Many of us seek spiritual experiences. Perhaps we want to sense signals that the universe, God, ancestors, nature, and/ or other higher powers are present with us, shaping us and our lives. Or we want reasons to trust that our lives matter and have meaning. Sometimes the mystical experiences we want prove hard to come by. One way to cultivate spiritual meaning-making that is always accessible is watching for and pondering unexpected coincidences. You notice words, symbols, images, songs, names, objects (the possibilities are endless!) as they pop up multiple times in your daily life and explore the deeper meanings the coincidence holds for you. You can receive the meaning as a message of wisdom, comfort, love, acknowledgement, etc. from your higher power. Possible meanings are open and endless.
In Embracing Coincidence, Carol Lynn Pearson shares a story about how the word “butterfly” kept popping up one day, including in two books, the lyrics of a song, and the poems she read that evening. She went outside and looked at the stars to ponder this. Other memories of butterflies came back—a butterfly dance she performed during her career in theater that represented a story from her life, a beloved piece of butterfly art. She pondered the symbolism of butterflies, including how they both transform and fly. She then went back to the first book the word had appeared in during the day and found “This book belongs to Katy” in child’s writing inside the cover by her daughter’s hand many years before. Katy had recently died at age 23 of a brain tumor. Pearson remembered how right after Katy's death, a beautiful blue butterfly kept spending time on her back porch, and watching it brought her moments of peace. Pearson’s mindfulness of synchronicity led to a sense of closeness with her deceased daughter and an expanded vision of spiritual transformation both during life and after death.
For those interested in exploring synchronicity, she recommends “look for meaning in everything,” share about the meaningful coincidences with friends, write them down, and act on them as appropriate.
