May you be aware of the ways that love is supporting you today! All of my blog posts this month will be about synchronicity. Specifically, how synchronicity led me to become an economist. Synchronicity can sometimes be a one time occurrence, but often it unfolds over a series of events. Please join me as I retrace the synchronicities that led me to become an economist.
At my high school, all 12th graders enrolled in an elective class for their spring semester social studies requirement. There were two classes to choose between: psychology and economics. I knew from the time I was in 9th grade that I wanted to take psychology.
You see, when I was in 9th grade, my big sister was in 12th grade and talked nonstop about her favorite class: psychology. My sister was not one to talk about school outside of school. So, if she found a class that was awesome enough to discuss outside of school, I knew this was a class that I had to take!
To enroll in classes at my high school school, students told their guidance counselor what classes they wanted to take. The guidance counselor either approved or denied the classes and filled out the paperwork necessary for the student to enroll in the classes that the counselor approved.
By my senior year in high school, I was a pro at this process. I always knew what classes I wanted to enroll in and my guidance counselor always agreed with my choices. When the time came for me to choose classes for my last semester of high school, I told my guidance counselor what I wanted to take. I admit, I expected her to approve my choices, like she always had. She nodded her head in agreement to all of my choices, until I said that I wanted to take psychology.
“I’m signing you up for economics,” was my guidance counselor’s reply.
I was so confused! This had never happened before. I thought perhaps, I had accidentally spoken in a language other than English in which the word for psychology sounds like the word for economics.
So, I tried again, “I’d like to take psychology.”
“I know you would, but I’m signing you up for economics. It’s being taught by a woman economist this year and it would be great for you to take a class with her,” my guidance counselor said as she wrote the word economics on my class registration paper. And with that, it was official.
After school, I went home and waited to discuss the “situation” with my mom. As soon as she came home, I unloaded my frustration onto her.
“Mom, my guidance counselor says I have to take economics next semester. I don’t want to take economics! I want to take psychology!”
“Why did she say you had to take economics?” asked my mom.
“She said it would be good for me, but she’s never done this before.”
“Ok. Here’s what we’re going to do. Sit in the class for a week. If you still want to switch to psychology after that, I’ll talk to your counselor.”
That sounded reasonable to me, so I agreed. I only had to sit through four economics classes and then I could switch to psychology. I arrived at the first day of economics class with zero intention of paying attention. I was simply biding my time to keep my end of the deal with my mom. A few minutes after I got settled at my desk, the teacher walked in and drew two curves on the whiteboard at the front of the room.
She then asked, “What information can you get from these two curves?”
My classmates and I were stumped.
“The price of a good in the economy and the amount of that good that’s available to buy,” the teacher said.
I was intrigued and fascinated that the entire economy could be boiled down to two simple curves. As the teacher continued teaching, my interest in economics grew. By the end of the first class, I was hooked! I completely forgot about the deal I had made with my mom and was eager for my next economics class.
For the entire semester, I talked about economics almost nonstop! I absolutely loved the field. When I watched the Money Report on the evening news with my family, I’d tell my family the economic theories that explained what the reporter was saying. If I was watching the news by myself, I’d explain the theory to myself. I didn’t let the lack of an audience stop me from teaching my imaginary economics class.
To become the economist that I was meant to be, I needed synchronicity to introduce me to economics by nudging me into my first economics class. Synchronicity exists, in part, to expand our consciousness of what exists in the world and to expand our awareness of what brings us joy.
God knows that our human minds cannot know everything. Some of us have difficulty determining what will bring us authentic joy. Others know what will bring them joy, but don’t know how to create opportunities for that joy to occur. This is where synchronicities can, and do, aide you in living the life of your dreams. The more you engage in spiritual practices, the more aligned you become with the Divine. As you become more in sync with the Divine, you experience more synchronicities that show you the best path for yourself.
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
Try doing this exercise once or twice this your week. If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Journaling About Synchronicity
Grab a notebook or an app you can use to type/write in. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Think about any synchronicities you have experienced throughout your life and write them down. The synchronicities could have happened yesterday, last year, 5 years ago or any other time. When the synchronicity happened doesn’t matter. The most important part of this exercise is focusing on the synchronicities you’ve experienced.
If you’re wondering what a synchronicity is, keep reading. Synchronicity is an event that has meaning to you but cannot be explained by cause and effect. A few examples are seeing the same sequence of numbers repeatedly, hearing a name or phrase that is meaningful to you again and again, thinking about a desire and then experiencing that desire. While synchronicity can be a one time occurrence, often synchronicity unfolds as a series of events leading to an outcome that brings great joy.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you have difficulty typing or writing, type or write one word for each synchronicity you have experienced that describes the synchronicity.
2. If writing/typing in a journal is not possible, try either saying(verbally or via sign language) your synchronicities or making a mental list of the synchronicities you have experienced. I recommend keeping your eyes closed during your journaling process so that you can maintain your focus.
3. If you have difficulty remembering past occurrences, say or think the following: “I set the intention to remember as many synchronicities as I can.” Then set your timer for 10 minutes and journal about whatever synchronicities you can remember. If you can remember one, then spend the rest of the time journaling about that synchronicity in as much detail as possible. Do you remember how you felt? Do you remember what time of year it was? Just focus on feeling the synchronicity as much as possible.
4. If journaling for 10 minutes is not possible, then journal for as many minutes as is healthy for you.
