What is The Universe Trying To Tell You?

Explaining the signs of coincidence, synchronicity and serendipity.

Signs?

I was walking along in deep contemplation of a decision I had made. Out of the corner of my eye…there was a tiny piece of green sea glass.

I was unpacking some boxes. My mind was trying to figure out if I should move forward with a shift in my career. Just then, a little piece of styrofoam fell from the packaging. An arrow.

I was on a trail hike with my husband. We were talking about our commitment to putting more time into our marriage. Right in our path…a heart-shaped rock.

Are these signs? From who? For what?

Coincidence

Are these things coincidence? Am I searching extra hard for objects to place extraordinary meaning on?

Coincidence: An occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that is unlikely and surprising. -Cambridge Dictionary

How often do we say, oh…that is a sign. We use these coincidences as signs to start, stop, or confirm things. Are they really signs, or are we looking for an excuse to confirm the choices and decisions we already prefer?

There are times when it is hard to believe that some things happen by chance. This is especially true when we don’t understand what caused these specific things to come together in the way that they did and they impact our lives in some major way.

Synchronicity

Synchronicity explains the type of coincidence that is impactful and has meaning. We feel that we understand why these two things came together at the time that they did and in the way that they did with synchronicity.

Synchronicity: Carl Jung invented this term, which means “falling together in time,” to explain meaningful coincidences. Synchronicity, as an acausal connecting principle, suggests that the shared meaning between two low-probability events had something to do with explaining why they happened. The word has become synonymous with meaningful coincidences. B. Beitman, MD.

Serendipity

Serendipity explains a little less power and meaning in the connection of when and how things came together in a coincidence. There is a little more room for chance in this concept.

Serendipity: relies on the intersection between wisdom and chance to accidentally find something of interest or value. The intentions behind the activity taking place at the time of the unexpected observation or event are only indirectly related to the outcome. B. Beitman, MD. There are two variations: 1) looking for something and finding it in an unexpected way 2) looking for something and finding something entirely different and very useful.

Examples

In pondering these ideas about coincidence I started researching. My first source was an article featuring author, Martha Beck. It started like this:

When I began writing, my lucky animal was the tortoise, because writers need to be soft inside, have a tough outer shell, and stick out their neck to move forward.

Wouldn’t you know it…the quote on my desk calendar that day was: The turtle only advances by sticking its neck out.

Am I sticking my neck out to write on this topic? Is this a sign that I should move forward? Or stick my head back in my shell?

I almost don't even want to mention that in the article’s picture Beck was wearing a monarch butterfly skirt. There were butterflies on the wallpaper and seven butterflies flying around the scene.

That might mean nothing to almost everyone else in the world…but for me…My number in sports is seven. I just published a children’s book about butterflies. I have been conducting research about monarchs to support the book activities.

This all leaves me shaking my head. A sign, another sign, and even another sign. So, here I am writing.

From the Experts

Here are some of the most interesting excerpts of what I found to further explain or confuse our understanding of coincidence:

• There are now hundreds of laboratory experiments whose results suggest the existence of unmediated, non-local interactions between human minds, and between human minds and the physical world. These interactions could easily explain common coincidences such as thinking of someone just before they call, finding the right book at just the right time, or hearing a song on the radio that speaks directly to a problem we’re having. Dr. Sharon Hewitt Rawlette
• A close look at the way coincidences operate in people’s lives reveals that these events often reflect the mental state of the people who experience them. Rather than conveying divine guidance, coincidences often appear to act as a mirror for whatever is currently going on in the experiencer’s conscious or unconscious mind. Dr. Sharon Hewitt Rawlette
• Certain personality traits are linked to experiencing more coincidences — people who describe themselves as religious or spiritual, people who are self-referential (or likely to relate information from the external world back to themselves), and people who are high in meaning-seeking are all coincidence-prone. People are also likely to see coincidences when they are extremely sad, angry, or anxious. B. Beitman, MD

So we have some power over how these things show up in our lives. Let’s look at the statistics:

• Astronomical improbability — it would take several lifetimes for these ultra-low probability coincidence to come into existence as calculated in the synchronicity statistics of Gary Schwartz, Ph.D. and author of Super Synchronicity
• Circular Reasoning — in discussing coincidences, conventional statisticians use probability in the following way: it happened so it has a probability, therefore it could happen, so probability explains it because there is a probability of it happening. Dr. Bernard D. Beitman
• There’s some research to suggest that a feeling of destiny can be good for you mentally. But even if it is reassuring, it’s not reality; while coincidences are NOT destiny, they ARE destined to happen, thanks to something called the Law of Truly Large Numbers. Science writer Matt Hutson.
• From a purely statistical point of view, these events are random, not meaningfully related, and they shouldn’t be that surprising because they happen all the time. “Extremely improbable events are commonplace,” as the statistician David Hand says in his book The Improbability Principle. But humans generally aren’t great at reasoning objectively about probability as they go about their everyday lives.

The gist of the statistics: These things happen. They are probable, should be expected, and happen because they happen —not to send us a sign. (I never really liked math.)

Coincidence in the Bible

“What does the Bible say about coincidence? Are there such things as coincidences?”

Answer: The word coincidence is used only once in the New Testament, and it was by Jesus Himself in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10:31, Jesus said, “And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side.” The word coincidence is translated from the Greek word synkyrian, which is a combination of two words: sun and kurios. Sun means “together with,” and kurious means “supreme in authority.” So a biblical definition of coincidence would be “what occurs together by God’s providential arrangement of circumstances.” Gotquestions.com

Cultivating Coincidences

If you want the world to feel like a more magical place try these strategies from mathematician David Hand:

1. Pay attention. Coincidences happen to people who are mindful and notice things. When you go about your daily activities, keep your senses open to coincidental opportunities.

2. Talk to strangers. According to work by risk researcher David Spiegelhalter, coincidences often arise out of talking to someone you don’t know. If you don’t introduce yourself to your neighbor, you can’t possibly know both of you were born in the same hospital, on the same day, in a city several hundred miles away from your current homes.

3. Seek meaning. Whether you see a string of numbers on a license plate or hear a song on the radio, ask yourself if you can make meaning out of the experience.

4. Write it down. Keep a log of the coincidences that occur in your daily life. The more you notice coincidences, the more likely they are to happen to you.

Coincidence Collection

If you take on the challenge of paying more attention for coincidence in your life, look for these common types. You can also add your coincidences to the Cambridge, Coincidences Collection Website to be a part of the study below.

Conclusion

Is the Universe sending you a sign? This is definitely something you have to decide for yourself.

I would like to end with this exercise and final thought from Martha Beck — My turtle-butterfly writing sister.

When I have an amazingly unlikely experience, I pose three questions. Actually, one question, asked three ways: (1) Why is this happening to me? (2) Why is this happening to me? (3) Why is this happening to me?

When you’re evaluating a coincidence of your own, ask that question like a statistician, then a detective, then a seeker. Maybe you’ll consider the possibility that you could be connected to everything in the universe, and everything in the universe could be connected to you, and meaning flows between the two in a mysterious constant stream. Martha Beck

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone experiences all of the coincidences that they are looking for and that all signs are pointed in the right direction!

Yesterday they called it coincidence. Today it’s synchronicity. Tomorrow they will call it a skill. — Antero Alli

Thank you for reading! Thank you Darshak Rana for the prompt on Aspirations/Dreams/Passions for Spiritual Saturday!