Synchronicity and My Celebrity Sighting

My trip to Omega institute- full of synchronicity!

Last week I discussed how following your heart and making sure your actions are really aligned with your true desires was the quickest and least resistant path to feeling deep fulfillment and joy in your life and in love. I mentioned that a sense of flow and ease in your life and relationships is an indicator that you're making decisions and taking actions that are aligned with your heart and true-self. This week I want to talk about another sign you're on your path- one that I experienced first hand this weekend. Synchronicity.

Synchronicity is a term created by Carl Jung to describe the meaningful coincidences that occur in your life.  

Synchronistic events can be seen as guidance from the universe.  When you're aware and open to them, they can help you make choices that will align you more deeply with your heart and ideal life.

To illustrate this concept, I'll tell you about my synchronistic weekend experience. Every year my little brother and I take a road trip for his birthday. This year we decided to drive to upstate NY to check out the Omega Institute, aka. "the new age mecca of the east coast". We originally wanted to book our stay for the previous weekend which was his actual birthday, but they were completely booked.  A bit bummed out, we opted for the next weekend that was available instead.

Key #1 to experiencing synchronicity: Be flexible! Rather than resisting when the universe nudges you in a new direction, just go with the flow.

So, we enjoy a gorgeous ride up, blasting Vampire Weekend, and driving 30 miles past our exit (I got distracted by the dance music). We finally pull into the parking lot, check in, and make our way to the cafe to get settled and plan out our weekend activities.  

As we're sitting there eating a delicious homemade granola bar, I glimpse a familiar face at the table next to us. After a few seconds my brain makes the connection and I realize it's Jack Kornfield! (Yep, he's a celebrity in my eyes). Those of you familiar with the field of meditation and mindfulness have likely heard of him. For those who haven't, he's one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness and vipassana (a specific meditation technique) to the west over 40 years ago. He's one of my favorite western spiritual teachers. It turns out he was leading a workshop at Omega that weekend. I had actually almost signed up for an online workshop with him a few weeks ago, but decided the timing wasn't right. Talk about synchronicity!

My celebrity sighting...Jack Kornfield!

The following night I sat in on a panel discussion with Jack and other top mindfulness experts. As I listened, every word they said resonated deep inside my body.Their messages mirrored concepts I've spent years practicing and recently felt called to teach.

I felt that sense of flow, ease, and recognition that comes when you're on your path and following the guidance of the universe.

In this instance I was feeling flow and alignment with my work in this world, but these feelings of ease, flow, and synchronicity can also show up in your love life, on your health journey, or anywhere in your life.

The next morning, in the library, I randomly picked a book off the shelf and opened to an arbitrary page. It's something I do for fun to communicate with the universe.

Basically, I ask to be guided to something I need to know now, grab a book, and flip to a page. Can you guess what the page I read was about?? (hint: we're still on the topic of synchronicity). It was a page discussing the powerful effects of meditation and awareness on your life, and how to get started with the practice. (And no, this was not a library filled only with meditation books.) After reading the chapter I was filled with delight and inspiration. Again, physical signs that you're on your path.

As we drove home (partly in silence for reflection), I thought about the synchronicity of the weekend and what it all meant. I considered how important my meditation and spiritual practice has been in my life and relationships over the past decade. And how lately I've been feeling deeply called to teach these tools to others. Even during my work as an acupuncturist and skin care specialist I casually discussed and recommended these practices that had helped me transform my life (read my story here). 

Years ago, I asked a client I had worked with for 6 months to comment on the benefits she received from working with me. The part that I will never forget was, "Working with Dana, deeply nourishes my soul".  And she was coming to see me for facials!

On that drive home from Omega, I realized that it's time I really embrace my role as a teacher and guide in sharing these transformational tools with those who need them. I see so many women struggling to find that flow, ease, and synchronicity in their lives. They want to stand in their power and follow their hearts. They want to find a deeply fulfilling partnership, and they want to feel a sense of success and fulfillment with their work and lives in general. But they're constantly being derailed and consumed by emotional and mental turbulence, which keeps them feeling stuck, frustrated, and sometimes powerless. And often, they find themselves cycling through the same unwanted patterns and feelings over and over again in love, work, friendships etc.

If this is you, I've created a gift for you. It's my own personal emotional crisis tool-kit. My top 5 tools to feel calm and grounded when your thoughts and emotions are consuming you. Click here to get it. If you actually do them, these tools are the starting point to quieting your mind, so you can hear the messages and guidance of your heart and the universe- so you can experience flow, ease, and synchronicity. This is the first step towards having the life and relationships you so deeply desire.

As Jack Kornfield said this weekend,

We are all born innately peaceful, kind, and joyful beings. But we live in a society that does not promote the vehicles to nurture values, virtues, and character development, so our true selves get hidden under the conditioning we take on through our lives. All we need are the proper tools to tear down that conditioning that keeps us feeling stuck, isolated, unwhole, and unfulfilled. 

If this resonates with you, please download the "Emotional Crisis Tool-Kit" for some really powerful and easy tools to feel calm and grounded right now.

What's the #1 thing that causes you emotional and mental turbulence in your life now? Leave me a comment below or email me at Dana@IChingForChange.com.