“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ~ Roald Dahl

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We’ve all experienced synchronicity.

Those seemingly random moments that teach us, guide us, and lead us to that next awesome experience. To the untrained traveler, these may seem like coincidences, happenstances or just weirdo, lucky things that happened. But, if we’re tuned in, they become the road-map for our life.

Recently, a friend sent me a text message out of the blue. She was having a bad day and needed someone. I didn’t know exactly what I could do to help, so I offered to do a reiki session for her. A few days later, I went to her house to work on her and talk about life.

While observing the energy in her home, I suggested we paint her bedroom. It was the only room in her new home that felt unfinished. She had moved into the rest of the space quite nicely. But her sanctuary—the room she returned to at the end of every day to recharge—felt pretty empty. When I suggested we make a day of it, and paint the space to make it hers, she broke down in tears. I knew we were on the right track.

I love house projects such as this, so I was thrilled when she chose a color and asked me to come over just a couple weeks later. We started the day with lunch and margaritas on the patio to set the tone for the day. She chose affirmations to write on the wall, under the fresh coat of soft grey she had chosen to fill her space with peace. We listened to music, made cocktails and talked all day while we worked. The funk seemed to lift the minute she stepped back and saw that in just a couple of hours, the room was almost finished. This was a pretty terrific day already.

Then her roommate came home. We had never met before, so he came in to introduce himself. He sat on the bed and talked with us while we finished. Then we sat on the bed and talked for a couple hours after the work was done.

He is a fantasy-fiction writer. He has a whole world in his head, with awesome, well-developed characters and a plot that could literally go on and on with no end. He has never taken the time to write this concept into books and publish them because, he says, he has imposter syndrome. He explained that imposter syndrome is the irrational fear that no matter what you accomplish in life, someone will expose you as a fraud. This fear keeps him from putting himself out there as an artist, and effectively stuck at a job that is not in the creative realm because it feels safe.

I began to wonder if I suffered from the same affliction.

Does every writer feel this way? I thought maybe my harsh inner critic was a product of my own case of imposter syndrome. The conversation definitely got me thinking about my own craft, and my future. Was I holding myself back?

The next day, I was scrolling through social media and saw a little advertisement for a workshop right here in Nashville for people who use WordPress. I clicked the link, looked at the two-day class schedule, and saw that one of the options was a talk about imposter syndrome. I signed up right then and there.

While at WordCamp, I spent two days surrounded by writers, artists, bloggers, developers, designers, coders and all kinds of smart, talented speakers. It was incredibly inspiring, and I left with a big stack of new contacts. I’ve since joined some meetup groups, so I can sharpen my skills and learn from more seasoned artists about the mechanics of blogging, search engine optimization, and things that are way outside my current wheelhouse. I can’t wait to see what opportunities will come because of that weekend and the people I met there.

It’s easy to look back on experiences like this and see the connections. I went to the seminar because I saw the link about imposter syndrome. I learned about imposter syndrome through a conversation I had with someone I had never met before. We met because I was helping my friend paint her room. We painted because she texted me out of the blue when she was having a bad day. Had she not reached out to me that day, the rest of these things wouldn’t be possible. This is pretty amazing all by itself, right?

But seeing it after the fact is the easy part. Anyone can do the math and connect those dots—it’s not difficult. The real magic happens when we are tuned in and see these little connections while they are occurring.

It’s a feeling, a knowing, a little tingle. It’s the little voice that says, “pay attention—this is important.” It’s that pull you feel when you meet a new person, and know that you need to talk to them. It’s a small event that grabs your focus—a sign or symbol that jumps out at you. When we follow these moments, feelings and events, they will keep us moving in the direction of our purpose.

When I experience synchronicity, I know that I am right where I am supposed to be. I am still, and awake, and waiting for the next wonderful thing life has in store for me. I follow these little moments with joyous anticipation, trusting that they will never mislead me.

When we are watching for it, synchronicity is all around us. Experiencing synchronicity is a beautiful way to feel that we are part of something larger than ourselves. We are connected to others and the universe we live in. This interconnectedness, this oneness we experience in these moments becomes a touchstone for us. A place in time we can return to when we have forgotten that we are never alone.

Author: Renee Dubeau

Image: Liliane Rodrigues/Flickr

Editor: Catherine Monkman