Synchronicity

Headed to the gas station after work today. I was out of gas and had 20 miles to drive to get home, but I'm still broke and I wasn't sure if I would be have the money to pay. The gas station is right next to the hospital where I work. When I pulled up I thought I saw one of my coworkers and I briefly considered borrowing $5 from her before i realized it wasn't her. I've never had to do such a thing before and I hope I never have to. In any case, I found an old credit card and was able to use it to fill up. As I was getting back in my car to leave, the coworker I had thought I'd seen before pulled up. She mentioned that she figured she might as well take advantage of the relatively warm weather to get gas (it was still freezing and the lot was a disgusting slushy mess--I definitely wouldn't have stopped if I didn't have to.) I am curious if she would have decided to stop if I hadn't been thinking about her in a kind of desperate moment...almost...

On December 21, 2012, some predicted that the end of an era described by ancient Maya would be the end of the world. Others believed that it was only the beginning of a new era of greater spiritual understanding, while some believed that nothing out of the ordinary would happen. I watched a couple of documentaries about the predictions and read a few articles saying that the Maya prophecies were blown out of proportion and had little relation to the actual beliefs of the ancient Maya. I didn't expect much change on December 21, but I did allow myself to imagine that perhaps my own spiritual awakening was related to or brought about by this wider cultural shift which many were fantasizing about. And I don't blame people for fantasizing, because who doesn't want a spiritual awakening that brings about an end to violence and hate in the world?  There is an  interesting (but not very well-written) article on the NASA website  which debunks many of the myths and ideas about...

Last year about this time I was decorating the Christmas tree with my husband & son.  We decided that the lights with green wire blended into the tree much better, but we only had one set of them, so my son & I headed out to purchase a string of lights.  I was trying to decide the best store to go--Walmart was closest, and as I passed it I thought to myself: "that was dumb, why am I going all the way to Lowe's?"  And I answered myself, "it's OK, you'll probably run into someone you know there."  Even though my hair & clothes reflected a long day spent at a tree farm, I wouldn't mind running into a friend.   When we got to Lowe's I saw my friend/co-worker Mike heading into the store right in front of me.  So I caught up with him and we discovered that we were both there for the same reason--to buy one string of lights.           It was so weird that we both showed up at the same time to buy the same thing from the same ...

I happened to be working late tonight, trying to finish something up.  I mentioned before that I had started noticing elevens and today when I was getting ready to leave, I got an article request with an 11 in the identifying number for it.  I said to myself, I can take care of this tomorrow, but since there is an 11, I think I'll do it today (I know, kind of illogical and silly).  But the journal was in storage, so I had to hike up to the library's storage room.  On my way, I was walking by a TV in a lounge where the faces of Elizabeth & Lyric were on the screen.  I stopped in my tracks.  A minute later, a live press conference about Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook-Morrisey started.  I had no idea what it was about.  The lead investigator in the case came to the microphone and after a brief ramble about the case, he announced that two bodies had been found by hunters in the woods today at 12:45.  My heart sank.  The woman next to...

This week the theme in my life seemed to be scams and gullability. On Tuesday I ensured a buddy of mine that I am a good judge of character and that I know whom to trust.  Then on Thursday I realized that one of the people I trusted is likely a scam artist who had stolen 1000s of dollars worth of books from me.  And while I talked to him, she walked by my office and I waved and smiled to her. On Wednesday, I asked Gabe in a comment on his blog  how we can distinguish between "new age mumbo jumbo" and worthwhile models when we read mysticism.  Basically, how does he orient himself so that he doesn't get lost in all of the fantastical ideas floating around?  (His answer, by the way, was that he uses intuition and experience). On Friday, I got an alumni newsletter from the University of Iowa in the mail which highlighted  research on the brain region responsible for gullability.  The  ventromedial area of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is o...

I wrote in the "teapots happen" post about how when I told my co-worker the story of another blogger's incredible synchronicity he told me about his tendency to see 11:11, particularly on clocks, even stopped clocks.  This past weekend he emailed me to tell me that he'd just looked at the clock and it was 11:11. When I came in to work on Monday November 12, another friend and co-worker came in to work on a project with me.  I logged into my email, quickly scanned for anything important, and saw the email and started laughing.  I told my friend about it and she said--really? because I see 11:11 too.  At first I thought she was joking, but she insisted, just ask my friends--they know all about it, it's been happening all my life.  She said that one of her friends had told her that there are a bunch of theories that attempt to explain why a large number of people see 1111 and what it means.  My interest was piqued. On Friday morning, I was driving to wor...

Today was the 4 month anniversary of Lizzie & Lyric's disappearance.  And I was really hoping they'd be found today...thinking there was some significance in the date (lots of little synchronicities with the number 13).  I was watching the news for them--Lizzie's mom wrote an open letter to the kidnapper , which was published in the Quad City Times, requesting that he return the kids.  I know terrible things happen to kids all over the world every day...Lizzie & Lyric are from Iowa and Lizzie looks a lot like my little sister at that age. I can't stand to think of this case remaining open for decades, because I can't handle the thought of them being out there surviving in misery.  They could be anywhere in the world, but I'm praying that somehow they find their way home.  

