"Coincidences"

Have you ever thought about a friend, only to have them phone you a few minutes later? Or perhaps you've had a dream that later actually happened. If you've told people about this, the majority probably brush this off with "oh, it's a coincidence."

What about larger events in life? For those of you who have ever fallen in love, you might know what I mean. When you think about how you came to meet that person, you may think - at the time, anyway - that it was a wonderful act of fate. Different people have different names for it, of course, such as fate, destiny, the hand of God, or just "luck". Others will say it is merely a coincidence.

I am not going to jump in at the extreme spiritual side and proclaim "there is no such thing as a coincidence." If you decide one morning to wear a green top, and later that day are offered a Skittle - and low and behold, you end up choosing a green Skittle! - do we say that it's Fate? It sounds more like a coincidence. People have a habit of taking two independent events and linking them together through a bizarre train of thoughts to construct their own ideas of fate. However, if everything that happened that day lead you to the colour green, you might be right in thinking there was something to it... whether or not it was your subconscious attracting you to that colour for some reason (because you were feeling jealous for some reason, or as a sign that you should pay more attention to nature or your heart chakra! The interpretation is open-ended) or whether a spirit guide or something similar was leading you to it.

In the grand scheme of things, though, I don't think that much is down to coincidence. The people who are brought into our lives, for example. I don't think that each person I've ever met will play a significant role in my life, but there are some who I know for certain were brought to me for some reason, or I was brought to them.

For example, my friend, who I'll call Sky. I had always intended on moving on with my education a year before I actually did. The reason for my delay was unbeknown to me, but something told me that I should stick around for a reason that would later become clear to me. During this year, I met Sky. During a conversation with others, I mentioned something to do with conspiracy theories and he replied - we clicked instantly. Since then we have been talking and I found that he is on my wavelength and has a lot in common with how I think and feel. We have a lot to teach each other.

Now, people I have told about Sky think that this is a coincidence, however I do not. I felt a connection with him which I later decided to tell him about. He said he felt it too. He also told me that he had prayed for someone to enter his life so that he could share his thoughts and experiences with them, because he felt lost and alone. I believe that I was brought into his life as an answer to that.

So, if people are brought into our life somehow that isn't coincidence, then what is it? There are a few options. It could be a higher power, such as God, leading us into each other's lives. It could be guardian angels or spirit guides. It could be our own souls, our higher selves, who vibrate on frequencies beyond our reach, and communicate with each other on levels we are unaware of - in a way, our spirits arranging for our physical forms to meet.

It is, in a way, all of these things, and yet none. The universe exists on beautiful patterns that we cannot see, because we are bound to the physical world. It is like a beautiful melody - each note in harmony with the last. For this reason, everything is connected, everything is one... when you think about it like that, "coincidences" start to seem to make much more sense.

You know when you find yourself in a situation that you just "know" was meant to be? Well. I'll share my epiphany with you. It was so simple : I was playing with a piece of paper which I'd ripped up for some reason. I was fitting the pieces back, like a jigsaw. Then I realised - we are all parts of the whole, like pieces of a jigsaw. When put together, everything fits into one. It all made sense to me after that... synchronisities, so-called coincidences, destiny... of course everything fits into place if it is all part of the same thing! I then said to myself "we are all branches of the same tree", which a few weeks later I found out was quite a common analogy. I will elaborate on this more next time :)

It was not coincidence which made me start this blog. I was beginning to doubt it all, I admit, only two days ago. I asked for a sign that it really was true, and that I wasn't crazy. The next day someone stopped me on the street, trying to advertise www.newint.org - this magazine. We got talking, and when I left, I knew that was my sign. I didn't care what people thought as I laughed to myself on the way home. If you ask for a sign, you will get one.