Synchronicity

I've been reading a lot this year.  I recently finished The Left Hand of Darkness and Wuthering Heights, and yesterday moved on to Beloved.  In the book Sethe describes rememories to her daughter Denver.  She says that the things which happen to us and our memories are never erased, that they live on and are connected to the landscape.  She says that sometimes you are walking and start to see things happening around you--those are rememories of others which they have left behind. Sethe says: "If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place-the picture of it-stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world. What I remember is a picture floating around there outside my head. I mean, even if I don't think about it, even if I die, the picture of what I did, or knew, or saw is still out there." I'm also reading a (really poorly written) book about astral projection and the author describes something similar existing on the astral plane--the thoug...

This week, on June 2nd, my son was telling me he wants to learn about Asia. He said he'd been learning about different places in the world at school, but he didn't learn anything about Asia. I pulled up a map of Asia in Google Maps and then decided to see where Google has street view. For those who aren't aware, if you are in Google maps, you can pick up the orange figure of a person which is in the left side of the screen (at the top of the zoom feature) and start to drag it over the map; as you do this, some parts of the map will start to be highlighted in blue--these are the regions which have "street view". Street view is an amazing feature of Google created with a series of panoramic photos taken by vehicles on the road (all done by volunteers, I believe) all over the world. It also includes panoramic photos of the interiors of some buildings so that you can take a virtual tour. Anyway, I zoomed out so that a good portion of the earth was visible on the scree...

I'm going to quote again the book "Synchronicity & You", which reports that of the 100 people the author interviewed, a significant percentage say that they have tended to notice more synchronicity in their lives during times of transition and change. And I again find myself in a moment of transition and blessed by synchronicity.  "It's all going to come together"; I have been encountering this phrase over and over, and I feel perfectly confident that it will. Here's what I can say: Synchronicity has saved my life, made me human, connected me to something greater than myself--in the concrete and the abstract. In this moment during which change is washing over me from every direction, I feel like a rock--no matter what happens, I am me and I trust in myself to make the correct decisions (aided by synchronicity of course).    

Something odd has happened twice in the last week. I've thought about someone who I haven't seen/heard from in a long while, only to have them contact me the next day. While this is a standard example of synchronicity (the person that picks up the phone to call an old friend only to be stopped by an incoming call from the same friend.) In my case, the contact was offset by a day or more from the original urge to contact and happened via email/Facebook messages (or depending how you see it, within the dream world). Since I've rarely if ever had such an experience, I didn't realize what they would feel like. Obviously, they feel awesome, like most synchronicities. But they also feel, in my present perception, a little bit like being at the center of the universe...like the world really does revolve around me. Almost like realizing I am Truman, in the movie The Truman Show. Or like I am living in a simulated world in which my experience is really all that exists....

Last spring I attended a national medical library association conference in Seattle, Washington. A few months before the trip, I was preparing my travel plans and spent a week searching for a cheap hotel before narrowing down to one or two good options. To help cut costs further, I decided to share a room with another librarian. I used a roommate matching service provided by the association, and was matched with Carol, who had already decided on a different hotel. I agreed to go with her choice, though it was far across town and transportation would be an issue. I started to have very negative vibes about the trip, which I mentioned to a friend at work. I was worried that something bad would happen, and the idea of riding two buses or paying for a cab each way to the conference each day was weighing on me as much as the idea of sharing a room with a complete stranger. Still, I didn't want to try and change the plans so late in the game. About a week before the trip my hus...

Last month $40 cash disappeared from my car.  I searched the pockets of all my jeans and coats and every nook of the car and only came up with $1 crumpled dollar (which wasn't part of the original $40, but I added it anyway).  Eventually I gave up, resigned to the fact that it was gone forever.  I don't think it was stolen, I think it either blew out when I opened the door, got mixed with one of my husband's business deposits, or hidden somewhere by my 3-year-old.  Anyway, I needed to find the money by February 9 or replace it--except I didn't have any money.  My husband offered it to me of course, but since I wasn't sure he had taken it, I didn't want it. My only hope was that someone I had done web design for would send a check (but I had little faith given that the invoice had been due for several weeks and I hadn't sent a reminder).  Each day, I crossed my fingers as I opened the mailbox--Wednesday 2/6, Thursday 2/7, and Friday 2/8.  On Friday ev...

Last night I took my 3-year-old son to an Ash Wednesday service--we go to church every year on that day only.  On the way, my son was asking me about where we were going. His first thought was that he wanted to choose the color of the ashes--no gray for him.  Then he asked what the ashes meant and I couldn't really remember but I thought maybe it had something to do with the saying "from ashes to ashes, and dust to dust".  So I told him that we all die someday and turn into dust.  He got a bit upset and said, "but I love myself, I don't want to die".  Wow.  Then he wanted to know where we go when we die.  No simple heaven and hell explanation from me--I told him that it is a mystery.  Now here's an  unexpected benefit of being involved in religion--it elevates the conversation with your kids a bit.  Not that we couldn't have the conversation without religion, but I like that it was so spontaneous.  Regardless of the fact that I co...