There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.
~Albert Einstein
My daughter Lauren and I were in my car on our way to Halifax where she was to have an appointment with an eye specialist to see if there was anything to be done for her blocked tear duct.
It was snowing, the roads were snow packed and slippery, and we had 350 kilometres to drive there and 350 to return. While I was not looking forward to 700 kilometres of white knuckle driving for a 15 minute appointment, I was really looking forward to spending the time with her. She has this natural and instinctive way to not only make you feel good about yourself, no matter how you are feeling, but she is a master at dragging you from your worries and focusing you on what is really right with the world.
As we were driving along, weaving in between bare spots on the road that weren’t snow covered, counting the cars that had slid into the ditch and in between changing CD’s in the stereo from “Alexis on Fire” to something else, she blurted out, “Dad, you know what my favourite saying is?”
“What is it?” I asked, dragging my attention from driving to her words.
“Parallel Synchronized Randomness” she said.
“Parallel Syncho what? What is that” I asked.
“It’s when the random occurrences of your life line up to look like they were planned that way and that they were supposed to happen.” She replied. “Do you know what I mean?”
Boy, did I ever know what she meant. One of my favourite sayings is “There are no coincidences in life.” There are just way too many things that happen to me that make me say “Hmmm.”
For example as I have been trying to connect with people about my ebook, I am finding people whom I have never met before, but I feel like I have known them all my life. I learned from Bob delBuono, an old mentor and friend, 15 years ago that when life randomly gives you an opportunity to meet someone that you can learn from about your current situation, you had better take the time to connect with that person right then and there, because it will not happen a second time. Those “stars” may never align again and you would have missed an opportunity to gain clarity or direction on what you needed to know.
Take, for example, how I met Tom Voccola.
Three weeks ago, I didn’t know him from Adam, but ‘m sure that I was supposed to. In case you haven’t heard of Tom, who I’m sure you will soon, he is the author of a book called The Accidental CEO – A leader’s journey from ego to purpose. I came to meet him through a business networking site similar to Facebook called Linkedin. I was looking through my 3rd level of contacts, I don’t know what for, when I saw his name. My fingers were obviously more in tune to the universe than my mind was and they clicked on his profile and presto, three weeks later, we have shared emails back and forth, Tom has written a testimonial for my ebook, we have chatted on the phone, and we are eagerly trying to see how we can support each other in business. Parallel Synchronized Randomness.
The person you happen to meet on the sidewalk who knows a person you should meet. The phone rings, it’s someone dialing a wrong number but somehow you get to speaking and she knows all about the answers that you are seeking. You get a flat tire driving to work and someone pulls over to help you and it just happens that this person knows someone that you have been trying to meet and makes the introduction. The book that just magically appears on your desk one morning that no one knows how it got there, but carries within it the secrets that you have been searching for.
Life is as big a miracle as you want it to be.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.
When we set out each morning, if we can become open to these experiences, it is amazing just where we could arrive in life, but we must be in tune with the “music” that is playing. If we’re always plugged into our “I” pods, we will miss and sometimes walk right by the “you” pods that are out there all around us, just waiting to be discovered.
This week, please take the time to listen to what is going on around you. Be curious. Take no random happening at face value and be in tune to the circumstances in life in which you find yourself. Dare to discipline yourself to look behind the randomness of them and you may find answers to the life challenges in which you have been searching. But you must be open to take a chance and see where it will take you.
Make this your best week ever.
Paul