Claire, if you’re reading this, please continue to pay attention. You, especially, will enjoy this story.
“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.” – Deepak Chopra
Now, I’m not even remotely claiming to be anywhere near enlightenment. That whole “chop wood, carry water” thing just sounds like a whole lot of muscle aches and blisters. Although, one time when I was 24, I meditated and saw the oneness of everything. Some people call it nirvana. I thought it meant the rest of my life would be spent in a blissful, self-actualized state.
And then I discovered Jagermeister. For the next three years.
My point is, I’m not enlightened, but I like to move toward the idea of it. Kind of like I move toward the idea of self-compassion. Some days, I’m closer … and other days I’m pretty sure would be better spent flagellating myself while wearing a bag over my head and a flashing neon sign that says “FAILURE.”
But there’s a definite signpost I use that shows me if I’m going in a direction with which I’ve tried to align my highest desires. And that signpost is always, always synchronicity.
The Synchronicity of Wanting to Share Synchronicity
I’ve wanted to talk about synchronicity on the blog for a long time, but most of my recent synchronistic experiences were pretty lame. Pretty easy to pass off as mere coincidence by skeptics.
The last two weeks have been spent contemplating the possibility that something largely synchronistic should occur before I talk about it. Otherwise, who’s going to give a flying fig? Amiright?
We all experience the magic of synchronicity. It may be easy to pass off as ESP, so this may be bad news if you’ve already ordered your crystal ball. But you know what I’m talking about.
You think about an old friend, and a few hours later the phone rings and it’s them. Or you find a book you’d like to read, and the next day your sister shows up on your doorstep – unannounced – to lend it to you without knowing. Or you meet five people in a day named Hans Vakanopolis. That one is really weird.
The skeptic in you tells you it’s just mere coincidence. But the mystic in me is telling you, it’s a secret handshake between your consciousness and the universe, meant to signal to you that you’re moving in a new and brilliant direction.
One of these things happened to me today.
And it was astonishing. (And a little creepy, I won’t lie.)
It happened, so we could all talk about synchronicity. And that, my friends, is how I know I’m supposed to write about this today.
This Man Knows Me – and I Didn’t Know Him
Recently, my dashing next-door neighbor took off for the Philippines for a few months. In his absence, a friend of his came to stay in his place for a breather. So, I have an interim next-door neighbor.
This is Adam. This is Adam and his beard, which I will now name Marcus.
Today, Adam and I sat down for a little “get-to-know-you” chat where we talked about politics, the nature of reality, and no-bake cookies. In the midst of our insightful and heartfelt conversation, which I thought was going swimmingly, he stopped.
And looked at me.
And his eyes kind of bulged out.
I thought to myself, “What did I say? He has issues with organic peanut butter, doesn’t he? Or maybe he’s suddenly repulsed by my unbrushed hair. Oh, lord. I have to leave now.”
He looked down at the counter, and said quietly, “So … there’s this blog I’m really into.”
And THEN I thought, “YAY! We can talk about blogs! We can talk about me! MEMEMEME!” And I waited patiently for him to tell me about some radical leftist blog he reads and finds issues with, so I could then talk about the perils of blogging opinions on the internet and how little I have to worry about that, because my opinions are perfect.
Instead, he says, “Yeah. So. Um. This blog that I’m really into? It’s called Crunchy Betty.”
IT’S CALLED CRUNCHY BETTY.
After that, I said a lot of things that sounded like, “Shut UP! You know that’s me, right? Oh, you’re just messing with me. YOU KNOW THAT’S ME, RIGHT?”
He calmly, in the face of my astonishment, tells me about
(and Claire, this is where you really need to pay attention)
how a lovely young woman had turned him onto Crunchy Betty several months ago, and that he’d bought the book and tried no ‘poo because of us, and how he suspected I was the person behind Crunchy Betty, but he was trying to approach it delicately, just in case I wasn’t.
You may be saying to yourself, “But Crunchy Betty isn’t an unpopular blog. Plenty of people read it.” And while that is true, I will say that in a nation of over 300 million residents, Crunchy Betty only has 5500 feed subscribers. That is a mere molecule in the drop in the bucket of people who might want to be more crunchy in their approach to life.
And, if you take into consideration that the amount of male readers (at least those who’ve been brave enough to comment) we can count on one hand, this is pretty astonishing. That a man – a MAN – who reads Crunchy Betty moved right in next door to me. And knows who I am.
And … well … now it just sounds kind of creepy.
Synchronicity IS Kind of Creepy Sometimes
You have that moment where time feels a little suspended as synchronicity hits. It’s like an elevator drop, just before it rests in its proper place. Your stomach is lost to gravity.
And then, gently, the amazement hits you that everything aligned in just the right way at just the right time. Suddenly, you can see how things click into place in the direction you’re going – even if you’ve only nudged your life a millimeter in a new way.
I can tell this particular synchronicity is meaningful, because this evening, as Adam and I were chatting for another minute, he said the most profound thing.
He said, “I’m trying to live my life as if all relationships I have are a gift. There is no ownership or expectations. All moments given to me by other people are gifts.”
And that is exactly how I want to feel. About my relationships. About life. And about synchronicities.
Gifts.
What Profound Synchronistic Experiences Have You Had?
Can you remember a time when you were hit with an inexplicable synchronicity? A coincidence in a magnitude that left you speechless for a moment?
Please, please share them.
I truly believe that the more we recognize the happy coincidences and the astonishing synchronicities, the more they happen. Little gifts that the universe offers to keep you delighted and entranced with life.
So share. Let’s keep the ball rolling. This week, notice any happy coincidences that come your way. Come back and post them to the comments. This will be exciting.
And one last thing? If you’re a man and you read this blog, can you leave a comment here? I’m wondering if I haven’t made a gross underestimation of the testosterone around here.
