When is procrastination actually synchronicity?
A few days ago, I wanted to go take a look at some office chairs – but instead of leaving at the planned time, I found myself doing other tasks. This is not unusual for me, and in the past, I have labeled my behavior as ‘distracted,’ ‘ADD,’ or ‘procrastinating.’ After finally leaving, I soon found myself behind a mini-van that had the license plate, ‘WE R CALM.’ My own license plate says, ‘BE CALM,’ so the two of us together were a moving message of calmness. As I reflected on this, I realized how often what I had judged as procrastinating ended up making it possible for me to be in the right place at the right time.
It was synchronicity.
Merriam Webster defines synchronicity as “the coincidental occurrence of events that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality.”
That was interesting, but I wanted a deeper understanding, and so I found this:
“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, Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles
This message about experiencing more and more synchronicities spoke to me, as the license plate was actually the second synchronous experience that I’d had this week. Interestingly, both involved my search for office chairs! In the other, the idea popped into my head that I could post a request on Freecycle.org for an office chair. So I did – and within 24 hours, someone replied that she had a nearly brand new one that she would be happy to give me. As we corresponded to arrange the pickup, we discovered that her neighbor & bff was a woman who had hosted a few workshops I’d taken, and that woman came over when I picked up the chair. We were delighted to re-connect with each other!
One take away from this is that if I had labeled my leaving later than planned as a deficit on my part, I might not have been in a good mood enough to even notice that license plate. So being kind to ourselves and looking on the positive side opens us up to be able to notice those synchronicities. Which themselves feel good. So it’s a win-win in our lives!
