Connecting with Coincidence is a book to savor. The author, Bernard Beitman, is a psychiatrist and visiting professor at the University of Virginia in Charlotte, and is the first psychiatrist since Carl Jung to systemize the study of coincidences. The book is filled with stories about synchronicities that people have experienced in a variety of circumstances and under a broad spectrum of conditions.
Beitman talks about synchronicities that occur within families, among friends, with finances, in romance and love, between therapists/counselors and patients. He discusses synchronicities involving our work, spiritual pursuits, when we are grieving, and during periods when our lives are in crisis and transition, when our emotions are intense and our needs are great. Sometimes, the synchronicities are complex, other times they are simple, like the next story.
A sales rep for a drug company and her husband were looking for a home. They had decided to buy and fix up the house they were currently renting, because it seemed to be the easiest thing to do. They drove to the bank and started the process for taking out a loan. On their back home, her husband decided to take a longer route home. Just as he turned down a street, they spotted a woman putting up a For Sale sign in her yard. They stopped and immediately knew the house was just what they wanted, perfect for their family. So they bought it.
“It seems as if the two beams of need connected and drew the buyer and seller together; they picked up information for each other and from each other,” Beitman writes. “We all have this capability, which is increased during high emotion…Getting lost may help you find what you are seeking.”
Some of the stories in the book involve spirit communication, which Beitman refers to as “connections to departed loved ones.” In his introduction, he tells the story about a woman named Saundra who was eating Chinese food at her dad’s place and texted her sister that one of their favorite movies, The Wizard of Oz, was on TV. Her sister replied that she recalled watching that movie with their mom, who was deceased, and that their mother would always fix popcorn. While Saundra was reading her sister’s text message, she popped open a fortune cookie. What did the fortune say? Popcorn.
Saundra, surprised, stunned, texted this development to her sister. “They both felt the presence and comfort of their mother,” Beitman writes.
One of my favorite stories in Beitman’s book is in a chapter entitled, Spirituality and the Full-Circle Experience. A woman finishing the night shift in a factory steps outside with her cup of coffee to greet the rising sun. “The sky is filled with gorgeous hues. She sighs with heartfelt gratitude, breathing in its vibrant beauty.” As she walks back inside the building, she trips on a rock, and her coffee spills over her gray work shirt. “The hot liquid forms the shape of a heart, right over her heart. She laughs and enters more deeply into the magical moment.”
The book also includes advice and tips about how to create emotional climates that are conducive to synchronicity, that encourage them to occur:
“Remember to ask silently or out loud, alone in the woods, or in a field, or by water, to the Something Greater surrounding us. Or that “just right someone” sitting next to you.”
“Hone your intuition by following some of your inner urgings to see what happens. Learn the texture and impression of those urgings that provide better outcomes.”
What I find so extraordinary in Connecting with Coincidence is the genuine beauty of Beitman’s voice. He balances everything – the stories, the tips, the research, his professional and personal observations – with a piercing curiosity about synchronicity. What is it, what causes it, and how can we use it to improve our lives? How can we use it for guidance and confirmation? How can it help us to live more fully?
Not surprisingly, his quest to understand the phenomenon began because of a dramatic experience of his own. At 11 PM on February 26, 1973, when he was 31 years old and living in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, he suddenly found himself bent over the kitchen sink, choking on something. He hadn’t eaten anything. He didn’t have any idea what was in his throat. Finally, after fifteen minutes or so, he could swallow and breathe normally.
“The next day, my birthday, my brother called to tell me our father had died in Wilmington, Delaware, at 2:00 AM Eastern Standard Time. He was three thousand miles and three time zones away; 2:00 AM in Wilmington was 11 PM in California. My father had bled into his throat and choked on his own blood at about the same time I was uncontrollably choking. He died on February 27, my birthday.”
Connecting with Coincidence is, quite simply, a beautiful book.
Since reading the book, it’s my theory that since we create our own reality by what we broadcast to the universe with our thoughts and emotion’s (vibration), wanted or unwanted we get what we think about The emotions behind those thoughts in my opinion propel what we get. . The Law of Attraction! Like attrack’s like, whether wanted or wanted. Synchronicity I think is the guide providing the clue’s to what we want. Dr. Beitman mentions The Secret and Rhonda Byrne but doesn’t mention Esther and Jerry Hick’s or Abraham” Infinite Intelligence. I just wonder if Dr. Beitman is aware of or what he has to say about the Abraham -Hicks material?
I use the Abraham Hick’s teaching’s and have had tremendous success by changing the way I think and feel. Synchronicities show me if I’m on the right path. Interesting, indeed!
I am pretty sure he’s familiar with the Seth material, so is probably aware of Abraham-hicks. My daughter and I have gone to some of their conferences
Good examples there, sounds an interesting book.
I went to my library website and they don’t have it yet, but it’s available for a mere $10 for my Kindle. So I sprung for it! Thanks for the review; it sounds right up my alley. 🙂
Sounds worth a read. 🙂
You’ll enjoy it and identify with a lot of the stories.