Happy synchronicity hunting!
Your Behind-the-Scenes Look at a DIY Blog Post: Or Why You Should LOVE Your DIY Bloggers
This is a tad long. I apologize in advance. I don’t even know where to start with my story of a guy I once dated named Jason. It all started in high school. I didn’t know his name but always had a crush on him. I didn’t realize this was the guy I had dated a few years back.
After our break up after all of these years, it like I had awaken moment, where I have remember all of these synchronicity and lately they are rushing at me like a storm. Why? What is the universe trying to tell me? Or trying to tell us? It’s getting me rather depressed or but then again I’m excited hoping that maybe this is my love story about to unfold. (Which I know is highly impossible, as he is married now). But hey Hollywood has embedded us woman into our minds of finding our prince in charming right.
Please be patience with me as I’m not the best writer.
The events are below:
It was the 9th grade; I wore a necklace with a pendant on it. The bell had rung, and was walking out of Science class and lord behold my pendant came loose and dropped. You had picked it and asked if that was mine. I denied it and said no!!! And you said yeah it was and I just kept on walking.
The next year, I didn’t run into you but ran into your brother at school. It was a rainy morning and the stairs where extra slipper. And with me being so clumsy, yes I fell down the steps. I was so embarrassed, but he was the only one who helped me up and asked if I was alright. (Which later on, I had a son not by him but I named him after him. This isn’t really his first name. But my son’s first name is the same first name of the guy who your ex wife cheated on).
Then came prom time, I went with one of my best friends who was a guy. And we were came to table that you were sitting out, talking about where the after party was. Your date at the time told us what the plans where for the night. But I declined because I was nervous around you, and well you were with her. So I ended up going to a night club after prom. . .lol
Then came graduation night from high school, you were a year or two ahead of me. My friends and I drove over to a girl’s house to party, and sure enough guess who was standing outside. I knew the group of people but told them to keep on going because you were there.
After that I really never had seen you really much at all. Just here and there. I remember before we started too talked you told me you drove a certain car, and I had one just like it. I told you we both seen each other and we always turned our heads but never talked.I had no clue it was you. (Yeah, it took me a few years to realize after our break up).
The next time, was at the bank I used to bank at in Springdale. I was at counter with the teller, talking with the teller about life (as we were friends at the time) and you tried to open a bank account up, but ran out because you didn’t have your license on you.
Then I remember you telling you were my Grandma used to live, and you said you lived right across the street from her. When you told me that I thought you were lying, I guess I thought you were trying to make conversation or whatever. And my granny used to buy some things for your kids. And yes once again it dawned on me that yes you were right. And even cut down a tree for her. LOL Well thank you for being so kind to her by the way.
Then the next encounter was at target on Colerain Ave. My son was about maybe two or so. I went down the toy aisle were the super heroes were. And there you were with your kids. I had to straight turn around out of that aisle. Later on, I was in the parking lot loading the trunk up with the X-Mas gifts and left something underneath the cart. You once again rushed over to me, to ask if the school bus was mine. And once again I said no. Well because honestly I didn’t remember what I bought him. Then I remember after a year, hey what happen to that toy. And then remember I bought it but forgot it.lol
A few years had passed, and didn’t see you again. However, I did have an embarrassing encounter with a guy. Which looking back now on it might have been you at my parents house (But I’m not going to put it on here.)
The next time I was to see you, was on a dating website. It was one, and denied your request for a date because you told me you had four kids. And was thinking to myself, oh hell no. Where I thought you had multiple babies by different woman and didn’t want no part of it that drama. Which I should had asked you up front instead of doing the fade out on you, this was around my birthday. I closed my account, and joined another dating website. That’s when we really really start to talk and start to date one another.
The day I fell in love with you is when you took me down to Newport to go walking down by the river. That was the most memorable day/nights I have had with anyone. It was quite magical for me. We continue to date for a little bit, but all the sudden chains of events kept on going on with you or me. And I couldn’t handle the stress and took it out on you. At that time I was immature and didn’t know how to communicate (talking about how I felt and etc) and lost the love of my life.
I should have talked to you at Wal-Mart on Colerain ave that one day you parked right next to me. I
Do I regret us breaking up? Well somewhat I do, but also it was a learning experience for me. I needed that time to realize what I had done, and what I should have done. I have dated and been in relationship with other guys since our break up, but still you were always in back of my mind. And I have made remarkable communication skills well sort of. Just every time I see you I get butterflies in my stomach and cannot make eye contact, let alone speak to you. I feel like I’m in damn high school again. Why???
Then in about a year ago, I started to see you ever where. Especially by my house. It was March and I was at the gas station and I was pretty sure you were right behind me and thought I heard you say Happy Birthday to me. I was scared to turn around, and thought I was hearing things. Well because you know I’m hard of hearing a bit too. Yes I kick myself in the butt on that one too.
It seems like lately in the past of couple of months I see you there, as we keep on passing each other. Rather it’s shopping or the highway. There was even one day I was right behind you getting onto the highway in your work truck. I was hoping and praying someone would rear end me, so I would end up tapping your bumper you know chain reaction. But it didn’t happen 🙁 I however, just smiled at you. And passed you up because I was running late for work. This happened a few weeks ago.
When I come home from work getting off of the highway, sometimes we are right by each other in different lanes. I want to wave, but scared it might not be you (which I’m 99% sure it is.) Just like today around 430 getting off of the highway, you were a car length behind another car in the other lane.
