Note: This is Part I in a 2-part series.

Harness the Power of Intention, Coincidence, and Awareness

by Deepak Chopra, M.D.

We have all experienced coincidences that seemed extraordinary. Perhaps you were out on your bike and collided with another rider in front of a small café you’d never noticed before. Later in the week, you decide to eat lunch there and end up meeting your future wife at the next table. Or maybe you pick up the Sunday classified ads for no apparent reason and notice a job opening that interests you. A couple of weeks later you find out that your corporation is laying off everyone in your division. You suddenly remember the ad you saw and decide to apply. You go for the interview and the new company offers you an even better position that hadn’t been advertised. The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined a word to describe these moments of meaningful coincidence: synchronicity.

A synchronicity is a coming together of seemingly unconnected events. If you focus your attention, you may recognize that your life is shaped by those moments of meaningful coincidence. You may even be able to nurture and participate in those moments in a positive way. Together, this awareness and intention make up what I call your SynchoDestiny.

In any aspect of life, attention and awareness foster growth. Whenever you focus your attention on a subject or phenomenon, the object of you attention will grow stronger. The more you become aware of meaningful coincidences in your life, the more often you will encounter them. Moreover, meaningful coincidences are well worth your attention. According to Vedic tradition, there are two characteristics that define a person on the path toward enlightenment: First, a sense that worries are disappearing. Things may go wrong, but they don’t bother you anymore. Second, in every area of your life, you become aware of a growing number of synchronicities.

Most people experience at least one coincidence in their lives during a single day. If you do not, don’t worry. Just cultivate an attitude of relaxed attention and intention. Nature is built on an infinite number of coincidences, and their presence in your life will soon become apparent.

The Nature of SynchroDestiny

Whenever coincidences present themselves, you can dismiss them as meaningless or choose to recognize their amazing potential. In reality, life’s coincidences aren’t random occurrences in a chaotic universe – they are clues to fulfilling your deepest dreams and desires.

Each of us is connected to the field of infinite intelligence that endlessly creates all of the physical forms in the world. When we awaken to the true nature of creation, we become aware of the eternal patterns and rhythms that govern life. We also realize that the universe is constantly sending us messages in the form of serendipitous events. In fact, we’re completely immersed in a web of coincidences that guide us to fulfill our dharma or purpose in life.

At this very instant, your destiny has led you to read these words. The fact that you chose this magazine and this article is a coincidence offering potentially life-transforming opportunities. What circumstances led to this moment? Why are you perusing this article instead of one of countless others out there? What are you beginning to dream about creating in your life?

Awakening to the Field of Pure Potentiality

The word SynchroDestiny expresses awareness of a developing pattern in the events of our lives. Of course, SynchroDestiny is also more than just awareness. Awareness is not an end in itself. SynchroDestiny also means understanding and participating in the process of meaningful coincidence. It means lending your attention and intention in order to bring the process to fruition. When this happens, the result is a phrase that I’ve used many times in my books and lectures: the spontaneous fulfillment of desire in the field of infinite possibilities.

Here I want to discuss the different categories of response that are open to you when you encounter a moment of meaningful coincidence. This will illuminate what I mean by the spontaneous fulfillment of desire in the field of infinite possibilities.

Suppose you suddenly encounter a synchronistic moment. Let’s say you’re at the public library, and for some reason you’re thinking about how you would like to have a bit more spending money. Right at that moment, you take a book from one of the shelves, and a hundred dollar bill falls out. This actually happened to a friend of mine.

What kinds of responses are open to you at a moment like that? At one extreme, you can always say it’s just a coincidence. It means nothing. It’s amusing, but insignificant. You have another hundred dollars to spend and that’s all.

On the other extreme, you might think, this is the most fantastic thing that’s ever happened! This is going to change everything! Or maybe you conclude, All I have to do is want something and it will appear! I’m going to the racetrack. I’m going to Las Vegas! Of course, it doesn’t really work that way. SynchroDestiny is not about waving a magic wand to gratify ego-based wants. It is about something very different ― the fulfillment of intentions that exist at much deeper levels, and of desires that are based in spirit rather than ego.

Cultivating Meaningful Coincidences

To take another example, imagine that you’re out walking and see a beautiful rose growing along the road. It will look really great pinned onto your jacket or your blouse and you want it. Should you pull the rose off the bush? If you do, that’s just an ego-based action. It’s obviously not SynchroDestiny. What if you look at the rose and at that very moment it falls off the bush? If that kindles a kind of ego greed in you, then that’s not SynchroDestiny either. If you suddenly think you’ve become master of the universe, that’s not what would be called a positive transformation.

Let’s say you’re admiring the rose, and you hold your hand under it, and then it just falls down into your hand. You think, something wonderful and beautiful just happened. It seems to be a kind of flowing together of what is in me and what is in the rose bush. It was unforced, but there was an intention present in me ― and I’d like to know more about how this happened and what it means. I’d like to bring more of these moments into my life. I’d like to see where they lead me. I’d like to learn what they have to teach me.

This is the frame of mind that fosters SynchroDestiny. This is setting the stage for the spontaneous fulfillment of desire. Most people would call this a spiritual point of view, but it’s actually closely related to the insights of modern physics.

On Monday, we will continue with Part II: SynchroDestiny and the Power of Intention