As I see it, there’s no such thing as a coincidence. Synchronicity – yes, coincidence – no. Here’s a couple of stories to illustrate my point.
I recently attended a talk by Dr Catherine Hamlin at a Business Chicks event. She and her husband Reginald set up the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia and have saved & changed the lives of thousands of women through their work. She told the story of how Reg made the decision to go to Ethiopia in the 1960’s.
At the time their son was 6 years old. Reg was very apprehensive about taking such a young child into the wild and unknown lands of Africa. The time was approaching where they needed to make a decision and so, being a man, he left work early one day and went to the pub.
There he sat quietly with his beer considering his and his family’s future. The barman, being a perceptive character, commented that “he was being very quiet” and “what was he thinking about?” (Do you get barmen like that anymore?)
Reg explained his predicament and his concerns. At the bar next to him was a complete stranger who, on hearing this conversation, turned around and said “I’ve just returned from Ethiopia. It’s a wonderful country and you should have no concerns about taking your son. It will be wonderful for him.”
The decision was made and as they say “the rest is history”.
Recently, I had a similar, but much more mundane experience.
Following a Network Central breakfast event I was discussing the subject of hats with Robin Powis. Robin is an image consultant (Defining Style). I’d had a session with her some time ago which was excellent. She enabled me to understand what clothes, colours etc work for me and so clothes shopping has since become much easier.
As a result of this conversation, I decided it was time to buy myself a new hat and headed off to Strand Hatters. Robin had given me a couple of pointers and, faced with a huge range of options, I was agonising over which hat to buy. One had colour but was the brim too big? Besides, was it the right colour? This one had the smaller brim but the material and colours just didn’t seem right. So many options… and no-one from whom to get feedback.
If you’ve been clothes shopping on your own you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, after hanging around the hat shop for about half an hour deliberating over which one met the criteria, Robin walked in. I was thrilled to see her and showed her what I was thinking about and was excited to find that I’d picked the right one.
And so, after agonising over what worked best for me for a considerable time, within a few minutes the decision had been made.
The point I’m trying to make with these couple of examples is that, when we’re open to possibilities and allow things to flow rather than forcing decisions, often we get the information and inspiration we need in unexpected and unexplainable ways.
How did Dr Reginald Hamlin know to take that particular time off work. go to that particular pub and to sit in that particular seat? These things can’t be done as conscious decisions but they often have a major impact on our lives.
What examples of synchronicity can you think of in your life? Please share them.
Until next time .. travel well.