Ugh, it’s killing me. What does this all mean??? Do you remember or noticed this as well? Is it the universe trying to tell me or us something? Or is it all just coincidence
Hi. That’s a really cute picture of you two. Well my example, which lead me to your wonderful blog, is happening in my new “situation” – can’t say relationship because the man will run scared-
So my toilet is broken. I actually broke it myself. But I was too embarrassed to tell the new guy in my life, so I just kept quiet. Well I went over to his house the next day and -AHA- his toilet is broken too!!! Only he had the balls to tell me, “don’t use it, I have to call the plumber” haha I guess I just assumed all men can fix toilets? lol. Btw, sorry I’m not a dude commenting, I’m sure plenty of dudes secretly read your blog.
So, i have left my emotionally abusive relationship this year. It’s been so hard, but i had to do it. My studies have been affected, so now i am trying to be ore focused, and i went to my first exam this year, despite being so unprepared, i just felt “i need to do this, to step into my own power”. on my way to that city, i looked into a board, pointing to my right direction “fail”. my way to this city when i study in on the left path. ok, nothing special. but as soon as i reached this city i saw my ex. the odds are so few. he studies in the other side, i almost never see him. i was chocked. it was like “you are doing what you are supposed to do”. he seemed so happy. i am so incredibily unhappy, but there are no words for what this experience meant. I think that the Universe is watching, is protecting us.
I am from the Philippines! Of all the places your neighbor goes off to…talk about Synchronicity. Glad to have come across your blog. I agree with Adam about all our relationships being a gift.
I have just discovered that my partners friends birthday is the 12.06.1982 & my birthday is the 21.12.1982. Kinda weird lol
I am so happy that came across this blog! Since the beginning of this year (when I made a manifesto that laid out my intentions for this year), I have experienced a string of meaningful coincidences and synchronicities. The one that was the most unnerving coincidences happened several months ago. I was on driving to work when I suddenly began thinking about one of my favorite musicians named Melody Gardot. My thoughts of her were not prompted by anything external–no songs of her were being played on the radio, and I wasn’t listening to my ipod. I began to think about the terrible accident that Melody had gotten into a few years back. She was walking or biking in Philadelphia when a car ran a red light and hit her. She was severely injured and was in the hospital for a year.
After I got to work that morning one of my good friends and colleagues informed me that her good friend had been struck by a car in Philadelphia the night before when she was crossing in an intersection and that she was in the hospital. (I am happy to report that her friend is doing much better now and has made close to a full recovery).
I was left speechless by this experience.
holy cow this was overwhelming… lately i have been looking deeper into stimulating my pineal gland and meditation. i have been experiencing MANY acts of coincidence that i now know whole heartedly that i have the ability to control these moments. for example yesterday i pointed out a paintin gto my friend logan and i told him that was the one that i liked most. and within an instant, it fell to the ground… i can say that i experience nearly 6-10 coincedences in a single day and my dreams have become more lucid. another thing that happens to me is that i look at the clock everyday at 5:28. which is the day of my birthday. i am a believer of the metaphysical world and i strongly suggest to any one to look into stimulation of the pineal gland and the 7 chakras. i promise you will be amazed.
Hello Crunchy Betty, I randomly found this blog on my search for sychronicities. I recently broke it off with a guy I have been dating for about a year and a half. I was kind thrown for a loop as how things were getting worst and not much better. I honestly belevied we came into each others lives for a reason. Me being the more spiritualy mature one, I knew our connection was not a mere coincedence (so I thought), but as of lately Im starting to second guess if it truly was a spritual connection. Besides all the things we had in common, we had some number synchronicities. I just want your insight on it. Is it just me being to woo woo mystical about it or are these signs? 1st sign we met 3/26/2011, 3+2+6=11 and the year is 2011, I know 11:11 is suppose to mean something, then our birthdates are both on the 9th mine is 9/9/83 his is 10/9/74 and we are both 9 years apart. Even the year 74 and 83 add up to be 11, and both our birth years add up to be 21. also both our ages add up to be the same number each year. He is 37 I am 28 3+7=10 and 2+8= 10, then the same for any other age we were add up to be the same number. Now are these sychronicities or am I reading too deep into this?
CB, I don’t know if you’re still reading comments to posts as old as this one, but here goes. I’m enchanted by your blog and am slowly working my way through all of the posts. I’m not sure if I’ve experienced a lot of synchronicity with anyone else, but my best friend and I seem to be perfectly synchronized. It happens DAILY. I’ll look down at my cell phone the second before it rings. I’ll ask a question about the thing she was just about to bring up. All kinds of things like that. It’s amazing and wonderful. 🙂
I recently quit my job as an early childhood education teacher and decided to open my own in home day care. I’ve been a bit worried about getting enough kids to justify quitting a steady job with benefits (but hated!). Yesterday, I was sitting in my kitchen looking out the window at the neighbors house next door as they moved there things into the house (they moved in a few days ago) when their little boy came tumbling out of the house. When I saw him I thought, “OMG I know that kid!” Then I looked more closely at the parents and realized they were one of the families from my old childcare center. I ran over, probably looking like a goofy-faced idiot, to re-introduce myself. We chatted and I mentioned my day care and she said she would be interested and to keep her posted on the progress! Woohoo! Your post made me realize that this may be a good sign for me! Thanks for sharing!
I have been lurking and reading the blog for a long time, picking my way slowly through all of the posts (I am in love, by the way, and thank you a million times for the deodorant recipes, they have saved my life!). But I finally feel the need to come crawling out of my little lurky hole to comment here, because THIS.
Three of my most favorite synchronicity moments:
(1) I am complaining on my blog about how I feel so alone and small. How I want to feel connected to other people, other things – anything – just so that I don’t feel so completely and utterly insignificant. The next morning, I participate in a guided meditation. The mantra was “aham bramasmi” – I am the Universe. I felt so profoundly kicked in the ass in that moment…! (please forgive any errors in spelling, there… I’ve no idea how to actually spell aham bramasmi)
(2) I am talking to a friend about how I struggle to find peace with myself and just be who I am. It’s getting a little easier, but most days it’s still pretty hard. I get home and the S.O. suggests we watch a movie. He picks Amelie. I sit there watching it and thinking, here is yet another gigantic kick in the pants…! Thanks, Universe!
