If you’ve found someone really special recently, or are on the cusp of taking things to a more serious level with someone you’ve been with for a while, you might be a bit hesitant to go all in.

We often pick a partner using a mostly unconscious thought process without ever really asking why we like them so much and whether we believe they’re truly that one special person who is perfect for us.

But if you’re thinking of getting more serious with someone, you can’t just keep winging it, you need to be clear and honest with yourself and know (or at least feel) that they’re right for you so you don’t waste your time.

How do you know if someone is your soulmate? There are surface-level signs, like the exact same taste in music, movies, or that you’re both artists, but those are too common and unreliable to go off of.

To know if someone is your soulmate, you need to dig deep and look at fundamental qualities, those things that spark and then further forge a strong connection between two people. Only you can decide if someone meets these requirements, but they’re certainly the kind of things that any strong relationship really shouldn’t ever be without.

When you meet your best friend in real life, or you meet your soulmate, you just know it, and you feel it.

– Lili Reinhart

Here are five questions to ask if you want to know if your partner is your soulmate.

1. Do they help and encourage you to grow?

No matter what it is that you want to do with your life, your partner needs to be 100%, unquestionably behind you.

That might irk you if you like your partner, but they sometimes try to get you to be a bit more realistic, but that’s okay. Sometimes, we lose ourselves in the demands that society places on us.

At the end of the day, if you know they support you, encourage you, and are willing to go there with you, wherever your path takes you, then they’re definitely soulmate material.

2. Would you spend every waking moment of the rest of your life with them? (Or: Do you love each other’s company?)

This is more a feeling than anything and not something you can answer rationally.

Every relationship goes through rough patches, however, generally do the two of you fight minimally and absolutely love spending time together? Do you never get tired of spending time together? Are you each other’s best friend and can you see yourself spending your life with them?

These are the kinds of things you feel when someone is your soulmate and they’re what you should look for in a partner. Hopefully, in the one you have now.

3. Can you be your 100% authentic self around them?

Do you ever feel like you have to hold back when you’re around your partner? That’s a bad sign that the person isn’t right for you.

One of the most defining characteristics of a soulmate is of someone who accepts us fully for who we are. In fact, they do more than accept us, they love us for who we are.

Do you love them for exactly for who they are and do you not just believe, but feel in your bones (and they’ve shown it) that they do as well? They may just be your soulmate.

4. Is there unequivocal trust between you?

If someone is truly your soulmate, you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever have trust issues.

Sure, in the beginning, you or they might get jealous over a fear of losing the other person and maybe we think something is going on. However, at the end of the day, it should always get cleared up and the bond should strengthen from there.

Trust is one of the great foundations of a strong, long-lasting relationship. It’s one of those things that’s so important, you almost shouldn’t notice it’s there, like the foundation of a house. Each other’s devotion is never questioned and you know they have your back through anything.

5. Do you feel like they make you a better person?

Our true soulmate doesn’t just encourage us to grow and support us, they actively make us better people simply by being who they are and inspiring us with their love and example.

One of the unifying factors of a great relationship is that each person is inspired by the way the other lives their life and actively feels like, without the other person, they don’t know where they would have ended up by comparison.

If you’re wondering if your partner is your soulmate, ask yourself whether you feel like you’re the best version of yourself since meeting them. There are few signs as powerful as that.