On the radio I heard a song by Lee DeWyze called "Sweet Serendipity." DeWyze is an "American Idol" winner. The lyrics talk about something watching over him, like sweet serendipity. The song is an upbeat ballad about what can go right in life even in the toughest of times.
No doubt about it, things in life can go terribly wrong, but what about when it all goes ridiculously right? Well, it's pretty sweet!
Over the years I've seen so many friends, acquaintances, and even strangers with their face lit up over stories of uncanny synchronicity and sweet serendipity.
I knew a screenwriter who tried to option a short story written by a French author. He fell in love with the story from the moment he read it. When he contacted his agent to attempt to option it, he found it had already been optioned by a big movie director/producer in Hollywood. Then, out of the blue, that movie director contacted him, asking him to write the movie.
This weekend I heard the story of my friends' good friend. For the woman's 50th birthday all of her girlfriends gave her a charm bracelet and wrote something about her that they read at her birthday bash. Over and over again the women used similar terms to describe their friend, such as "vessel" and "anchor." As they shared their writings, they all found they were writing similar attributes, and had bought charms (tiny empty containers and anchors) that all complemented one another's viewpoints of their friend. My girlfriend told me she had chills at they went around the circle saying what it was they cherished about their friend. Even their exact sentences had uncanny similarities.
Speaking for myself, I'm constantly swimming in a sea of synchronicities. Here's just one example involving our house in the woods. When we were considering buying a house in a rural part of northern California, I experienced several interesting coincidences. The owner was not only from the city where I grew up (more than 100 miles away), but he had been in my high school class. Then I learned that our next-door neighbors had both been students of my parents who had been teachers. The kicker was that our next-door neighbor was also named Grace. Since I consider grace to be a big part of serendipity, it helped to sell me on the property. With finances tight at that time, we bought the property on a wing and a prayer. We felt that the signs were there and the welcome mat was out. Even though we spend much of our time in Los Angeles, we still own the house in the woods and it is a major blessing in our family's life. Our neighbors have become good friends. Soon after we needed someone to help look after the house. I felt the urge to go to a coffee house about 15 miles from our house in the woods. Something seemed to say, "Go there now!"
When I ordered coffee, there was a police officer there. I overheard him telling people he and his family needed a place to live in the area where we have our home in the woods. I told him we were looking for part-time renters. Soon he was living part time on our property with his family, looking after the place.
These days I feel that if there's flow, then it's a go. Of course, all this usually involves footwork. It's part of paving the way to smooth sailing for any project, activity or goal. But it does seem there is an element of magic and coincidence that sometimes defies a rational explanation.
Dewyze's song lyrics also covers the concept of letting go.
"I don't want to hold on, I want the strength to let go," he sings. Letting go seems to be a big part of letting something good happen. It's about fun surprises and happy endings. When most on the radio or on iTunes are singing about broken hearts or romantic trysts, it's refreshing to hear an upbeat tune about sweet things happening in every day life. It's like an anthem for lucky living you can listen to while driving through life. It also made me a lot happier in traffic.
Serendipity is pretty sweet!
Here's a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SaSxJkH5do