Lastly, (3) I am on a whitewater rafting trip. The guide asks my group of friends how we met. In the telling, my S.O. and I realize that, because his ex-wife left her job, I was hired to replace her. Had she not quit, he and I never would have met and started dating (by the way, he is 100% the love of my life).
I truly love the moments when we realize that we are on the right path. Or rather, that what we need is provided in the most loving, surprising ways possible.
I have to reply to this two months late, just because I am oddly feeling the enlightenment described in the first paragraph. Long story short- I am a Montana girl, mother of three, wife to a wildland firefighter, who was feeling the tug to simplify and slow down. A job for my husband popped up in B.F.E., Idaho, and we decided to go for it. I have always had these hippie dreams of living in the country, but getting over here, moving to a town with a few hundred people was a complete culture shock. It’s one thing to romanticize about the simple life, it’s another thing to do it (and this is coming from a Montana girl). It’s relaxing for about a week, then you realize that this is your new life. I was having serious doubts.
This is where all my strange coincidences or synchronicities come in. We had a horrible time selling our house in Montana, looked at houses over here, but couldn’t make an offer till we sold ours, so we moved into a rental. The rental was for sale, and the day after we moved in, an offer came in on the rental house. We had actually run into the realtor at the market, and he told us about the offer. I couldn’t have been more discouraged at that moment. We bought the kids each a soda at the market, and when I twisted off the cap, the bottom of the cap read, “Doors shall soon open for you.” That offer eventually fell through, but after a few months, the rental clearly was not working out for us. The day our house did sell in MT, I was on the phone with my MT realtor to have an ID realtor call and leave a voicemail about a foreclosure she wanted to show me. The timing was perfect, and the house was “the one.” My husband was actually gone on a fire for a few weeks, so I made an offer without him, knowing he would love it. When I was walking around the property trying to decide if I should make an offer on a house that my husband hasn’t even seen, I was looking for a sign, hoping it would be obvious….like angels singing and a halo of sunshine lighting up the house, which did not happen. The sign came to me in the most perfect way, an antique silver spoon on the ground. I have always envied the young trust-funders, living their perfect yuppie life, eating off of “silver spoons.” And now I had my silver spoon (just no trust fund…Damn).
So, here I am now a few months later pondering synchronicity and I come across this blog post. I clearly believe that I am supposed to be living in this strange and funky town in the middle of nowhere, I just don’t know why yet. I stick out like a sore thumb with my fun and colorful style among the locals who wear mostly hunting camo. But, I am loving my new adventure and have never been more content (maybe it is all that wood chopping).
Crunchy Betty, I am new to your blog. I loooove it. Love your sense of humor, love that you write about things that you have actually done (some domestic bloggers write about things that they are passionate about “trying”), love that you are not always perfect, not at all self-righteous, and you are REAL. I have always been into crunchy housewifery, (baking, gardening, strange beauty treatments, yogurt making, kefiring, sewing, etc.), but now that I am roughing it for reals, your blog has become a super fun resource and social connection. If you could only see the town market, and the strange products and cleaners they sell (who knew Spic ‘n Span was still being made, or maybe it has just been on the store shelf for twenty years, Hmmm). It has been a lot of fun taking the time to figure out how things used to be done, in a healthy, non-toxic way. So, thank you for an amazing blog.
P.S. I have been no poo for a month or so, and my hair has never been healthier. The whole no poo thing is so counter intuitive. I really thought it was going to destroy my hair. I have super thick, naturally curly hair, that was losing its curl. I assumed it was because it was getting too long and heavy. My hair is back to spiral curls, easier to brush, shiny, and less frizzy. Whoda thunk?
I know this is a month old but I have to comment. I have been having major synchronicities and I want to know why and what they mean. These are truly unbelieveable. I am a homeopath and one of the moms I help called me one night. I was reading a photography coffeetable book about babies (I was also a baby photographer). Anyway, the mom said, “the baby woke up in a puddle.” At that very moment, I looked down and the quote next to the baby photograph said, “Sometimes puddles have people in them.”
Another time, my 6 yo and I were shopping and waiting for my other daughter in the dressing room. I was sitting on a couch and my 6 yo was on her knees in front of me. She was begging me, “Please, please, please can I have another piece of candy from your purse.” And at that very moment, on the overhead music, it said, “I’m down on my knees, begging you please.”
Too often to count, I will be saying something and someone on TV or radio will say the exact same words at the same time. My kids laugh about it now and say, “there’s another one.” For example, I told my husband we needed a new heating element for the dryer. On TV about two seconds later, they said, “We need to find an element of heat.”
Once I was watching TV and on my laptop and I clicked on a link for a website caled hungrymonster at the same time a WW commercial came on featuring a little orange monster named Hungry. Totally unrelated!
One night I was watching food TV and my little one came in with a book she was reading and showed me a picture of a pig’s tail. When she walked away, on the TV, they were cooking pig’s tails!
I was driving my oldest to a friend’s house for a sleepover and she asked me who my favorite teacher of all time was. I answered her and when I got home, my new magazine was in the mailbox. I opened it up and the first article was a Q&A, “Who is the Best Teacher you Have Ever Had?”
The last one I’ll share was really sad. My husband called me one morning to tell me one of his coworker’s wife had just been stung by a bee and was in a coma in the hospital. After I hung up, my little one said, “She is being chased by bees!” I was shocked and said, “What?!” And she said, “Tinkerbell, she’s being chased by the bees.” I looked up and Tink was running away from the bees. 🙁
I don’t know why these happen to me but they tend to happen in fits and starts. I enjoy them because they feel good and you do feel connected to the universe in some way. But it’s also weird! At first it really scared me but now I relish each and every one.
