Welcome to The Coincidence Project
6 January, 2023
Author: Bernard Beitman, MD, TCP President of the Board and Psychiatrist in Virginia, USA
When I was 8 or 9 my dog got lost. I went to look for him, and then I myself got lost. Then we found each other. When I was 31, I was choking uncontrollably at the kitchen sink in my San Francisco house–although there was nothing in my mouth or throat to cause the choking. Three thousand miles away, my father was choking on his own blood and dying. He died on my birthday. I may be thinking about someone and then have that person unexpectedly contacts me. You have probably had similar ‘weird’ coincidences.
Events like these suggest that our minds are not as separate from our environments, including other people, as we are being taught by mainstream science. If you think of something and that person, idea or thing appears, you are seeing evidence of mind-environment connections. Synchronicity and serendipity are the two primary categories of meaningful coincidences. Synchronicity involves coincidences that accelerate psychological, interpersonal and spiritual growth. Serendipity tends to involve happy accidents—finding something useful in a surprising and unexpected way.
How you explain it depends upon your preferred view of reality—is it randomness, God/Universe, personal agency or some combination? The Coincidence Project will sharpen your understanding of explanations and meanings. The more these stories accumulate, the more confidence we have that our minds are in some ways embedded in our environments.
Climate change demonstrates that we are negatively impacting our habitat—planet Earth—and in return the planet is responding to us with pandemics and turbulent, destructive weather. What we think and do creates feedback loops between our environment and ourselves. A major purpose of the coincidence project is to assist you in finding your individual purpose as well as to find your connections to others, and to inspire us all to work together to reduce the impact of human activity on the planet and build a more positive future.
The many troubling shifts in the world inspired me to write, Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen (Beitman, 2022). The book organizes this once chaotic field in ways that will help you effectively use meaningful coincidences in your life.
The Coincidence Project is cultivating coincidence awareness, use, and understanding in the collective mind of humanity. By telling your family, friends, and colleagues your stories, you are accelerating their awareness of the value of these remarkable stories in their lives. You are also accelerating global awareness. Sometimes the person you tell will say “Oh, that reminds me of my own coincidence story…” They then may tell you one or more. These surprising concurrent events help us make decisions, soothe grief and strengthen connections with other people, animals and plants.
This cultivation illuminates hidden currents that unify us. The currents can show you the next steps in your personal journey and for preserving our habitat, if you want to take them. We hope you do. The board members of The Coincidence Project stand ready to offer you guidance and opportunities to learn more about how to successfully experience and make use of coincidences.
GREGORY R R HARTZLER-MILLER
06-01-23
Greetings,
I appreciate you being here.
Yesterday, during the day, I read Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen (Beitman, 2022). I also worked on writing my own story about a series of meaningful coincidences that took place many years ago.
Yesterday evening I had a meaningful coincidence with the pastor of a church I visited last Sunday.
It was my first time visiting, and I indicated on a form that I would like a pastoral visit. A message was sent to me suggesting we go out for coffee.
I wrote back around 4:30 pm Froday to schedule a time to meet.
We went out to eat with my wife’s parents at 5:30 p.m. I put my arm around my wife, nearly hitting a man’s shoulder with my hand. He had not been there when we sat down. It made me do a double take. Then I saw his face. He was the pastor.
I tapped him on the shoulder. I looked like a complete stranger to him at first. Although I had seen him preach an excellent sermon, I had not introduced myself afterward. I introduced myself as the new visitor who had been exchanging emails with him. He laughed.
After that, I introduced him to my wife and her parents. In turn, he introduced me to his wife and son.
My hope is that synchronicity has given us a special bond that will be the beginning of a fruitful friendship.
admin@coincidence
06-01-23
Hi Gregory — thank you for sharing this story! Can we post it on our Story Forum thread?
Barry
06-01-23
I recently managed to deliberately trigger a meaningful synchronicity through a work of art. Is this common? I have experienced them accidentally for years, but this is the first time I tried to see if I could do it on purpose. Wondering what to do with it…
Ken Bell
06-01-23
Hi Barry — thanks for your comment! Would you consider sharing your story on our Story Forum?
Barry
06-01-23
I tried a couple of times to post on the Story Forum, but it wouldn’t allow it. It kept saying that my 182-word story was over the word limit, which apparently was “0”.
“Reached word limit: 182/0”
Ken Bell
06-01-23
Thanks, Barry… checking into the problem and we’ll get it corrected ASAP.