The phone rings. You pick it up and it's the very person you've been thinking about. Or you think of a college roommate or friend you haven't seen in years and when the mail arrives, there is a letter from her (or him). You get turned down for an important job only to discover, days later, another; even better opportunity is in the wings. You often discover, after the fact, that you were "right where you need to be."

If you have ever had one (or more) meaningful coincidences (see a list below) where seemingly unrelated experiences or "accidents" take on significant meaning and/or have shaped your life, you have felt the groove of synchronicity.

Humanistic psychologist, Carl Jung, whose teachings about the human psyche continue to be the basis for much of the psychology of today, was instrumental in introducing the concept of synchronicity or what he called the collective unconscious as his work moved away from his early mentor, Freud. Jung's writing, at the time, described his experience observing coincidences that were connected in such a meaningful way that their occurrence seemed to defy the calculations of probability. Now quantum physicists are affirming that matter and consciousness - far from operating independently of each other - are, in fact, interconnected in an essential way, functioning as complementary aspects of a unified reality.

Several years ago after I experienced an emotionally charged event, a series of improbable circumstances occurred that led me down a path that made a profound difference in my life. Later, as I looked back on that time (and others), I could not ignore that the synchronicity of those experiences that put me in the right place at the right time defied a rational or logical explanation. It was about that time that I met a woman, now a good friend, who introduced me to a book by Robert Hopcke, THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS. With encouragement from my friend I began to look for coincidences in my life and as they, over and over again, crossed my path, come to expect them. In time this outlook altered my perspective and attitude. I continue to cheer the successes and mourn the inevitable losses that came my way but no longer spend so much time attempting to change, fix, alter or control my life (or others). I do not sit idly by. I remain an active participant and know that with patience, what I want will become clear and what I need will be there to answer the call. What I've added is the objectivity that makes me more accepting and less judgmental of the people who cross my path along with the experiences, lessons and challenges we are certain to share.

Last week I crossed paths with another author who writes about synchronicity. Squire Rushnell, author of WHEN GOD WINKS was a speaker at a fund raiser I attended. Rushnell encouraged his audience to be alert for and read the signs that are the map to our future. As I knew it would, the evening was filled with a series of unexpected coincidences shared with a God winker in my own life. (Stay tuned.)

Regardless of what you believe about "this stuff" there appears to be an alliance evolving between quantum physicists, neuroscientists, parapsychologists, mystics and just plain Joes that indicates the universe brings us just what we need to know and learn at the time we need to know and learn it. The good news is we don't have to do a thing except spend less time as humans doing and more times as humans being who pay attention.

EXAMPLES OF SYNCHRONICITY

• Your financial difficulties seem to have no end. Yet there is always enough money for basic expenses...rent, food, utilities. Finances seem to appear where and when they are needed.
• You have just received your last check from unemployment when suddenly a job comes along.
• You walk into a bookstore not knowing what to buy and the book you need falls from a shelf and practically hits you over the head.
• You have been feeling ill with no apparent cure. You are out for the day and meet someone who knows a doctor or healer with the answers.
• There is a sudden relocation that seems to be for one reason, and you find much more than you bargained for.
• You finally end a bad relationship and immediately another partner comes into your life.
• You feel depressed and can't find focus in your life and the next person you talk to says something that brings you the guidance you need.
• Everyone's favorite.....You drive to a place where parking is "next to impossible" and someone pulls out of a parking spot or it is just waiting for you.