Im am man, no poo, and I just came across your blog cause Im doing some research on the concept of synchronicity. Score one for testosterone!
I am a man and also a witch… one of my fellow witches put this link on her facebook link…. My life so far has lacked and sense of synchronicities in any way…. as a matter of fact if there was an antisynchronicities it would have been the ruling element in my life so far…. but scary as it sounds things seem to be slipping into synch for me which is very scary uncharted territory
A few months back I was going out with this guy and we broke up. I spent the whole time wallowing as expected after a break up. Then about a month ago, I had a dream that he sent me an e-mail and exclaimed how much he missed me and still loved me. I woke up angry at the fact that we all dream, and why couldn’t I be that one exception? Or at least just not remember those evil things. Well, about two days later a message from him pops up in my inbox on facebook. Now we’re back together and all’s well. My synchronicity story!
I just discovered your blog and now have a new, big, fat blog crush! Thanks for all your insight and sharing. It’s wonderful!
And yes, I believe synchronicity, if we’re paying attention, is the way that we are reminded what an amazing universe and plan there is out there for us and when we’re living the life we are meant to, synchronicity is more like, “duh, of course that’s suppose to happen”!
Hey, that happens to me daily and these are the best moments ever!!! Actually I didn´t even want to read this blog, but this attracted me and this post is just awesome, guess I´ll read more 🙂 And as you were talking about 5500 subscribers from states, you can add one from Czech Republic 😉
Hi CB. It’s me, Claire. This post was a very sweet gift, so thank you. You have a standing invitation to visit your crunchy soul friends here in Georgia any time. We take hospitality pretty seriously, so only brush that off as a nicety at your own peril.
So here’s my synchronicity to share. No, here’s my list of helpful prior knowledge: (a) my favorite gifts to receive are those moments when someone unwittingly does or says something that happens to echo into the weirdest parts of my offbeat self and remind me powerfully that I’m not crazy nor alone. That, for me, is synchronicity. (b) hardware stores have become my happy place. (c) I tend to think that the smallest things require the longest stories, and vice versa.
Now to a synchronicity. After all that build-up, it’s a small one. My latest adventure as a wannabe pioneer has been soapmaking. I am very fortunate to have a met a beekeeper and soapmaker named Trina (meeting her was a gift of synchronicity itself), and she invited some folks to her home to learn the basics of home-brewing lye, oils, and fats. She presented her craft in such an accessible, simple way that I was totally inspired and empowered to try it as soon as possible (which is a gift, by the way, that you share with Trina, my dear). The next weekend I was delighted for an excuse to browse at the hardware store for supplies: lye, check. protective gear, check. something to use for a mold…hmm. Nothing jumped out. As only in a small hardware store, an older gentleman (I mean that non-generically; he really was a gentleman) came to my aid. I asked for a wooden box. He asked what for. I said “soap mold.” He said, “oh, we should just go ask Russell, in the paint department. He’s a soaper.” As in soap-maker. As in, thank you for (a) and (b) happening in the same small Sunday afternoon. And thank you Russell, for knowing exactly what I needed for a soap mold: a bright orange silicone baking pan, heat-safe and easy to pop the finished product out of. No more, no less; just an experienced soaper helping a would-be. Just a coincidence that was encouraging enough to be a synchronicity.
My daughter and I have had a lot of “random” neat things happing to us this year. We have decided that this is the random year. We love random. Things that seemingly “randomly” happen in good ways. We love synchronicity. We just happen to be using the term random this year in our household. =)
I have had a few instances of synchronicity which have been a bit freaky. The best one is when I first moved to Colorado 10 years ago, I moved into a house with 3 guys I didn’t know. I didn’t know anyone in town (I’m from the east coast as is all of my extended family and most of my college friends). I was reading Atlas Shrugged the first few weeks after the move. I would read a bit, mark the page and put the book down. Then I would go to read the next bit and the dog eared page would be in a different place. After about a week of this happening the roommate whom I thought was by far the dumbest, most uncultured fool asked what I was reading. When I told him he laughed and said he wondered why his dogeared pages kept changing as well. He and I were reading the same book, leaving it on the kitchen table and the other would pick it up and start reading it again. Then we finally had a real conversation and realized what kindred spirits we are and became fantastic friends and roommates.
How’s this for synchronicity? Adam and Marcus are dear friends and just the other day they were telling me about how cool Crunchy Betty was.
Also, he did send this post to me yesterday, so there’s that. 🙂
SYNCHRONICITY FTW.
Crunchy Betty – The next time I’m in your hood (visiting Marcus), we’ll have maté.
There are NO coincidences, you just have to be open when something keeps nudging or something seemingly random but unbelievable happens at just the right time. I signed up for daily emails from “dailyom.com” and today this was a portion of it:
we instinctively know when the time has come for us to realize our dreams because all that is involved comes together harmoniously. When the time is right, the passage of destiny cannot be blocked.
Literally, moments before I read this blog article, my sister-in-law texted me to ask “what kind of face wash do you use?” and here is me, who just discovered beautiful Crunchy Betty-ness and has been telling everyone in my immediate vicinity about it and just haven’t gotten to my long distance sister-in-law and now she asks me the one question I’m begging to answer to anyone will listen to me, then I read this? Oh, Universe, you sly dog.
