BRENT MARCHANT: It's been said that "timing is everything," and the concept of synchronicity would certainly seem to bear that out. The trick, however, is recognizing a synchronicity when it happens.

Perhaps the first step in recognition is understanding what makes up a synchronicity. In a nutshell, it's often defined as "a meaningful coincidence." But what exactly constitutes "meaningful?" Everyone's definition probably varies somewhat, but, for me, a coincidence is "meaningful" when it carries an uncanny significance with it, one that seems so perfectly scripted that it can't possibly be the product of random chance and must have some kind of intentional impetus behind it. The timing and inherent qualities of the resulting conditions are just what is needed or wanted for the circumstances at hand. In fact, the fit between the materialized conditions and hoped-for outcome is as tight as the skin covering a drum.

Many of us have no doubt experienced situations like this: The phone rings just when you've been thinking about someone you haven't spoken with in a long while. A bus that habitually runs behind schedule just happens to show up on time on a bitterly cold day when a protracted stay at the bus stop would have been excruciating. And, of course, there are those infamous parking spaces that magically appear just when needed in city neighbourhoods notorious for their lack of vehicular accommodations.

Once one understands the significance behind such occurrences, it becomes much easier to spot a synchronicity when one appears. But how many of us realise the intrinsic connection between what was hoped for and what has materialized? And supposing we do, what do we do with it? Embrace it? Analyze it? Dismiss it as too good to be true?

As a conscious creation practitioner, I'd embrace it, because a synchronicity shows us that the process is at work and functioning properly. It shows us that one has been so clear in expressing his or her intent that it manifests effortlessly and naturally, with the synchronicity providing a confirmation from the Universe that all is as it should be.

The sceptics out there may be tempted to analyse or dismiss such circumstances when they appear, and, for those who are less practised in employing conscious creation principles, that's certainly understandable. In these cases, one could argue that some cursory analysis might indeed be prudent, especially if the stakes are high. But outright dismissal may be perilous.

I'm reminded of the old story about a man who lived in an area prone to flooding. When the water began rising quickly during a tumultuous storm, a policeman in a squad car came along to evacuate the man, who stood on his front porch and replied, "No worry, God will save me." As the flood waters rose further and covered the street in front of his home, an emergency worker in a rowboat came by to evacuate the man, who replied from the second-story window of his home, "No worry, God will save me." Before long, the waters had risen so high that the man had to go atop his roof, and as he stood there, clinging to his chimney, a rescue helicopter came along to get him, to which he steadfastly proclaimed, "No worry, God will save me." Not long thereafter, however, the waters overpowered the man, sweeping him downstream, where he drowned. Upon arriving at the pearly gates, the man said to God, "I thought you were going to save me," to which God replied, "You mean the squad car, rowboat and helicopter didn't show up?"

Sometimes things aren't too good to be true; they're simply synchronicities at work. And, in such cases, timing really is everything. 

So how do we become more practised at recognising the synchronistic connection between intent and manifestation in such circumstances? Perhaps the best way is to develop our intuitive skills, our gut feelings. The more we do this, the more clearly we begin to see the pattern of connection between our intent and what materializes around us. We begin to realise that no randomness is at work in this; we see that the "coincidences" are meaningful and significant, not just happenstance occurrences. 

To better understand such connections, I strongly recommend reading the book What A Coincidence!: The wow! factor in synchronicity and what it means in everyday life, by Susan M. Watkins. In this entertaining and breezy read, the author explains, conceptually, how synchronicity plays an enormous role in our daily lives, drawing from her own experiences for illustration. In fact, the impact of this concept – and this book – led to one of the most significant events in my own life. 

Not long after reading the book, I wrote a short review of it that I planned to email to a number of friends who I thought might be interested in it. As I was preparing to send the review, I went through my email address book and began clicking on the list of message recipients. In doing so, I came to the name of a friend who was a research associate for the book, someone who I would routinely meet with at conscious creation conferences but who I would rarely correspond with between events. I debated whether I should email her the review, but I figured that, since she had worked on the book, she'd probably enjoy hearing what I had to say about it. And, with that, I sent the message. 

My friend wrote me the following day, thanking me for sending her the review and asking me if it would be OK to forward the message to the book's publisher to see, to which I agreed. The day after that, the publisher emailed me, thanking me for the review and, in turn, asking me if I was the person who wrote an article on conscious creation in the movies for a metaphysics magazine nearly 10 years earlier; she said she had always liked that article and thought the subject would make a good book and wanted to know if I was interested in pursuing the idea. It was an idea I had long dreamed about, and, before long, my book, Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies, was in the works. And to think it all began with a book about synchronicity. Clearly there's no coincidence in that!

My experience shows, once again, that timing is everything, something that's all due to synchronicity. So the next time something arises in your life that seems to be too coincidental to ignore, don't ignore it! Pay attention to the inherent connection between what you put out to the Universe and what materializes in your life, and pursue it accordingly. Under these circumstances, you may find yourself more pleasantly surprised than you can possibly imagine!