Over the weekend of April 24-25, Rob and I attended the Tallahassee Writers’ Conference. Rob was one of the keynote speakers and talked about the importance of synchronicity, dreams, and meditation in the creative process. We also presented workshops – Rob did one on creating archetypal characters and I did one on storyboarding and we did a joint workshop on writing partnerships. It was one of the most enjoyable and best organized conferences we’ve ever attended.
At various points during the weekend, people shared their synchronicities with us. One of the best we heard came from Donna Jennings, whose synchronicity came at a critical juncture in her life and definitely acted as guidance.
In March 1985, Donna was interviewing at four different colleges for a doctorate program in marriage and family therapy. She had just left her third choice – Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where it was cold, freezing, still winter. Then she arrived in Tallahassee, where her fourth choice was Florida State University.
“Tally was at the peak of spring,” she said. “The azaleas were in full bloom.”
“I was driving around, considering my options, wondering which collect I should choose. And Ta Da, I turned around at Jennings Street. Message delivered and received.”
Donna began the program in August 1985 at FSU and graduated in 1990. “I’m now retired from teaching human sexuality at college. Writing is my new direction and I am on the front end.”
I suspect that Donna will continue to follow the synchros and will do just fine as a writer!
Ha! It’s all in the little things…..
Good example – I wonder how many ‘signs’ we sometimes miss.
Probably way too many!
What a great story!
I had something similar happen to me when I needed to relocate. It was after my divorce, and I was trying to decide where to go next, as I didn’t want to remain on the East Coast. I used to live in Berkeley, California, but had not been there in 20 years.
So one day, just for fun, I was surfing for things that interested me – ritual theatre, art and spirituality, contemporary shamanism, etc………….and every single time what came up was either in Berkeley, San Francisco, or Marin County! The clincher was when I searched for the Center for Symbolic Studies in Rosendale, New York (I wanted to contact them for a reference)………..and up came the Center for Symbolic Studies in Berkeley, California. This was a site for a Jungian psychologist who had just published a book called: “There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives”!!
After that I decided the Universe was definately telling me to go back to Berkeley, and I did.
Fantastic story, Lauren. Was that book by Hopke??