Follow the Coincidences
Coincidence is a very interesting word. Dictionary.com defines it this way: “A striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.” Its root word, coincide, means to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position and to correspond exactly, as in nature or character. The English language has always been a strange beast, and it gets even more strange.
The mathematical term for “coincident lines” is defined this way: “Occurring at the same time. In terms of Math, the coincident lines are lines that lie upon each other in such a way that when we look at them, they appear to be a single line, instead of double or multiple lines.”
I have been experiencing coincidences throughout my life. In fact, I have many childhood memories of tagging along behind my mother, brothers and friends telling them elaborate tales of how many things “popped” up in my day that I knew were all connected. At first, they tried to explain how these were just random events and that I was connecting them together. Later in my life, they would just alternate between blank stares and glances at their watch, eager for me to shut up so they could get on with their day.
Nonetheless, I persisted. After 30 years of following mine and other’s coincidences, I managed to gather a small group of neophytes who now track their own coincidences for meaning and guidance. And to them I say, thank you and keep going! Why? Because coincidences are the simple directions to get us exactly what we want.
Coincidences are the simple directions to your goal. Most people can remember an experience of asking our significant other, “Honey, have you seen my car keys?” Only to look down a moment later and find them right in front of us or in our pocket. “Never mind”, we yell as we dash out the door with our partner’s voice lingering in space, “What did you ask?”
While we may call these serendipitous experiences, how can we harness the power of coincidences to create more of them in our day? Imagine having every major and many minor decisions in your day instantly answered by coincidence. Wouldn’t life begin to look like a game where we are simply learning how to follow the simple directions? Yes, and that is what I am suggesting as step number one.
Stop taking everything so seriously and treat it like a game.
Of course, if you are thinking of separating from your partner or your mom, Dad, sibling or child die, this paradigm shift that I am suggesting sounds ridiculous; and rightly so. These are authentic traumas that effectively pause the game. However, most of us are not facing these experiences every day nor every year.
The strategy is to begin applying the principle of game theory from above to your small challenges and choices in your day. For instance, let’s say you want to pick a place to go for dinner. The first step is to decide to trust the clues, signs and guidance that show up after you make the decision to go to dinner.
Let’s revert to our mathematical definition for coincident — two lines that occur at the same time. They are so close that they appear to lie on top of each other, and we cannot tell the difference between them. What we want and the process of getting are so close that they appear at the same time; they are lying on top of each other. In our game we cultivate the conviction or knowing that if we want to find a place to have dinner, the desire, and the outcome, in this case the perfect restaurant, are already linked.
The spiritual law that speaks to this is the law of desire: you can only want something that you know you already have. That is why you want it! Cultivating this conviction is the only work we need to do.
String theory, a popular quantum physics theory about time and the universe states it this way: Imagine being in a room with 12 different curtains strung very close to each other. These curtains are dimensions. The wind that moves the curtains is consciousness. The act of desiring something or strongly denying something is a movement of consciousness. Like the wind, it causes the curtains to touch. What just moments before you couldn’t see because there was no desire or wind, now is visible because the desire has caused those curtains to touch and reveal the fulfillment of what we desire. Many scriptures say that all of what we want, and even could want, are already here and the act of sustained, focused desire, moves the various curtains of experience to connect.
The more we see our life like a game, the easier it is to play it the way we want. If you need help learning how coincidences can play a role in your life, please set up a complimentary 20-minute phone appointment for a coaching session.