Coincidence and Synchronicity - Example 9

This is about a personal coincidence I mentioned in my post The Beginnings Of My Interest In Coincidences.

Thinking about this today perhaps it doesn't sound such a big deal but, at the time, it affected me greatly and still intrigues me now.

My son had just told us that he had qualified as a Chartered Accountant, which takes quite a few years work here in the UK. I was, of course, chuffed to bits about this and, after talking about it with my wife, I went upstairs to our bedroom.

I wanted to get something or other out of my wardrobe and, for some reason, I was wondering what my father, now deceased, would have thought about my son's success. As I reached into the wardrobe a small bag fell out.

The bag just happened to be one in which I kept a few of my dad's possessions. Nothing of value but they all mean something to me: his old watch, cigarette case, penknife, wedding ring, darts, a tie and a few other trinkets all full of memories.

I then looked at the watch. Dad was always one for punctuality and often asked, "Do you know what time it is?" when I was a teenager either arriving home at night or getting up late in the morning. Then I noticed the time where the hands of the watch had stopped and have remained ever since.

The time on the watch was exactly the time that my son had been born (3.20pm).

Perhaps I was in an emotional state but this really hit me. It was as if it was a message from my father saying he knew all about his grandson.

Okay, this may sound very fanciful but what are the odds of the watch stopping exactly at the time of my son's birth? Plus the bag fell out of the wardrobe 'by itself'.

Anyway, that was one of the first things that got me paying attention to coincidences and synchronicity. They have fascinated me ever since.

Further reading:
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 8 A concidence about photos

A Coincidence Was Life Changing For Hayley Mills

A photo of a young Hayley Mills, the child actress.

Perhaps best known for her 60's classic films such as Pollyanna and Whistle Down The Wind.

Hayley was born 18 April 1946 in London.
Hayley Mills reckons a text, sent on her behalf, was life changing, and it happened all by chance - a coincidence if you like.

I've always had a sort of philosophy that 'you never know what's round the next corner.' A coincidence could well change life dramatically.

In Hayley's case, purely by chance, she was spotted on a Eurotrain by actress, and Britain's Got Talent judge, Amanda Holden.

Amanda was starring, at the time, in a popular UK series Wild At Heart and recognised Hayley. She straight away texted the show's producers saying, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Hayley Mills played my mother in the show?"

The rest as they say is history. Hayley can now be seen on UK television on Sunday evenings playing the role in Wild At Heart.
Hayley said, "I love this job and I love being in Africa. I love the show, I love the character and I love all the people I am working with. It doesn’t get any better than this."

Amanda spotting Hayley on a train turned out to be a life changing moment. As I said: You never know what's round the corner.

Further Reading:
Coincidences From Author Colin Wilson
Arlene Phillips Talks About Coincidences

The Beginnings Of My Interest In Coincidences

I've been asked, "Why this fascination in coincidences and synchronicity?"

As far as I can remember it first started after I had read The Celestine Prophecy. This is an adventure by James Redfield that first came out in 1994. It's about a man on a quest to find a set of nine manuscripts containing 'insights into life itself - insights each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially, one insight then another.'

I won't go into what all of the manuscripts are about but will just say that the first one is about coincidences. The unnamed 'hero' in the book is told:

"These coincidences are happening more and more frequently and when they do, they strike us as beyond what would be expected by pure chance. They feel destined, as though our lives had been guided by some unexplained force. The experience induces a feeling of mystery and excitement and, as a result, we feel more alive."

The adventurer is then told:

"The manuscript predicts that once we reach a critical mass, the entire culture will begin to take these coincidental experiences seriously. We will wonder, in mass, what mysterious process underlines human life on this planet. And it will be this question asked at the same time by enough people, that will allow the other insights to also come into consciousness ..."

At the time of reading the book I was getting a few coincidences in my life, especially one about my deceased father that I haven't written about as yet on this blog. Because of this I started thinking about and recording coincidences.

Now you might well feel that all of this is a load of hogwash but you've got to admit that, when a coincidence happens in your life, it makes you think - and perhaps this is one of the reasons for coincidences and synchronicity.

Further reading:
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 6 Precognitive dream
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 5 A coincidence about names and dates

The Celestine Prophecy is availiable from Amazon:
The Celestine Prophecy for the USA
The Celestine Prophecy for the UK.

Coincidence and Synchronicity - Example 8

The strange thing is that when you become interested in coincidences they seem to be everywhere. Or perhaps you start looking for the slightest thing that may just be one.

This coincidence is about the 2010 Calendar that a friend brought us. I opened it up and the picture I saw was the one on the left. "That's exactly like the photo I took last year when we toured Dorset (England)," I said to my wife.

And sure enough when I checked it was very similar. The photo I took was the large one at the top of this post. Okay the calendar pic is brighter, they no doubt did some work on it to make it so, but it is an identical view: same cottages, same trees in the background and so on.

It's a small world or maybe everything is simply interlocked and we don't fully realise this.

"Do we see in these singular coincidences the purpose of a supernatural power to enforce the attention of mankind to the fact that there is something more in this world than mere matter."
Ignatius Donnelly, diary entry July 4, 1881.

