Below is Part 4 in our Synchronicity Lessons series on how to find awe and utilize the power of synchronicities in everyday life. Anne Heleen Bijl serves on the board of The Coincidence Project and is an international leadership consultant. After developing an innovative approach to improving elderly care in the Netherlands, she received a national Social Innovation Award for a program that reduced employee sick leave from a structural 8,5 % to 1,5 % while improving the experience of thousands of patients, families and healthcare workers. The journey began with one simple decision: getting clear about what she wanted. And then recognizing the synchronicity that came soon after.

One of the most powerful ways to invite synchronicity into your life is to become crystal clear about what you hope to create.

Our attention is often consumed by fear of everything we think is broken or heading in the wrong direction. But synchronicity responds differently. It asks us to imagine the future we want and to speak that vision aloud. When we do, unexpected opportunities begin to appear.

I experienced this lesson in one of the most difficult moments of my life.

When my mother was dying, she spent her final nine days in hospice within an elderly care facility. I stayed with her every day and every night. Sitting beside her bed, I witnessed extraordinary compassion from many caregivers, but I also saw countless opportunities to improve the system.

I had an overwhelming desire to help make elderly care better, but I had no medical background. I knew nothing about running an elderly care facility. I had no idea how someone like me could contribute.

Then something unexpected happened.

While I was still with my mother, the director of a completely different elderly care organization called and asked whether my consulting company would help with a large 1 year project in elderly care. 

I immediately declined.

Things like scheduling were not my expertise. My work focused on leadership, organizational transformation, and helping organizations  discover innovative ways to solve complex problems.

The next day, she called again.

Again, I said no.

Later that evening, it suddenly struck me.

This is exactly what I asked for.

I had been wishing for an opportunity to improve elderly care, but because the opportunity didn’t arrive in the form I expected, I rejected it.

That realization changed everything.

Instead of asking whether I could do the ‘scheduling’ project, I asked myself, What would need to be true for me to say yes?

The answer became clear. Someone else could support the technical scheduling work, while I focused on helping the organization solve the deeper challenges I had witnessed during my mother’s final days.

The next morning I called the director back with a vision.

Together, we designed a completely different kind of project.

Instead of relying only on leadership to identify solutions, we invited every voice into the conversation. Patients. Family members. Nurses. Housekeeping staff. Administrators. Managers. Every person who experienced the system had something valuable to contribute.

Over the next year, we facilitated hundreds of conversations and creative, inspirational meetings across multiple elderly care facilities throughout the Netherlands.

The ideas were often beautifully simple.

One resident suggested playing each patient’s favorite music while they got dressed in the morning. Some wanted the Rolling Stones. Others preferred jazz. Some loved classical violin.

What had often been a daily struggle became something joyful. Patients became more willing to participate, caregivers experienced less stress, and mornings felt more human.

That was only one of hundreds of ideas generated by the people who lived and worked inside the system every day.

Collectively, those ideas transformed care for thousands of patients, their families, and healthcare workers across the country. The program ultimately received national recognition for its impact, reducing employee sick leave while improving satisfaction throughout participating organizations.

Looking back, none of it would have happened if I hadn’t first become clear about what I wanted.

The synchronicity wasn’t the phone call.

The synchronicity was recognizing the phone call as an answer.

When we set a clear intention, life often responds, but rarely in the way we expect. Opportunities may arrive disguised as problems, detours, or invitations that don’t seem to fit our plans.

The question is whether we’re paying enough attention to recognize them.

Start by asking yourself what future you truly want to create.

Hold that vision clearly.

Then watch for the unexpected people, conversations, and opportunities that begin appearing along the way.

And once you’ve found your path, invite others to share their own goals. Sometimes the greatest synchronicity isn’t simply following the magic. The magic is also creating synchronicities for someone else.

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Photo by Colin Horn on Unsplash