A few years ago my sister told me about Aron Ralston, the hiker that cut off his own arm in order to escape a canyon after a boulder fell on him.  I was fascinated, but I couldn't bring myself to see the movie--I cringed at the thought. Last summer, I noticed Aron's book,  Between a Rock and a Hard Place,   on the new books display at the library (although it was published in 2004, it was newly acquired, most likely due to demand after the movie release in 2011).  I grabbed the book and was hooked to it for the next week--I read at every opportunity.  One evening, I'd planned to watch a movie with my husband but he got caught up with some work and couldn't get away.  Though I was frustrated and feeling a bit neglected, I was happy to get back to reading. Later that week I was talking to a friend about, among other things, what had happened that night--and I explained that it was OK in the end because I preferred to read my book anyway--and she said, "It...

I went out in search last night of more blogs about synchronicity.  My first search result was exactly on target and I've added it to my blog links at right.  This guy, Gabe from Minnesota, started having synchronous experiences in 2006 when he was in his late 20s (like me).  He has a very elegant way of describing synchronicity--particularly his lists of possible explanations for an experience and his detailed explanations of what makes an event synchronous (the unfolding of an event and what details he forgets at certain moments but later recalls to deepen his understanding) which could easily start sounding tedious, but doesn't.   He has written some great things.   His title story, "teapots happen", gave me the shivers.    The story goes that he has this awakening while on vacation.  He goes home and starts to doubt his new insights.  One day within a week of coming home he goes to a thrift store and feels a strange urge to purchas...

There's something about the library which has connected me to many synchronicities.  I can remember at least 3 distinct book-related synchronicities in the last year in which the books I pick up at random tell me something meaningful...they leave me feeling like I've been led to them for a specific reason.  And it makes sense--if there is a force which can speak to us through synchronicity, why not use the words and stories in books to do it?  Why resort to tarot cards, geomancy, ifa, or the i ching which require intense study to comprehend and then only give general symbolic indications? The thing about books is that they are long--how does a force of guidance make sure that the message is found and properly interpreted?  One thing I experienced was finding the same phrase in multiple books which I'd happened to be reading concurrently--and then hearing the phrase repeated by someone important at the same time.  Also, I would pick up a book at random and...

In "The Daily Coyote," Shreve Stockton describes her experience moving to Wyoming and being handed a baby coyote to care for.  My favorite part of the book is that she is  honest about her struggle to become the alpha after the coyote, Charlie, begins to attack her.  But I also liked that she described a few major syncronicities which she experienced.   One synchronicity which she described was that on the anniversary of her boyfriend's daughter's death (I think 9 years after her death) she went out for a hike and experienced an exhilarating freedom which she imagined his daughter had also felt at the moment of her death.  Then she looked up and saw 15 vultures circling a hill, which she later discovered was the location where his daughter had perished in an ATV accident.  The vultures disappeared as suddenly as they'd come and Shreve and her coyote were unable to find any carcass which may have drawn them to the area.  Shreve described ...

One thing that has come into my life in the last year and a half is spirituality.  Growing up I was very religious.  I aspired to be as sin-free as the Virgin Mary.  I knew all of the stories from the Bible.  I went to Catholic school and church most Sundays.  But I'm not really sure I ever had much first-hand experience with unseen powers, though I desperately wanted God to speak to me.  I was superstitious until sometime in college when I let science fill all the voids, and believed that there was no mystery in the world that science couldn't solve.  Maybe I misinterpreted the nature of science, but I allowed myself to become cold and hard and boring.  I didn't believe in magic anymore. The loss of the belief in magic was tragic.  I thought it was just about growing up--like when you find out Santa isn't real.  I also decided that God wasn't real, an invention to end the fear in death or to control others. But then, synchronic...

Elizabeth Collins, 9, missing since July 13, 2012 from Evansdale, Iowa. Growing up, my mom always said, "Better ask St. Anthony to help you", every time we lost something.  I remember one day when I was 10 or 11 years old my dad lost his wedding ring and everyone searched the house for it.  I prayed to St. Anthony and then I walked into my parents bedroom and lifted the sheet on the bed.  I remember very clearly how the sheet flowed up so elegantly to reveal his gold band, sparkling in the sunlight through the window.  Since then, I've always believed that he is able to help me find what I'm looking for. Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, missing with her cousin, Elizabeth. Of course, there are other possible explanations for such phenomena.  For example, maybe praying to St. Anthony gives the searcher just a little bit of hope which renews his or her spirit long enough to succeed.  Or perhaps people invoke the help of some mystical force on a regular ...