Synchronicity
I’m reading this book called “the Power of coincidence: How life shows us waht we need to know.” I bought it because I want to write a book.. about exactly what I couldn’t say. I’ve always wanted to write a book… but never quite sure what kind of book. I’ve flip flopped a lot and this year my goal was just to start writing and see what happened. So I had a basic plot, characters, etc. and I started writing and I think it’s actually pretty good! But I was on page 33 or so and I realized that that wasn’t the book I wanted to be writing. So I let thing percolate a bit and I was reading different things - mostly Joseph Campbell - a lot of things suddenly came together for me and I realized what I wanted my book to be about. Basically a fictional story about a certain stage in a woman’s life and how life sort of gives you what you need in order to be whatever you’re supposed to be.
So… I’ve already blogged about this, but for a quick recap, I was in a bookstore a day after I’d written notes like the ones above for my book. I was looking at kayaking books and maps and stuff and J came over to me and showed me a book he was looking at in the psychology section. This was a little independent bookstore that we never go to, but happened to be seeing a movie on a Wednesday night (also unusual) at a theater we never go to (because it was on the way home from work and I had to see Harry Potter!). Anyway, so I followed him over to the psychology section and I saw the Power of Coincidence book and it just struck me how synchronicitous it was for me to find a book about synchronicty when I had just figured out that that’s what my book was going to be about!
Now, I’m getting into the book and I think it’s about more than just writing my book… I think it’s about some more personal things too, which would explain why I’m interested in writing a book about it. This probably makes no sense.. Basically, I have some work to do. But, for now, some interested things from the book (things I’ve underlined):
“Every experience of falling in love or of entering an intimate relationship is an example of synchronicity since we inevitably meet just the people who teach us what we need to learn about life, love, and ourselves…we bond with the perosn who wills how us what we have not worked through from our past and who will helps up complete our unfinished emotional business, if we are willing to do the work it takes for that to happen…. synchronicity often happens because of a link between a new contact with someone and what follows later that turns out to be important to us….over and over in life we are meeting exactly the people who help us wake up to what is dormant in ourselves…”
“The issue from an old relationship may not be “How bad he was” but “How much I needed to learn!” “Often, the only way a lost piece of ourselves or of our history comes back to us is through another person. The unknown is scary, so just the right people and events come along that help us go there. The only mistake we make is hanging on to some people too long or too briefly. We take them as literally themselves instead of as themselves AND metaphorical forces comes to boost or chide.”
“When we are ready to learn, a teacher appears.”
Anyway, there are more, but that’s probably enough for now.: ) Too many things in my life have happened this way for me not to see meaning in it. For one small example.. my piano playing. I played piano for a few years when I was a kid and then gave it up. After school, I always had an urge to play music and would vow each year I’d take up the guitar, or the trombone, or whatever. Then a decade went by and one day we were in radio shack and I was messing around with a keyboard and J laughed and said “Why do you always play with pianos when we’re in stores?” and it kind of struck me that that was what I wanted to do. So I made an actual decision to buy a keyboard and had done some research to find a good, reasonably priced one. Anyway… I went to Virginia by myself to visit my friends for a few days and came home and J told me that his dad had a surprise for me. He wanted to give me his mother’s piano! She had loved to play but nobody else in the family played and my father in law really wanted to see it get some use. So, I had the piano.. now I just had to figure out how to play it. I looked online for places that had lessons, but Maine isn’t a real internet friendly state.. .couldn’t find anything. A few days later, I was on the phone with my mom, and the tv was on but was muted, but I was looking at it and an ad popped up for a local music store (at the same mall where I do my grocery shopping) that said they had piano lessons. So I went in that weekend, signed right up, and the rest is history!
Long story.. I know. : ) And there’s way more where that came from. But I feel like the thing with writing is like that too.. like everything is finally coming together so I’ll have what I need to write the book I’ve always wanted to write.
So, that’s that. Not sure the status of the bird mites. Haven’t actually seen one but was itching like holy hell last night and didn’t sleep well. Might’ve been imagining it. J still hasn’t gotten rid of the bird’s nest. I don’t know if the birds’ are still in it or not. Spent most of the day doing laundry, playing piano (finally getting motivated again), reading. AND went for my run/walk. It’s another scorcher here today. I’m so over summer. Yes, I really said that!! There have been some bad thunderstorms in the aea but they seem to keep barely missing us.
