiarity makes you flock toward them like you have finally met the person who completes you.

Your connection is so intense, it is like falling in love with you. The twin flame is someone who provides feelings of home that you haven’t ever experienced before. But, it is fleeting because the intensity drives you away from each other.

#5 They feel like your other half. One of the big twin flame signs is that they appear on the surface to be your other half. But, what appears at first to be the completeness that you haven’t had, is really just the failure of you to acknowledge the things about them that you possess yourself, but haven’t recognized. They aren’t your opposite.

In fact, they are your mirror. They have all the qualities that you hadn’t ever seen in yourself. Which is why once you get to know who you are, you realize that they aren’t your better half, they are just the complete you. [Read: 18 struggles of meeting the right person at the wrong time]

#6 They create change in your life. Your twin flame serves the purpose of pushing you to do the things that are right and hard in your life. Marked by intensity, they are the often the catalyst for change. Coming into and out of your life, there is typically a reason.

Whether it is to convince you to make a move or to get you out of a destructive relationship, they know you best and know what is best. Hence, why they typically are the ones to push you in the right direction for major changes that alter your overall plan.

#7 It is a whirlwind romance. Because you are already so connected and feel so familiar with each other, one of the twin flame signs is a quick-moving relationship. Since you feel like you have been waiting around for this person your whole life, you throw caution to the wind.

Not a whole lot of time needed to get to know each other, you jump in head first, which makes your relationship very serious, very quickly. It is love at first sight. [Read: Love vs. lust – 10 signs you’re not feeling love but lust]

#8 You both trust and distrust them immensely. Although you are filled with so much certainty that your relationship was meant to be, there is a voice in the back of your head that is equally saying something isn’t right.

You find yourself constantly questioning your own feelings and asking if your love is real or not. But, you aren’t quite sure what is driving all the distrust.

#9 Your common sense flies out the window. You haven’t ever been the person who chases a guy, or the guy who sticks around to be yelled at. But suddenly, here you are in a relationship letting someone do things, or doing things yourself, that you never thought you were capable of.

One of the twin flame signs is the ability that the relationship has to override your sense of sensibilities and allow emotions to overrule what you believe yourself capable of. [Read: 16 clear signs you’re in a narcissistic relationship]

#10 Although meant to be, you are never actually meant to be. Although your love affair seems to be dreamy, it never comes at the right time in your life, or there is always something standing in the way of it working out.

The reason? One of the biggest twin flame signs is that you aren’t meant to be together, you are only meant to learn from each other and part ways. So fate will always be working against you not pushing you together.

#11 You are more than just a couple. Unlike the other couples you see around you or other relationships, there is much more to what you have. What you share goes beyond romance or sex. There is a deep emotional connection, and the teaching that goes on surpasses romantic feelings or sexual desires. In fact, so much so, that it seems to override sex.

#12 You have a very tumultuous relationship. There’s a lot of push and pull, breakups and getting back together again and again. You think they are your soul mate, but nothing ever seems to work out, and you know in your heart that something isn’t right. One of the twin flame signs is that you have a very emotional and tumultuous relationship.

Your twin flame is the one who you are chasing around the house demanding to be heard, because your feelings of love can be very intense and painful.

Because they are sent to us to heal what is broken within, you find yourself both pushing them away and pulling them in at the same time. Not wanting to acknowledge your brokenness, you are confused by what you are feeling, which can lead to a roller coaster ride. [Read: Tumultuous relationships and 15 ways to deal with a messy romance]

#13 One of you is more spiritual or mature than the other. Since one of the cornerstone twin flame signs is teaching one another, there is usually one in the relationship who is more spiritual, enlightened, or mature, and is around to help the other grow. That is part of the reasons you are meant to be together.

#14 They are always pulling you back. No matter where you are in life or who you are with, there is a continual pull that you have to want to be near and with them. That is very disheartening and can have you making poor decisions.

#15 You see something in their eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul. What lies in your twin flame’s eyes is the answer to the questions you have about yourself and who you are. That is why they are so comforting and engaging. It is like meeting yourself in another person, literally seeing your energy standing in front of you. [Read: When it’s true love – 18 ways to split casual dates from true love]

#16 You have things in common that are more than coincidence. Since your twin flame is someone who is in your soul family, you will have weird things about you that you share. Birthdays, physical characteristics, or even the types of majors you choose, are “coincidentally” mirrors.

#17 They bring out your biggest desires and your worst fears. Another one of the twin flame signs is its purpose to teach you who you are inside and heal parts of you that you hadn’t known you needed to heal. They are sent to open you up to your soul mate.

That gives them the ability to reveal to you both your biggest desires and your worst fears. Part of the intensity is that they know things about you that you don’t. Introducing you to you, is one of the things that causes you the most distress.

Twin flames are souls that are sent to us that are exactly the mirror of who we are. At first, their familiarity makes us feel like we have finally found the one… our soul mate. Soon, we discover that they invoke a different type of feeling in us.

Take heart; a twin flame appears to reveal to us what we are ourselves, what we want, and to open our hearts to allow our soul mate to present themselves, and for us to recognize them without any distractions.

[Read: Real soul mates – 20 signs that you’ve met the love of your life]

Now that you know the twin flame signs and how they’re different from a soul mate, remember that this person allows us to know wholeheartedly who we are, what we want, and that we have finally found someone to complete us… yourself.