Synchronicity and Inner Guidance

This post comes from a 2012 blog post that synchronously arose today after a dream about a huge sign, the need for a screen upon which to project a “movie” and a magical, un-containable rabbit. I decided to write it up as a separate post rather than reblogging because the end of the original post references things specific to that time period. The post itself seems just as relevant today as it did nearly 10 years ago:

Regular readers of my blog know that I’m a huge fan of synchronicity and “reading” signs. With a Masters Degree in English, I’ve simply expanded my definition of “text” to include this entire living, breathing Universe. I thought I’d share some perspectives on synchronicity and how it pertains to inner guidance, seeking and finding, and divination (specifically tarot).

“Synchronistic meetings are like mirrors that reflect something of ourselves. If we want to grow spiritually, all we have to do is take a good look. Synchronicity holds the promise that if we want to change inside, the patterns of our external life will change as well.” ~Jean Shinoda Bolen

“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

“Synchronicity hints at the unified world behind the illusory veil of the material universe.” ~Roger S. Jones

“Synchronicity is choreographed by a great, pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature, and is manifest in each of us through intuitive knowledge.” ~Deepak Chopra

When people first begin to experience synchronicity, the phenomenon may feel a bit overwhelming. Clients often as me if I think they’re “crazy” for noticing signs. Others ask me, “Well?! What does it mean? Does it just happen because I’m looking for it?”

In my opinion and experience, the answer’s a bit more complex. Since attitude helps to create our world, how we feel about synchronous events plays an important role. Do we feel a sinking feeling? Does a series of closed doors fill us with dread when we keep pushing them to open? Or do we sense, “If not this, then something better”? When synchronicity blasts into your awareness, it can easily throw you into the ethers due to a persistent sense of invisible order or interference. If you feel ungrounded or spooked, get back in touch with your body. How does it feel? What messages might you be ignoring, which have now played outwards as external events? As Carl Jung reminds us, “Whatever is not conscious will be experienced as fate.”

Jung defines synchronicity as “meaningful coincidence,” further explaining, “Synchronicity reveals the meaningful connections between the subjective and objective world.” But who provides the meaning? Although I do not believe anything occurs randomly in the Universe, trying to assign meaning to every single event becomes a maddening rabbit hole. I often use a three time’s the charm measure: if something jumps out at me once, I make note of it but don’t necessarily take action; second time really gets my attention; by the third time, I begin to formulate a different direction.

That’s my general, everyday operating principle. In times of extreme prayer and quiet (or sometimes intensely loud) seeking, I pay attention to everything. I almost scan the Universe like I scan a client’s energy — searching for anomalies. I don’t force anomalies to appear. Rather, I soften my observation, blur things a bit, and pay attention to whatever pokes through. In an impressionistic painting, a touch of Salvador Dali or Piet Mondrian would certainly stand out! It’s not that impressionists are better or worse than Dali or Mondrian, just different. Having something obviously ordered, yet differently ordered begs my further attention and exploration. For those who don’t know the art history references, I’ve included a few images:

Monet is probably the most famous impressionist painter

Claude Monet ~ The Water Lily Pond with the Japanese Bridge

Imagine something like this image below inserting itself into the above scene:

Painting from a series by Piet Mondrian

Mondrian painted in primary colors and black and white, distinctly using squares and rectangles. Repeats of that might very well grab your attention inside a Monet painting, right? And what about this?

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

The Dali might seem (ever so slightly) less jarring than the Mondrian image if it inserted itself into the Monet, but I’d imagine the melting clocks over the bridge just might grab your attention!

Actually, I love this particular Dali in a discussion of synchronicity, because a hallmark of that subjective “meaning” seems somehow very connected to the compression of time. If the seemingly linked events hadn’t occurred at the exact moment they occurred, we might have simply overlooked them, or allowed them to fade into a background blur. Synchronicity involves anomaly, Divine timing, and a willingness to see beyond what you might normally expect.

I always suggest people pray for eyes to see the signs, wisdom to interpret them, and faith to follow through on them. If you’re going to pray, you might as well go all out!

But what happens when you’re just not sure? What happens if you see so many signs, some of which seem to send conflicting messages? Since we live in a vibrational Universe, Abraham-Hicks would say your experience alters as your point of attraction alters. They’ve often used the analogy of taking a trip from Phoenix to San Diego. It’s a straight shot, and if you keep heading towards your intention, you’ll get there. If, however, you become discouraged when you hit Yuma, you might endlessly cycle between Phoenix and Yuma and back to Phoenix, without ever arriving at your intended destination. In this case, your own personal synchronicities might be all over the place, depending on whether you’re heading towards San Diego or back to Phoenix!

Enter some additional wisdom from Carl Jung: “We can predict the future when we know how the present moment has evolved out of the past.” Towards the end of his life, Jung became very interested in divination tools like the I Ching and the Tarot. He regretted that he had too few participants to create a full study, but modern Tarot Readers often draw upon Jungian ideas like Archetypes and Synchronicity as a means of interpreting Tarot spreads. To me, that makes perfect sense, since which cards appear in any given spread simply reflects the vibration of whoever’s receiving the reading. The cards provide a visual, complete with artwork, Archetypes and a potential storyline (via the suit cards).

You can think of your thoughts as seeds or even eggs, which contain all the nutrients for full blown creation. Synchronicities and Tarot can be seen as indicators of how closely your vibration’s aligning with the thoughts you most want to take form. As above, so below! Great manifestors know and live this maxim. If they don’t like the tone of synchronicities, inner monologue or readings, they harness positivity and redirect their thoughts. As the saying goes:

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

This all comes from an older post I had completely forgotten about, but it popped up right after a dream about signs and synchronicities. Perhaps someone out there’s been wondering about these topics. In any case, I hope you find the flow of ideas helpful and timely on your journey.