Achieving Synchronicity: the meaningful connection of coincidences

Synchronicity happens when you start to realise how everything is connected.

It begins with dreaming of things we have seen or experienced in waking life and comes full circle when we see or experience things in waking life that we have already dreamed of. When this happens, it can feel a little like magic. The greater your awareness, and the higher your dream recall, the more likely you are to experiences these fascinating moments.

It is important to recognise that synchronicity is more than simply a chance coincidence. To truly be synchronicity, the chance occurrence must have meaning. Of course, the person experiencing the synchronicity is usually the one best placed to define this. So keep your heart and mind open and look for meaning in the world around you.

Some examples include:
Seeing an animal, person or other significant object in waking life that you have just dreamed of.
Receiving an offer of help before you asked for it.
Chance meetings with people who change your mind, offer an opportunity, or introduce you to someone else who is significant.
Finding something that was lost just when you need it.
Obstacles that appear to prevent you from doing something, which you later realise could have harmed or impacted your life in some way.
Repeat sightings of a special symbol, colour, name or animal.

Carl Jung recounts a significant experience that helped his development of the theory of synchronicity: “A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream, I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the windowpane from the outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose chafer (Cetonia aurata), which, contrary to its usual habits, had evidently felt the urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it ever happened to me before or since.”

But Jung is not the only one (or the first) to describe synchronicity. Buddhists refer to the “interpenetration of reality”, and in quantum physics we can see similarities in the theory of entanglement. These theories both explain how things can be significantly connected despite no outward appearance of being so. Synchronicity is about aligning ourselves with the rhythms and patterns of the universe and of revealing our innermost selves in the outer expression of the world around us.

Synchronicity is about more than simply delightful coincidences. Giving your attention to synchronicity is in fact another process that can help create a life rich with meaning and connection, a way of living that is present and joyful. When you work actively to enhance synchronicity in your life, not only will your own life be expanded, but the ways you interact with others and the world around you will create a ripple effect that, in your own unique way, can help to make this world a better place.

Want to learn more about what your dreams mean? Visit our Dreams archive page.