Synchronicity.

Carl Jung described it as “meaningful coincidences”.

And, coincidentally, I’ve been seeing this word everywhere.

First, the tv show LOST is all about synchronicity. Characters having chance encounters with others. Earlier this year I read Paul Auster’s Book of Illusions and synchronicity is a running theme in many of his books. Julia Cameron talks about it in her book The Artists Way and Martha Beck also discusses it in Finding Your Northern Star.

Um, can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of self help books? I’ll let you know if they actually help. And don’t worry, you won’t be hearing me chant “Find your spirit” anytime soon.

But what LOST and all these books seem to share is that synchronicity happens when you allow yourself to be open to it. You ask the universe for what you are seeking and then the universe will send these little signs. Why do you think Aladdin’s genie told him to make three wishes? He had to articulate what he wanted before he could receive.

I have my own story on synchronicity. It was about eight years ago. I had just graduated college. I was back in Miami and just desperate to move back to New York. I was jobless. I was broke. I didn’t even have money for a plane ticket back to New York. I needed to find a company that would not only hire me but sponsor a visa. Even though I had all these obstacles ahead of me I was somehow confident that I would make it back to New York. There was no way in hell I was going to allow myself to stay in Miami.

So one day my mother comes back from a doctor’s visit and she tells me that she ran into this woman I used to babysit for. The woman recently gave birth to a baby girl and was having a check-up. The woman tells my mother she needs a babysitter to accompany her and her family on a weekend vacation and she would pay me $500.

Around this time my mother also found out that this company in New York was hiring and they were willing to interview me, and if they liked me they’d sponsor my visa.

So with the 500 bones I made from babysitting, I booked a plane ticket to New York, interviewed at the company, and got a job.

And I’m still in New York.

Maybe it was coincidence. And maybe my mother played a very prominent role in creating these opportunities. But I definitely think that sometimes the universe orchestrates these meaningful coincidences when you really want something and will not settle for anything else. In my case, being stuck in Miami with my dysfunctional family was NOT an option!!!

So here’s an exercise for YOU. In Martha Becks’ book, she has an exercise where you pick some random object–an object you don’t really see all the time– lets say a kangaroo. Then for the next couple of days you will notice that this object will keep popping into your life. You will be seeing this object everywhere or hear people talking about it.

I think the point of this exercise is to hone your intuition. Stop listening to your ipod and reading US Weekly (fellas, you know your read it at your girlfriend’s apartment!) Take the time to observe what is going on around you. You’ll notice there is alot more meaning in mundane things.

Like Shakespeare said: Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.