Further Reading:
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 1 About a question being answered
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 5 A coincidence about names and dates
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 3 About an unexpected meeting

Famous Coincidences: Abraham Lincoln

There are lots of famous coincidences. Here's some about Abraham Lincoln that are quite well known.

Actually, thinking about it, the first part perhaps isn't quite so well known. When Abraham Lincoln was a young man he knew of someone in financial difficulties who had to sell all of his belongings to survive. Being a compassionate sort of man Lincoln bought a barrel from him for one dollar.

As for the barrel, he had no idea as to what was inside and simply put it into storage.

Years later Lincoln wasn't sure which path to take in life: either journalism or the legal profession. While thinking about his future he came across the barrel again and decided to see what was actually inside.

In the barrel was a set of law books. He took this to be a sign and chose the law profession which, in turn, led to politics and eventual presidency. Sometimes it's as if coincidence and synchronicity are pointing to our destiny.

Coincidences Between Abraham Lincoln and
John F Kennedy

Moving on, there are many coincidences linking Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy. They are fairly well known but make an interesting read for anyone interested in coincidences.

1. Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 and John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946, one hundred years apart.

2. Still on the hundred years difference theme, Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860 and Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

3. Now their deaths. A month before Lincoln was shot he was in Monroe, Maryland and a month before Kennedy was shot he was with Marilyn Monroe.

4. Both Lincoln and Kennedy were shot on a Friday, behind the head and in the presence of their wives. And so it goes on.

5. They were both assassinated by Southerners and succeeded by Southerners.

6. As for the assassins we go back to the hundred years difference. John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839 and Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

7. If you are into numbers both Booth and Oswald were known by three names and their names are made up of 15 letters.

8. Lincoln's assassin shot the president in a theatre and then hid in a warehouse. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and hid in a theatre.

9. Both Booth and Oswald were themselves assassinated before their trials.

10. Moving on to their successors, both were called Johnson and were born 100 years apart. Andrew Johnson was born in 1808 and Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

11. There are also other similarities such as Lincoln having a secretary called Kennedy and Kennedy had a secretary named Johnson (though some dispute this fact) and both of the presidents' wives lost a son while living in the White House.

Can this really be all by chance? Or is there something greater behind these coincidences?

Coincidence and Synchronicity - Example 7

A couple of days ago I wrote a post about the author Colin Wilson and his coincidence of how, after reading something, he picked up another book and opened it at an article written about exactly the same subject. Yesterday the same thing happened to me.

I was reading The Power of Coincidence and it mentioned the Nazca Lines in Peru and how Maria Reiche, a German mathematician, had devoted most of her life studying these lines.

I finished reading and, for some reason, picked up Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. It opened to page 189 where I read, "In the last 1940's, Kosok teamed up with Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and astronomer. She had come to Nazca to pursue a theory of Kosok's that the lines were astronomically aligned ..."

The same page went on to tell of how, "Kosok died in 1959, but Maria Reiche has devoted her life to the study of these lines, living rough in the desert, tracing new alignments and preserving them against the inroads of tourists."

So in the world of coincidence it seems that one thing leads on to another with the aid of synchronicity. And when I was looking for a photo to include on this post I searched on Google Images and the first one I clicked on was the one I have used. This turns out to have been released to the Public Domain by - yes, you've guessed - Maria Reiche!

Further Reading:
Coincidences From Author Colin Wilson
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 3 About an unexpected meeting
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 1 About a question being answered

How To Get A Car Parking Space Using The Power Of Coincidence

As you will have gathered from this blog I'm interested in coincidence and synchronicity. I'm even more interested to see if it's possible to make such things occur consciously. A lot of coincidences don't appear have any apparent value - though some do, especially after writing them down or dwelling on them for a while.

One easy(ish) way to test out coincidences is with car parking! It's something I've done for ages.

I don't like going in official car parks (object to having to pay!) so I try to find space in side roads that are convenient to wherever I want to visit. Before I set out I 'request' that a perfect parking space will be made available for me.

Yes, it does sound a bit nutty but the strange thing is that a parking space is usually made available to me. Another car may just leave at that very moment I arrive or everywhere will be stacked with cars except for one space perfect for my car.

It happens over and over again.

A good example was when my wife and I visited Arundel on a sunny day when there was a street music festival taking place (that's Arundel castle on the right). The only place to park was in the official car parks as everywhere else had been made no parking areas.

We arrived after events had started and the car parks were jam packed full. People were driving round and then leaving the car park. I did a circuit once and then, instead of leaving, 'asked' for a space.

I was following another car and he suddenly stopped and waved me on - he wanted to let his wife get out of the car - I overtook him and immediately another car drove away from a parking space and I was able to drive in and park. Plus it was right near the center of all of the attractions - perfect.

I know this all sounds far fetched but give it a try for yourself.

When I say 'ask' for a parking space I mean to request one from whatever/whoever you feel comfortable with: the universe, your inner self or subconscious, the cosmic, God, an angel or saint, infinite spirit or virtually anything. As I see it the important thing is to actually ask. It can all happen inside your head or you can make the request aloud. This seems to make no difference.

Try it. It's a bit like the Bible says: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find ..."

Further reading:
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 4 About Dreams that come true
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 3 About an unexpected meeting
Coincidence or Synchronicity - Example 1 About a question being answered