Synchronicities and trusting one's instinct

[Rapid]

For the past year or so, I've been working on noticing synchronicities and trusting my gut instinct (e.g. "I don't know why but this feels wrong ...). It hasn't been an easy process since I'm the type of person who likes to gather evidence before making decisions. This post is a bit rambling but I hope it will help you guys on your journeys. I do have a question at the end.

Case #1:
Last year (I think it was last year or the year before) I was playing with some of those oracle cards. One particular card kept showing up. It was the one about being around children. Since I am interested in education, later in the year and this year, I took courses related to education so sure enough, I've been spending more time with children. Self-fulling prophecy? Valuable experiences although I've figured out that I prefer to work with older people.

Case #2:
I've had a few people recommending yoga to me. I haven't taken a class since college. Then a few weeks ago, again, somebody else mentioned yoga. So does this mean that I should go for it? One could argue that I tend to hang out with spiritual people so of course the subject of yoga would more likely to come up.

Case #3:
I've been looking into graduate school. Recently I met a few people who went to my top-choice school, and they had nothing but good things to say about the program. Also, I keep finding relevant articles about the people at this school. Synchronicity? It seems that this school would be a great match for my interests. Of course, I'm excited. On the other hand, I am also nervous about attending this school because this school is known to be a really intellectual place. I keep wondering if I would measure up. On the other hand, I even spoke to a graduate who's also into creative things like myself so I keep telling myself don't worry about it. Besides, it's irrational to worry about doing well at the school before getting accepted by the program.

Has anyone experienced any synchronicity that turned out to be a warning of some sort?

I find that it's a little bit easier (now) to trust my gut feelings about members of the opposite sex. But with career-related issues, it's more complicated. I tend to be very hard on myself so I often have to deal with self-doubt. I'm having a hard time reading my feelings about that graduate school. They could mean that this is something that I need to do in order to grow, or they could mean, stay the heck away.

[magic1]

if you trusted it all...then nothing would be wrong..that's my view. Its just that we label things...


so just trust it all, that is the real journey with this stuff...total faith in you, life and the universe...and when you get there, presto, all you ever want just flows in perfectly........

This stuff is outside our immediate comprehension...but its is truth

[songwriter]

Originally Posted by Rapid

For the past year or so, I've been working on noticing synchronicities and trusting my gut instinct (e.g. "I don't know why but this feels wrong ...). It hasn't been an easy process since I'm the type of person who likes to gather evidence before making decisions. This post is a bit rambling but I hope it will help you guys on your journeys. I do have a question at the end.

Case #1:
Last year (I think it was last year or the year before) I was playing with some of those oracle cards. One particular card kept showing up. It was the one about being around children. Since I am interested in education, later in the year and this year, I took courses related to education so sure enough, I've been spending more time with children. Self-fulling prophecy? Valuable experiences although I've figured out that I prefer to work with older people.

Case #2:
I've had a few people recommending yoga to me. I haven't taken a class since college. Then a few weeks ago, again, somebody else mentioned yoga. So does this mean that I should go for it? One could argue that I tend to hang out with spiritual people so of course the subject of yoga would more likely to come up.

Case #3:
I've been looking into graduate school. Recently I met a few people who went to my top-choice school, and they had nothing but good things to say about the program. Also, I keep finding relevant articles about the people at this school. Synchronicity? It seems that this school would be a great match for my interests. Of course, I'm excited. On the other hand, I am also nervous about attending this school because this school is known to be a really intellectual place. I keep wondering if I would measure up. On the other hand, I even spoke to a graduate who's also into creative things like myself so I keep telling myself don't worry about it. Besides, it's irrational to worry about doing well at the school before getting accepted by the program.

Has anyone experienced any synchronicity that turned out to be a warning of some sort?

I find that it's a little bit easier (now) to trust my gut feelings about members of the opposite sex. But with career-related issues, it's more complicated. I tend to be very hard on myself so I often have to deal with self-doubt. I'm having a hard time reading my feelings about that graduate school. They could mean that this is something that I need to do in order to grow, or they could mean, stay the heck away.

Well #2 doesn't look as a synch. Unless you were thinking exactly Yoga a second before the person said "Yoga" or so...

#3 is only a synch if you find the articles without searching for them


I've never experience a synch that turned out to be a warning. As they are sings of path supposed to be good for you, they are never warnings.

[MagicalRealist]

Originally Posted by Rapid

Case #1:
...One particular card kept showing up. It was the one about being around children. Since I am interested in education [...] sure enough, I've been spending more time with children. Self-fulling prophecy? Valuable experiences although I've figured out that I prefer to work with older people.

Keep in mind that children appearing in a card reading don't have to mean literal children. It can also mean taking on a nurturing role, or guiding or teaching anyone less experienced. Children can also symbolize connection with your own inner childlike aspects--imagination, creativity, curiosity. So it's not surprising to me that child symbolism showed up in an educator's reading.

Case #2:
I've had a few people recommending yoga to me. [...] So does this mean that I should go for it?

Do you really want to? If so, I say go for it. If not, don't.

If not, is yoga serving as a symbol of something you'd like to experience in your life? Maybe you're tense, and wish you could "breathe easier" or "enjoy more flexibility"? (This may sound crazy, but I end up getting a lot of feedback in symbolic form like this. As an artist, I'm also really tuned into getting messages this way.)

One could argue that I tend to hang out with spiritual people so of course the subject of yoga would more likely to come up.

True. And yoga is incredibly popular right now, so if you're part of a crowd that is into that sort of thing, invitations to join classes are nothing out of the ordinary.

