DailyOm

July 11, 2005
Incredible Coincidences
Synchronicity

Everyone has experienced the pleasantly surprised feelings left behind by a meaningful coincidence. The situation itself may be insignificant - the book whose title you couldn't remember falls off the bookstore shelf or an acquaintance who seems to enter your life again and again - but the message inherent in the coincidence may not be. Synchronicity, or the unlikely conjunction of events, can be an eye-opening experience. Psychologist Carl Jung theorized that synchronicities occurred when universal forces were aligned with the experiences of an individual, leading to coincidences that appear to be more than just chance. These incidents happen because everything is innately connected. He believed that such events can be called forth by an individual's unconscious needs. Nothing occurs randomly. Rather, we draw certain people, situations, and blessings to ourselves.

A synchronistic event such as a chance encounter can be positive, negative, or neutral, and feel deeply mysterious or commonplace. Some coincidences are obvious while others are not apparent until after careful analysis. Perhaps during an ongoing financial crisis, you always found just enough money to get by. Or a recurring dream prepares you for an eventual physical event. Many times, synchronicities represent opportunities to learn about ourselves and the external world. If you feel touched by multiple coincidences or intrigued by a single one, ask yourself why you may be attracting the people involved or the situations. Is it highlighting some aspect of your life or suggesting a course of action? The soul, believed Jung, whispers to us through synchronicity calling us to attention.

Seeking the meaning behind a synchronistic event can help you know yourself better, kick start your creativity, or show you future pitfalls to avoid. The most profound coincidences often occur at life's crossroads, stopping us in our tracks and leaving us to find the meaning within.

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July 12, 2005
Pennies From Heaven
Spending Play Money

In our society, money is almost certainly a necessity, but the paper bills we carry around have no real value other than what we impose on them. To a small child, one dollar may seem like a huge amount of money while to a wage earning adult that same dollar may be inconsequential. And, like so much of what we value in life, we attract or repel money, depending on our thoughts and actions.

A fun exercise and valuable learning experience is to make your own money. Make your own bank notes, use play money or write yourself a fake check for whatever amount you desire. If you desire, why not see what it feels like to carry around a million dollars. Notice if being a millionaire makes you more generous or frugal, secure, or even perhaps a bit paranoid.

Make as much money as you want. Notice if you make a lot or a little and pay attention to what your currency is worth. Do you use your money to help make the world a better place or give to your favorite charity? Notice how much you spend on yourself and on others and how that makes you feel. Do you feel a sense of freedom or do you feel bogged down by the responsibility and challenges of keeping track of your money.

The exercise may seem silly to some people and exciting to others. What it is meant to do is to help you understand your relationship to money and how important it is to you. The play money you make may only be paper, but the prosperity you create is very real.

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July 13, 2005
Repeated Listening
Mirroring

Too often people disregard the need to show their conversational partner that their message has been comprehended. Or they only listen with half-hearted focus, also devoting attention to formulating a response... Using the mirroring technique during conversation by sending a feedback signal to your companion both lets them know they are being heard and shows that you are sincerely interested in their words. You do this by ensuring that you have heard those words correctly. Simply by saying, "What I heard you say is..." or repeating their statement but worded as a question, you emphasize partnership and remain centered within the conversation. If your original assessment is incorrect, you can then ask for clarification.

Practicing the mirroring technique teaches you how to really listen and experience the speaker's thoughts and feelings within the context of their perspective, even during tense or emotionally difficult conversations. Showing your comprehension of each individual point your partner has made helps you to devote your full attention to what is being communicated and proves to the speaker that his or her words are not going unheeded. In doing this, you put aside your own reactions until it is your turn to speak and to move past the word level of listening to the essence level.

Mirroring should take place in a comfortable, neutral setting, wherein both speakers will be able to feel accepted and free to express their feelings. The benefits come from focusing on comprehending the meaning of what has been said rather than indulging in expectations, relying on the unspoken, or hoping you have understood. Instead, the result is a nearly perfect understanding of your partner's viewpoint.

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July 14, 2005
Messengers Of Light
Rainbows

The ancient Greeks believed that the goddess Iris used rainbows to travel from the heavens to earth, gliding down the colorful slide to deliver messages from the gods to humans. Looking at a rainbow, it is easy to see how it came to be seen as a mode for divine communication. When one appears, we stop what we're doing and stare in amazement. Something magical has penetrated our everyday world and blessed us with it's beauty.

Every culture has witnessed the rainbow and attempted to make sense of it in its own way. In recent years, it has been interpreted as a message of racial unity-a symbol representing the potential for the harmonious coming together of all the various tribes of the earth. In Tibetan Buddhism, when a great yogi or yogini passes on, rainbows appear at the time of passing. This is referred to as the attainment of the rainbow body. What it means is that the soul in question purified itself so completely as to be free of darkness at the time of death.

These philosophies challenge the perception that the universe is necessarily dualistic, that war and peace, darkness and light, are two sides of one coin. According to these interpretations, harmony and pure light are ultimately capable of absorbing and healing conflict and negativity, the rainbow acting as a symbol of a higher realm of consciousness in which these aspects cease to exist.

This transformation is achieved, not through repressing negativity, but through bathing it in the light and allowing the power of the light to absorb it. In this way, the rainbow is indeed a cosmic messenger reminding us of the power of our individual and collective higher consciousness, through which we have the power to heal our world and ourselves.

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July 15, 2005
Energetic Stillness
The Power Of Patience

We typically think of patience as a quality that we employ on an as needed basis. We are in a hurry at the grocery store, but the line is long, so we take a breath and practice patience. Similarly, if we are interacting with someone who is slower than we are-a child or an elderly person-we try to slow ourselves down and be patient with that person. But another way to think about patience is as an all-pervasive force at our disposal, something we can practice continually in relation to the bigger picture.

Patience means being centered in our bodies. When you are in a hurry, you can almost feel that your energy is dislocated, as if it's reaching forward out of your body trying to get to your desired goal. It's a very unbalancing feeling, and causes us to make mistakes and be clumsy in the world. We may go through an entire day feeling this way and never realize that impatience is at the root of the situation. We may also go through our whole lives this way, never quite fully inhabiting the moment. When we become overly goal-oriented or future-oriented, consciously practicing patience is just the thing to return us to our bodies and our immediate lives. We can begin by taking time each day just to be still, observing our thoughts and desires without acting on them or following them. We simply let them arise and disappear as we remain seated and centered.

More than just an attribute to be cultivated, patience is an energetic experience. While it may seem mild or tepid as a concept, the actual experience of patience is quite powerful. When you are patient, when you resist reaching out to grab the first thing you think you want, when you are able to sit still and simply observe without reacting, you begin to see the world more fully and clearly. You become capable of acting more consciously. You become more attuned to the openings and closings and more able to see when to move forward and when to be still. And most importantly, you discover the deep, quiet power of the experience of patience.

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