Okay, I know theres several relationship ones, but heres one more 🙂
So last may, I went through a break up. I was recently college graduated and wanted to do something drastic with my life, specifically travel related. I needed a break from school (Im a teacher), so i planned to take a year off and explore. I mentioned farming and soon after was told about WWOOF-ing (basically a farm exchange program- amazing btw!), which i did in september. I was moving all my things back to my hometown in august. My mom tried to convince me to come home early and my whole being became upset. A few days later, I felt a huge need to go out, but none of my friends were free. Independent as i am, i went anyway. It turns out an aquaintance of mine was down the street and invited me to join his group. And i met my soon-to-be bf! We stayed up talking for hours and had SO much in common, including birthdays a day apart and the same two freckles on our left arms 🙂 I’ve been blissfully in love ever since!
Ah ha! A WWOOF recommendation? I have been considering this for some time so it’s good to hear an unsolicited positive comment – thanks 🙂
Years ago I did a psychology class. I loved the teacher.
I felt a real affinity for her and really enjoyed the lessons. I used to be quite shy and retiring and
lacking in self-confidence. One
day she said to the class ‘We can all do far more than we think we can….’ and
then looking straight at me – ‘Marian’.
I’ve never forgotten that and it has given me the self-confidence to do
a lot of things that I wouldn’t have dreamed of previously. I’ll always be grateful to her for
that. Well, one day she came to
class and apologetically told us that, for some reason beyond her control, she
was having to move to another part of the country with her husband and daughter and wouldn’t
be coming back after that day’s class.
The course finished without her.
I was so sad.
Some time later I enrolled for a Level 2 course at another college nearby. I had wished that my first
teacher, Julie would come back and had dreamed that she turned up to teach the
new course. Well, on the first
lesson the new teacher started to introduce herself, when there was a knock at
the door, and in walked Julie. My
jaw dropped and I literally gasped in amazement. If I’d been standing you could have knocked me over with a feather. But what came next made me even more gobsmacked. Julie whispered quietly with the
teacher, who then got up and left.
Julie sat down and announced that she was the new teacher of the
class! Synchronicity or what? I’m still dumbfounded by this years
later. There was no reason in the
world to suppose that she might come back, as she had believed that her move away would be permanent.
Also, I make a point of stating to myself the things I would really like to happen – “It would be great if….” and so many times the thing does happen, even though often it has seemed extremely unlikely at the time. So, I’m with you on this Betty.
Okay. I have to share a couple more.
First of all, Skip and I, after having gone through the rough patch and broken up for a while, are gloriously back on track and better than ever (after some help from a friend who loaned me the most insightful relationship books).
So a week and a half ago, I was talking to some friends and jokingly said, “I just want to tell the universe that we’re done messing around with this car business, and that it should bring us one right now. Thank you. And now I’ll let it go.”
The next morning, Skip got an unexpected (decent) check in the mail from his grandfather’s estate, and the next day, we had a new (to us) car with a little money left over. So when I wrote “getting a car with no loan” on my list for 2012 … well … that got taken care of in the first month.
Secondly, I got my hair cut this morning and Skip came with. When I returned from the cut, he said, “Tomorrow, 2:00 p.m., clear your schedule. You’re getting a deep tissue massage.”
Two or three times over the last couple of weeks, I’ve said, “I really want that professional massage I’ve never gotten before. This should happen soon.”
Turns out, while he was in the waiting area, he overheard the receptionists talking about a masseuse just coming off of maternity leave and offering her 90-minute deep tissue massages for half off. And that is why he booked it.
So. Synchronicity abound. How awesome is it?
SO awesome.
(v. happy for you, I shall email soon x)
I recently moved across the country for new job (my dream job). I almost didn’t come because I’d just gotten into a relationship (5 months before) and I didn’t want to give it up.I’m one of those people who thinks love is more important than work (or anything really). So I asked him to come. And he did. And it’s awesome. The synchronicity is that we happen to have moved to the city that is home to 2 of his 3 all time favorite, life time fan, sports teams. And this is a place h’d never been before. Then when we were looking for a more permanent living sitch (after being here for like 1.5 months) we were only approved for one apartment and it just happened to be in the right town when he had just decided to go back to school, making school 1/3 of the cost it would have been elsewhere (something we didn’t know at the time). When we first started dating I was heading into the doc’s for some tests and just as I was going into the waiting room he sent me a text. He couldn’t have known (because I hadn’t told him) but he had perfect timing. And today when I went to email my best friend I discovered an email from her just moments apart. She also calls when I’m about to call her. Ok, just one more. My parents call me on the same day 10 minutes apart regularly even though they don’t really talk to each other anymore. It’s freaky that they’re so connected. They also regularly buy me exactly the same gifts without knowing the other one did. And my exactly I mean same brand and everything. It’s weird.
I am a man and I wash my hair with honey and my face with coconuts. Possibly inverse of that though. I also make big decisions based on tiny amounts of synchronicity.
I’m a nurse, mostly because of the nurses that took care of my dad when he almost died and was in the ICU for almost a month.
I’ve worked at that same hospital that my dad was in for almost two years now in the cardiac monitoring unit. I’ve always wanted to do ICU, and I recently got hired (yay!). my first day was this past sunday.
my first patient was in the same room that my dad was in. my first patient, on my first day. and the nurse I’m training with, took care of my dad. and remembers him. I was tripping out about that all day… I just figured it was a sign that I was supposed to be there. I was getting really scared about working in the ICU, and I felt like it was the universe telling me I was in the right place, and I can do this.
What a crazy, cool, and wonderful thing to happen! Does Adam know he’s going to be a crunchy guinnea pig? I can just see it: you leaving stuff on the doorstep with a note “Hi Neighbor! Would you: Soak your feet in this/smear this on your face/clean your stove with this and get back to me with the results by Thurs? Thanks!!” 🙂
(…and yes Kylie, I too, scrolled back up to check out the hair at the same point in the story. You totally made me laugh with that!)
