thoughts

synchronicity
I don't believe in luck, chance, or anything like that — but I do believe in synchronicity. Yes, it is a cool album by the Police. But more than that, synchronicity is a spiritual nudge or affirmation — a little clue that you're on to something good. For example...

I left the group I had been singing with for 7 years so that I could have more time for my art; and what I had was a big question mark hanging over my head: what was I going to do? Well, one morning when I woke up, the Beatles' song "Baby, You're A Rich Man" came into my head. In particular, I thought of the verse "Tuned to a natural E / Happy to be that way / Now that you've found another key / What are you going to play?" * I thought that was pretty appropriate, considering that my name starts with an E and that I was at a kind of artistic crossroads but wasn't really doing much about it.

That day at work, I heard that song on the radio, and later on, I started to hear it at least once a week, it seemed. Now, this is not the most popular Beatles song, and I don't believe I've ever heard it on the radio before. But for some reason, I was starting to hear that song on a regular basis. So I kept being confronted with the question, "What are you going to play?" and I had to answer it; I started painting again and working on this site.

Synchronicity is when you're thinking strongly about something and a friend you haven't seen in a while gives you a book on the exact same subject. It's when you're contemplating making a change and you happen to talk to precisely the right person to help you get started (both of which have happened to me personally).

Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist's Way (which is where I learned about the concept), defines synchronicity as answered prayers. "Is it any wonder we discount answered prayers? We call it coincidence. We call it luck. We call it anything but what it is — the hand of God, or good, activated by our own hand when we act in behalf of our truest dreams, when we commit to our own soul." **

To those who say that kind of thing never happens to them, well....it won't if you're not open to it. You have to be aware of what's around you and what your own heart is calling you to do. And then...synchronicity happens!

*"Baby You're A Rich Man" Lennon/McCartney copyright © 1967 by NORTHERN SONGS LIMITED
**The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron copyright © 1992 by Julia Cameron, published by G.P. Putmam's Sons