Case #3:
I've been looking into graduate school. Recently I met a few people who went to my top-choice school, and they had nothing but good things to say about the program. Also, I keep finding relevant articles about the people at this school. Synchronicity?

When I was looking at grad programs years ago, everything kept pointing to Stanford, much the same as you've described. I applied, but was not accepted. And in the end, I realized this was a very good thing.

So is this a synchro, or is it just confirmation bias at work (as in, are you noticing articles more because you're thinking about the program)?

Honestly, none of them really feel like synchs to me; they just aren't weird enough. That doesn't mean you aren't getting some sort of subtle guidance, but with synchs there's usually a thrill of recognition that you've experienced a synch (I wish I could describe it better).

When I experience synchs, they happen in bizarre ways--they come to me along odd, uncanny, even outrageous paths. For me, synchs don't seem to happen within "normal" reality; there's a deeply, wonderfully strange quality about them, as if the edges of reality just got thin enough, long enough, for someone to throw a message in a bottle across that boundary and into my lap. And they almost never tell me which path to take; instead, they confirm that yes, I'm on the right path. Very often they use jokes, or symbols that make me laugh when I realize what they are. There's always an element of pleasant surprise.

Then again, I'm weird, so maybe yours are just more subtle? [shrugs]

Has anyone experienced any synchronicity that turned out to be a warning of some sort?

Never. Synchs are fun. Synchs tell me that everthing is going well, and to keep doing whatever it is I'm doing.

When I get warnings, it's from intuition--I get a tight feeling in my gut, or I otherwise feel strong resistance. Warnings are also situational--they happen when there is something in my immediate experience that I need to be wary of. That pushy guy who insists on buying me a drink, who gives me a serious case of the willies? I trust that; I'm out the kitchen door and halfway home before he realizes I'm taking a suspiciously long time in the ladies' room. That stock order I'm about to place, that suddenly fills me with overwhelming dread? Forget it--there's always other investments. The house that has incredibly bad vibes, that makes me shiver and want to leave? Nothing the real estate agent or inspector have to say can convince me to buy it, no matter how cute it is or how good the location.

Whoever slips me a synch has a great sense of humor. I get the impression they planned it out, giggling like mad as they did so. Warnings, however, are blunt and inarticulate; it's as if a 500-pound gorilla is trying to yank me back from the edge, or nudge me away from danger. There's no finesse at all, because finesse brings ambiguity, and ambiguity is the last thing you need when the message is GET OUT or NO or DANGER.

I find that it's a little bit easier (now) to trust my gut feelings about members of the opposite sex. But with career-related issues, it's more complicated. I tend to be very hard on myself so I often have to deal with self-doubt. I'm having a hard time reading my feelings about that graduate school. They could mean that this is something that I need to do in order to grow, or they could mean, stay the heck away.

Like taking yoga classes, do you really want to go to graduate school? Or do you want to go because other people you know are doing it and it seems like the thing to do?

If you sit down and imagine yourself in grad school, which do you feel more--the lightness and thrill of anticipaton? Or the heavy feelings of dread and other people's expectations?

Or maybe you don't really want to go to grad school right now, but it's something you think you would like to do in the future. And that's okay; lots of people wait.

Or maybe you don't really want to go, but simply getting accepted to grad school would be enough to satisfy you (trust me; that's not so crazy as it sounds).

You could go ahead and apply to grad school--take the GRE and jump through all the flaming hoops involved. See where that process leads you. Maybe taking the steps to get into grad school will help you clarify whether that is where you really want to be. In the end, you'll either get accepted, or you won't. If you do get accepted, then you can decide whether you want to go or not. And by then, you'll probably know.

[Acting Like Godot]

I'll share my personal experience.

Some years ago, I started seriously considering taking a year off from work, to do my masters degree. All sorts of synchronicities started popping up, to support that move.

Then I finally decided that actually I did NOT want to do a masters degree. Instead I decided that I would carry on working and at the same time look for new ways to grow, learn and make more money, out of my job. Then all sorts of synchronicities ALSO started popping up, to support that decision.

So here's the tentative conclusion that I would like to offer.

Very often, when the universe seems to be telling you that you should do THIS or THAT, it actually isn't. The universe doesn't tell you to do anything. You're free to do anything you want to do. All the universe does is to constantly respond to your OWN changing thoughts and intentions, whatever they may be.

So if you are thinking seriously about going to graduate school, the universe will send you lots of synchronicities to show you how that might come about.

If you are thinking seriously about taking up a yoga class, the universe will ALSO send you lots of synchronicities to show you how that might come about.

And if you are just thinking about blue feathers or white feathers just for the fun of it, the universe will also send you lots of blue-feathered and white-feathered synchronicities.

I think that very often, when people feel that they are "called" to follow a certain path, they aren't really being "called" by anything to follow that path. All that's happening is that their own thoughts are CREATING a path, and the more they think about their supposed "calling", the more obvious a path they create.

So the important thing is to:

(1) get clear about what YOU want to do; and
(2) trust that it is possible / likely / inevitable.

And the ever-helpful universe will then step in, organise the details, and build the path for you.

One of my recurring personal challenges is really just deciding what I want to do. There are so many delicious things to explore, in so many different directions.

[themaster]

I will add a bit to what goddite said.. cause he's mostly write.. synchronicity can be treated as DATA about what you’re thinking about it.. (Remember LOA’s core rule.. “you get, what you think about”)

If you feel excited to go this school.. that's a sign from yourself that may be the direction that is best for you.. however you should be also warned (not as in DANGER just as in.. where your excitement may change) as in goddites story.. that sometimes the inner self.. push's you in 1 direction to only to go in another.. so you may get to school.. and realize

That art was your real passion (or insert next exciting step instead of art HERE)