🙂
So weird that you post this now. Ive been reading a lot about things like this and working towards changing my life. Putting out positive so positive comes back to you so to speak.
The biggest synchronicity lately for me is that my husband and i want to replace our furnace and get central air put in, and it turns out our tax return is going to be just enough to cover it.
Did Adam happen to live in Mesa, Arizona in the mid-to-late 90s and have a fondness for frozen yogurt? He looks very much like an Adam I knew then -a slightly older, more trimmed up version. Wow, if that’s the same Adam!? What are the odds of that!?
Happened 34 years ago when I met my husband. We’re not tired of each other yet… and still both pretty amazed about that. 🙂
Freaky, man. I’ve been lurking around here for a while, but I had to comment on this one. I was just talking to someone about a synchronous thing that happened to me a couple days ago, which totally rocked my world at the time, and then we were talking about how synchronicities tell you that you’re heading in the right direction. And then you posted about synchronicity! Which is another synchronicity!
Like you, I’m a ‘muller’. A very intense thinker. I actually majored in Philosophy because of it.
One night, many years ago, I was walking home from the library at my university (in Ontario, Canada), I had been cramming for an exam and I just felt electric with all the huge thoughts in my head. It was very late, and very cold, my breath standing thick in the air. The ground glittered with spikey frost.
I walked under a streetlight – and it blinked out the moment I was right beneath it. I was too busy mulling to think much of it.
Then the next streetlight blinked out too – as I passed under it. Ok, weird. A little creepy – I’m a little superstitious too, I guess, so I was definitely paying attention to that orange glow as I approached the next light.
And it went out.
The hair on my neck was standing up by now – how can this possibly happen – was I being followed by some hell-bent electrician axe-murderer? I was pretty freaked out, but determined not to lose my cool. I paused, panting that burning frozen air, and kept walking – I was almost home.
As I passed under the 4th light – it too blinked out. Somehow, my presence had blown 4 consecutive streetlights. I just about wet myself at this point – and very happily, I was at my doorstep before I reached the 5th light.
Synchronicity? Maybe – at that time, I was on the cusp of ending a bad relationship, taking the plunge to finish my degree abroad, and moving to an entirely different part of the country. I tend to think of it as the universe just giving me a wink – letting me know that things are unfolding as they should….
Have you noticed it ever again? Since?
I bet you’re a SLIder (I am, even though no one ever believes me, no matter HOW often I prove it to them … there’s always another reason, “It’s on a timer. Somebody’s headlights tripped the sensor, it’s dying anyway, etc.”) http://paranormal.about.com/od/telekinesispsychokinesis/a/aa052508.htm
Thank goodness, though, my brother-in-law is one, too, so at least my sister gets it.
Of note, I notice it happens a lot more frequently when I’m emotionally charged or really in a “zone” of energy.
How FUN that you mentioned it – even if it just was a note from the universe to you about your new path. 🙂
My dad and I both do that!!! We’ve both noticed that whenever we’re zoned out thinking about something important driving (yeah yeah… focus on driving. we all go on autopilot while thinking about something important once in a while), we’ll turn off streetlights.
Ok. I need advice on my experience. Ive been meditating a lot recently. Getting in tune with myself i guess. Lol. Anyway long story short. I decided to ask the universe for a sign if i am ment to be with someone. Well… i asked for a phone call from a family member of his within 24 hours. To my amazement it happend…. i had already seen her for a haircut 3 weeks priir. She said she needed a bit more off. When she came in she told me he was single again. But only for 2 weeks. So i knew he would have to make the move. So more things happend, but im wondering what it means? Are we really ment 2 b? I guess time will tell. Thanks if you have any advice. And sry for the text lingo im on my phone. Haha.
No way!!! I’ve never heard of SLIders! Thank you….that kinda makes sense. Yes, I’ll notice 1 burning out here or there a couple times a year – once in a while, 2 at a time, when I’m stressed. Sometimes I can’t get battery powered gadgets to turn off (even after taking the battery out), which I tend to find more annoying, less creepy (ie. no foreboding darkness involved).
Wicked – now I can tell my friends I have extra paranormal powers, in addition to my hair being an antenna to communicate with aliens 😉
Definitely interesting. My friends have a joke where when we are looking at youtube videos or other computer-activities together, if the computer freezes or something crashes, everyone looks at me, and I have to just leave the room for a while and it goes back to normal. I often find myself screwing up computers or other electronics just being in their presence, and it has become a ridiculous and inconvenient coincidence! People jokingly say ‘stay away from my PC!’- its been a joke among my fam & friends, but I didn’t really consider it could possibly be actual energy-related things. Im gonna look into this! Thanks for all this interesting reading, Im really enjoying this blog- 10 billion points!
Does this mean we’re going to start seeing crunchy recipes for beard maintenance? 😉
Speaking of husbands, I lived very close to mine for a long time before I knew him. We met in high school, but we had gone to the same middle school and lived just down the street from each other beforehand. We knew plenty of the same people (given that it IS a relatively small town) and frequented plenty of the same people. This is how I got re-connected with an old friend of mine- through him.
Also, I have been meeting quite a few people who are of a similar mindset about things, and it is really giving me a lot to think about. I have too many experiences to count. This blog just comes at the right time. Things just seem to all move at the same pace for me. BTW, you ROCK, Betty.
