The Power of Synchronicity

In the winter of 2000, I experienced a series of “coincidences” in my life. Had these been sporadic I wouldn’t have paid attention to them. However, they were happening so often that I was intrigued, so I decided to explore the possible meaning and relationship between them.

My online searches and visits to the library increased, until I found a book by Carl Jung that persuaded me to study synchronicity more in depth.

Just as I was into this, a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for a long time called me to invite me to a presentation at a nearby College as she was thinking about getting a Masters Degree in Humanistic Psychology. She said she wanted my opinion.

I was in total awe as I heard the speaker mention Carl Jung and his synchronicity principle… another mundane coincidence or a meaningful synchronistic event?

Needless to say, I was hooked, so I joined the Masters Degree program right along with my friend. My life started changing rapidly. The more time I spent studying, the more synchronicities I noticed in my life.

Finally I was learning to “join the dots” to clearly understand the events that had started showing up in my life way back in the winter of 2000. In a sense, I was feeling more awake...

The main thing I have learned throughout these past years is that I must strive to “pay attention” to little details, to “be aware” and “feel the
urge to learn more of” the things and events before I consider them just a part of my wide (or wild) imagination.

Are you still with me?

I’m sharing my story because I have come to realize that all of us have had synchronistic events in our lives, but not
too many “pay attention” or notice them.

Do you?

But let’s back up a bit, just in case this is all new to you.

Carl Jung (1875-1961), a Swiss Psychiatrist was Sigmund Freud’s colleague. He broke away from Freudian psychoanalysis when he disagreed with Freud over his theory that affirmed the unconscious mind acts as a reservoir of repressed sexual trauma which gives origin to all neuroses.

Jung disagreed with this theory and founded his own school of Analytical Psychology. Jung was the first one to talk about synchronicity as a principle that explains “meaningful coincidences.” This happens when two or more unrelated events occur in such a manner that convey clear meaning to the person that experiences them.

Jung states that these two occurrences are not causally connected yet they have a common meaning. He refers to these events as “acausal”, that is, they have “no cause” but similar meaning by their coincidence in time appearance rather than sequentially. The events would have to be related to one another but there is almost no possibility for them to have occurring randomly.

Let’s refer to what happened to me. I started noticing strange coincidences in my life. I felt the impulse to explore and bumped into information about synchronicity and Carl Jung. Next, I had not seen my friend for a long time. My friend calls me “out of the blue” and invites me to the presentation. The presentation ends up being about Carl Jung and synchronicity. Can you see the meaningful coincidences even though these events are not causally connected?

Jung also said that there is synchrony between the mind and the phenomenal world of perception when he talked about the collective unconscious which we draw information from that is not grounded in personal experience.

The existence of this seemingly far-fetched “collective unconscious” concept has been considered as a possibility as scientists have not been able to pinpoint a specific brain structure where thoughts originate from.

But let’s go back to the original thought. According to Jung the collective unconscious contains archetypes that make us behave according to psychological realities and experiences of humanity as a whole.

In other words, we are not born with an “empty” unconscious mind, but with characteristics that are typical and universal to all human kind regardless of culture, race, time and origin.

To clarify this idea, here is a simple example... a smile. Human babies are not taught how to smile. They just do as they’re born with this instinctive behavior that is a part of all of us through the collective unconscious.

And what do archetypes have to do with synchronicity, you may ask?

Jung explained that when a person in passing through a crisis one or more archetypes get activated inside the mind. This creates an access for the unconscious to flow into the conscious with the intention to find a solution through the awareness of deep truths normally hidden from the conscious mind. This are the moments when meaningful coincidences or synchronicities are likely to happen.

In my case, I was ready for a change in careers but unsure about the path to follow (crisis). My friend’s sudden call and my curiosity to learn about meaningful coincidences (drawn from my observation of them), eventually lead me to get a degree in Humanistic Psychology.

I believe that when we discover and use the power of synchronicity in our life, we gain the ability to solve our problems more intuitively and creatively. To me, synchronistic events are like post signs on the road of life that point us in a specific direction and increase our chances for the best possible outcome.

I invite you to become aware in noticing meaningful coincidences, to ponder about their possible meaning and connection, and to follow your instincts for a better life experience.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ~ Carl Jung

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