Serendipity? It’s The Universe At Work…

I am not a religious man.

In fact, I am woefully ignorant when it comes to religion.?So much so, it took me years to realize that technically I am a Catholic.?Despite chanting the Apostles' Creed virtually every morning for five years, the words went over my head.?And I for the life of me could not understand who Mary got pregnant without having sex.

The only reason I starting attending a weekly voluntary communion at my school’s chapel was because I learnt that a girl called Dina Felgate who I fancied went there.?Since she was in the year below me and our curriculums never clashed, I started attending it too.??

Since lust was my primary motivation, it soon became evident to me that I was, in fact, a sinner and therefore did not belong in an institution which renounces such behaviour.

I flunked University because I got distracted by wine, women and song, further reinforcing my sinful credentials and self-belief that I was a sinner, and not ‘worthy’ of any church.??Any lingering doubts were laid to rest when I started work at the now defunct Barclays Bank International.

This was in London in the 1980’s when ‘Greed was Good’ as epitomized by the movie ‘Wall Street’.?Then ‘Big Bang’ came along, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets.?

And so I became a Futures Broker at London’s World Trade Centre.?Trading high risk derivatives after a liquid lunch in an era when daytime drinking was not only perfectly normal, it was actively encouraged.?If you didn’t partake, you were not a player.?So I played.?Hard.?

I was living in a YMCA at the time in London’s Barbican not far away.?As most of us know, this stands for ‘Young Man’s Christian Association’.?Since half the residents were actually gorgeous dancers from the nearby Arts Educational School, it was heaven for sinners like me.?It certainly wasn’t very Christian.

It was at this time in my life that I worshipped the rock band Queen who I saw six times, including at Live Aid in 1985 which practically the whole world saw.?And they stole the show.

Their drummer Roger Taylor then said something in an interview which really resonated: “I don’t like Religion, it tends to f**k people up”.?I agreed with him.

But I knew there was something.?I called it the higher power.?Now I call it the Universe.

Such feelings intensified in my thirties and I inherited my Mother’s love affair with nature.?When connected with it, I felt more at one with said universe. It also inherited both my parents propensity to connect with strangers. Young or old, black or white, rich or poor - it matters not one whit - engaging with and connecting people is firmly embedded in my DNA.

Fast forward to now, and some rather extraordinary things have happened.

My wife got all six numbers right in the German lottery.?But that’s another story for another day.?It’s a long one.

Last year, an associate asked me to contact his Personal Assistant.?I noticed from her LinkedIn profile that she based in Hitchin in Hertfordshire.?I asked her if she knows St. Ippolyts.?She told me that is where she lives.?I then asked her if she knows St. Ibbs.?She she lived right next door. It was the house I grew up in.

I felt like the universe was trying to tell me something.?

More recently, a friend suggested that I speak to a mate of his which I did.?We instantly 'clicked'.?At the end of the call, I asked him where he was based.?He told me in Twickenham in South West London.?I told him that my late Mother lived there.?He then told me about a lady he treated with MS called Heidu. I asked him if her surname was Whillock.?He said it was.?Gaby (my Mother) and Heidu were best friends, and their memorial benches are practically next to each other.?What, I pondered, are the chances?

I keep hearing about and feeling the law of attraction.?Some quite extraordinary people have entered into my life as of late and I know it’s for a reason.?

As I enter the third and final chapter of my working life, I can feel forces at work.?And since I’m now a professional networker, such forces are no bad thing.

Just this morning, I attended a Zoom networking event hosted by a delighted lady in Australia, some ten thousand miles away from where I live, in Horsham in West Sussex in the (still, just) United Kingdom.?In the meeting, I met a fellow Horsham resident.?Two hour later, we met and went for a walk.?Like me, she is a dot connector. She then wrote this wonderful poem.?We have agreed to join forces and connect those dots together.

I have been extolling the virtues of virtual networking since 2018. Now it's the only way to network. I now run 150+ WhatsApp groups covering a wide range of subjects. One of them is all about retreats and mental wellbeing. Yesterday, another new member of my tribe with whom I feel a strong connection posted that she is in the midst of creating a website that will be all around helping people reconnect with themselves, spiritual awakening & universal laws. She inspired me to write this article.

If the above sounds like unscientific mumbo jumbo, please do not bother to reach out.

But if any of what I have said resonates with you, please do. Serendipity is an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

And remember, us human beings are social animals. What we are now all going through in this pandemic is not normal. The need for us to connect with fellow human beings is stronger now than it's ever been. Allow me to connect you to some amazing people, just like you :)