Coincidences: Gifts from the Universe

Are coincidences random acts of chance or is the universe really conspiring to grab your attention to point you down a certain path?

As I’m a seeker of magical moments and love following the nudges, I believe there is nothing random about a coincidence and when the universe dishes out these gifts, it’s our job to get curious and explore why.

When you pay attention to these remarkable concurrences of events or circumstances and allow them to move you by being curious, you step into flow and things begin to align themselves that move you closer to your goals and that grandest vision of your life.

I want to share a personal story that illustrates how this works as I had such a remarkable concurrences of events this summer.

My husband, Tom, and I are a week into our month-long kayak trip, making our way to Nelson Island where we’ll camp for the night. The sun is blaring down and we've just passed Secret Cove along the Sunshine Coast. I’m tired, hot and hungry - a lethal combination according to my husband, who suggests, perhaps for his own safety, that we take a break and refuel with some trail mix.

Good idea!

We pull into a sheltered bay and as we bob in our kayaks I try to wiggle free my bag of treats that is wedged between the darn seat and the sidewall of my boat and in the process I rip a hole in the bag.

Peanuts, raisins, banana chips, almonds, and most upsetting of all, Smarties go flying everywhere.

I try to save as much as I can of these tasty morsels by shoving as much as I can into my mouth. Unfortunately though the inch of sea water at the bottom of my boat renders the majority unsalvageable.

With my goodie bag now sporting a big hole, further evasive action is needed. It’s time to beach the boats to secure another ziplock from the back hatch and save what’s left of my precious treats.

We land the boats and while I sort out my mess, Tom walks up the beach to study his maps and calculate for the umpteenth time how far we are traveling and how long it will take to get to our next destination.

Soon I hear voices and turn to see Tom chatting away with a pretty blonde lady in a cute brown summer dress. Once I finish cleaning up my boat and safely store away the remaining of my mix, I wander up to say hello and much to my surprise discover I know this pretty lady.

Adele Anderson and I had met at a conference in LA almost two years ago. We had connected shortly after the conference and had planned on a zoom meeting to get to know each other more, but then the pandemic hit and all was forgotten. That is until my bag of trail mix explodes and a pretty lady comes down from her house to say hello to the strangers who land on her beach.

Coincidently, or not, the name of the conference we attended in LA was called Design Your Destiny (now renamed the Upside Summit) .

I can’t help thinking that Destiny had some designs for us when some bizarre circumstances unfolded and brought the two of us together again on this hot summer day.

Do you think this is a random act of chance or is there something much bigger at play here?

I believe in the latter.

The idea of a coincidence being a random act of chance wasn’t enough of an explanation for the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung either. Instead, he believed these events were produced by the force of synchronicity, a concept he introduced to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection. He also considered these meaningful events as glimpses into what he called the “unus mundus” or “one world.”

Unus mundus is the theory that there is an underlying order and structure to reality, a network that connects everything and everyone.

Coincidences then, could be considered a way to experience that one world connectedness.

As I noted at the beginning of this article, I believe a coincidence is a gift from the universe, and that it’s our job to unwrap these gifts and explore their meaning.

So why did I land on Adele’s beach? At the time, I had no idea, but I understood it was mine to explore.

When I returned from my trip, I sent Adele a message requesting a meeting. The intent was simply to get to know her more - and in getting to know her, more may be revealed.

On this same kayaking trip I got a loud and clear message that it was time to do what I felt called to do - which is teach people to listen to their inner wisdom and to create a retreat and a podcast as a means to do that.

While on my Zoom call with Adele I learnt that she is a neuropsychologist who offers retreats and hosts a podcast - with her focus on teaching people how to reprogram their thinking. How interesting.

Is this why we were meant to connect?

I shared my goals with Adele and she then generously shared her knowledge and connections with me that enabled me to quickly move forward with my vision.

It turns out Adele ended up playing an important role in helping me launch both my podcast and retreat by simply sharing her insights and connecting me with the right people. I believe it’s because of Adele that I was able to move forward so quickly with my vision and that they both got off to such a strong start.

What’s more, when I learned Adele’s personal story about how she got into neuropsychology, I recognized she would make for a fascinating and inspiring guest for my podcast.

And guess what, you can meet Adele in the next episode of the Joyful Journey Podcast as I interview her about how to reprogram our limiting self beliefs.

She really does have an intriguing story to share that includes a plane crash and seeing her life flash before her eyes as she goes back to a very specific point in time that then helps save her life in getting her out of that plane.

Make sure you tune for that episode.

What I want to leave you with today is this idea of looking for the gifts that the universe gives you that show up as seemingly random and unconnected coincidences.

Don’t shrug them off or ignore them.

Instead, get curious. Ask, why is this person suddenly showing up in my life or why is this thing happening?

If you hear about an author, for instance, and then walk by a book store and see a book by that same author displayed in the window, buy the book.

If you are thinking about an old friend that you haven’t spoken to in years, then someone else mentioned that person the next day, call that old friend.

If you are kayaking and suddenly find yourself with an exploded bag of trail mix that then forces you to land your boat on the very beach of someone you met 2 years previously, make the effort to get to know that person better.

At the very least, you might discover an interesting book, reconnect with an old friend, and develop a new friendship.

Or it might lead you to something truly remarkable, and you’ll think, wow, I’m so glad I bought that book - it’s changed the way I see the world.

Wow, my heart is so full from reconnecting with that old friend - she’s exactly who I need in my life right now.

Holy molly, I’m so grateful, I took the time to get to know that pretty lady who’s beach I landed on. She’s helped me move my vision forward so much faster than I ever thought possible.

Curiosity is a beautiful thing.

So my Joyful Journeyer, get curious with all those seemingly random acts of coincidences. You’ll never know what the gift is until you take the time to unwrap it.

And the more you start paying attention to these seemingly random things, the more magic you’ll make happen.

Do you have any fun or interesting stories about a strange coincidence that happened to you? If so send it to me by email at [email protected] I’d love to read about your story and I might even share it on a future episode of the Joyful Journey Podcast.