Here are some crazy sychronicities! So I moved to Germany with my family, taking a break from College to figure out what I wanted to do as a major. I became involved in the theatre there and figured out I wanted to do theatre as a major. Later on I went to an audition and noticed an amazingly great looking man there, who didn’t have the nerve to talk to me lol. I didn’t get a part in that play and I thought I would never see that man again. I was wrong. I tried out for a musical, called Evil Dead: The Musical, and when I went back for call backs, the same handsome man was there. We were cast as boyfriend and girlfriend in the play and those roles stuck. We have been together for 1 year and 4 months and later on in the relationship, we found out we have the exact same birthday. Crazy how things happen huh? :]
I met my now-husband at a Christmas party, and we exchanged business cards. He had written the address to his flickr account on the back, so I could check out his photos. When I finally did, a few days later, I noticed he had a lot of photos of a really close guy-friend of mine who I’d known for 10 or 12 years. So I e-mailed him right away to ask how they knew eachother, and his response was “He’s my best friend! he lives just down the street from me”. We have no idea how we never ran into eachother (through this friend) before, but we both agree that we likely wouldn’t have been interested in eachother if we’d met any sooner. (For various reasons, but not important to this particular comment)
We also quickly discovered:
– His name (first and middle) is Brian David, and my dad’s name is David Brian.
– My mom’s name was Aenid Sylvia, and his mom’s name is Sylvia Andrean.
– His birthday is August 4 1975, and my sister’s birthday is August 5 1974.
At one point we stopped and decided to make REALLY EXTRA SURE we’re not distantly related, because too many things were lining up so closely. There were a bunch more, but those are the ones I can remember. Oh, and I’ve always (since the age of 8 or so) been completely obsessed with the colour blue – and now, with my new last name, my initials are BLU.
Synchronicity is how I met my husband. A whole long train of synchronicity…
I knew I was going to college, but couldn’t decide what for. I was looking at colleges, but couldn’t decide where to go. Then I remembered another girl from my high school soccer team had gone to U of Michigan (I lived in Indiana), and I remembered that when I asked her why she decided to go there, she said it just ‘felt right.’ So I looked at the brochures. And right around then I realized that while I’d been preparing to study something like chemical engineering, I really, REALLY preferred doing creative artistic-ish things. And my high school art teacher said something about Industrial Design. And I thought, hey, I can do that! And THEN…U of M had a program in it. I knew I would be spending a small fortune to go there, but suddenly everything just clicked and it was what I wanted more than anything.
Fast forward…I’ve been at U of M for 2 years. I still love design, but thinking that product design isn’t where my heart is. I’m too far in debt already, so I must finish this program–I can’t afford to start over in something else. That very summer, my high school art teacher (love that woman!) says she has a friend who runs a museum and he needs someone to do research. Okay! Sign me up, I can do that! And then I fell in love with museums and designing museum exhibits. I re-focus my design energy, my professors are in agreement with it, and I continue to work at that museum the following summer and then go back after I graduate. Funding becomes an issue and they can’t afford to keep me, and the day the director tells me this, he hands me a job ad for another museum.
That job ad ended up being the job I have now, and have had for 10 years. The pay really stunk at the start, and my brother’s exact words upon hearing the job offer were, “Why don’t you wait for a REAL job?” Obviously I ignored him. A month after I started working here, a coworker came into my office and said she had this friend she wanted to set me up with. She’d known him since they were kids, and thought we’d get along. A few months later, introductions were actually made, and a year after that we were engaged. We’ve been together now for 9.5 years, married for 7. And 2 houses, 3 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 kids later…I’m still just as in love with him now as I was back then, and I honestly couldn’t be happier (even with the boat-load of student loan debt).
Even more on the synchronicity–it sounds silly and sappy, but we finish each other’s sentences. I don’t have to ask what he wants for dinner, because I already know. The number of times we’ve ended up ordering the same dish in a restaurant is just scary. Or I pick up my phone to check and see if he’s called, and then it rings. Yes, we have our disagreements too, but we both know we could never be with anyone else–they synchronicity is just too great for the two of us. 🙂
And yes, I’ve also had the old friends who have called exactly when I was in need. My Mother-in-Law has also become more crunchy as I have (and we both started that path independently, then discovered the other was going that direction), and it’s kinda funny the things we talk about now. Her daughters look at us like we’re nuts, but we don’t care.
Did anyone else scroll back up to look at his hair when they read that he’d tried no ‘poo? 😛 Gorgeous hair!
Oh my – this is scary – I’m actually experiencing synchronicity about synchronicities. It’s that Inception thing you were talking about the other day.
My brother would be kicking me were he here. A couple of years ago I made a massive change in the direction of my life. It was hard, and truthfully, I’m still going through it. But at the time when I took control of my own direction, little stars of synchronous magic rained out of the sky on me for months. Crazy, crazy ‘coincidences’ would just keep on happening. I would call my brother up in the middle of the night, standing on the side of the road in the rain, to say to him “you’re not going to believe this one!!”. There were small things, there were random things, and some of them were huge things. He kept saying I should write them down because they were so frequent and so impossibly crazy that they would make a great book. Of course I never did, and sure enough, here I am and I can’t think of any of them 🙂
Except one.
Two weeks ago I made a brave and very painful decision to end my relationship. This came about at the same time as a work trip interstate for a month, which at first I thought was terrible timing, but now I think the space is doing me good. The very same week, as I sat and considered all I had lost, a dear friend emailed me. A friend who I had grown apart from, but sadly missed. She came forward with the olive branch, right at the time that my little world fell down. I was busy packing for my trip when I saw her email, so I sent one straight back saying this: “One word for you: synchronicity. I’m about to board a plane but I’ll email properly very soon. All is good”
And here is Crunchy Betty, blogging about synchronicity too. My head is spinning.
And that, I think, is the one thing about synchronicities that I don’t get. They’re SO important to you when they happen, but they’re also SO easy to forget.
Also, I’m so, so sorry about your breakup. You’re such a strong, good-hearted woman, though. No doubt, while it was painful, it was made with the utmost consciousness. And you know, here, you always have somewhere to turn when you’re feeling lacking.
BIG love! You, as always, are an inspiration.