were a lot of little breaks first, ones that someone worked at with plenty of energy and trust.
Third, we must expect to be used by this synchronous energy in ways that seem to be counter-logical. The universe has a plan and we must learn to roll with it and do our part. So we have to let go of ego expectations and rewards. There will be rewards, but they probably won’t be what we imagine. They’ll be better. So don’t set your heart on being an astronaut and be stubborn about it. Set your heart intention and then listen, pay attention, and see if that actually meshes with what the world sends you. If you’re color blind NASA won’t take you, no matter how much you may wish for it. But there will be another open- ing that is perfect for you - if you pay attention.
Deepak Chopra described this eloquent- ly in the interview he did with Jean Houston. I’ve laid out the paragraphs be- low so it’s easier to see the main ideas. ‘’In India there is a tradition in the Vedanta where they say that you experi- ence synchronicity when you have Ritam Bara Pragyan.
Ritam is the word for rhythm, order of the universe;
Bara means ‘full of’; Pragyan means ‘mind’.
So Ritam Bara Pragyan means he whose mind, or she whose mind is filled with the rhythm of the cosmos. So when the elements and forces in you and the elements and forces in the cosmos are totally aligned, then in that expression, in that field of almost choiceless aware- ness, a little subtle intention orches- trates its own fulfillment. That little subtle intention, in that field where the elements and forces are aligned, they summon forth the possibility waves to cohere together, to collapse into space time events that are synchronized so that the outcome is determined.’’ Getting into this place - the space of synchronicity - is not as simple as wish- ing for something and then expecting it to appear. It involves aligning with the energies of the cosmos. We’ll be looking at how we can do that.
self feeling unexpectedly lmost certainly an upsurge m the Unconscious, from e part of you that perhaps edge. If we are really to get e synchronicity leads us we ent into the self and meet d the Shadow Self.”
Things That Get In Our Way Yes, there will be things that prevent us from accepting synchronicity into our lives, and we’ll have to take a good look at them. This is important because if we know what traps our minds can set for us then we can avoid them more easily. It also has a more positive slant than just avoidance. When we see the errors we all can fall into, every one of us, we have the opportunity to grow our compas- sion. Our errors are not different from anyone else’s. Seeing our own anger, for example, can lead us to think again about whether anger is even necessary. Usually it isn’t. Thinking in this way will inevitably cause us to have compassion for others’ anger. Noticing our own greed and longing can make us more open and generous to those who are in the grip of greed and desire. Witnessing how we dislike others can lead us back to love, and to loving those who are stuck in the place of hatred. We forgive them, and at the same time we forgive ourselves. Then we can let go of those negative feelings. Getting free of all these ego- demands is what we need to do if we are to welcome synchronicity fully into our lives.
The Shadow If you’ve ever found yourself feeling unexpectedly angry, or sad, or lost this is almost certainly an upsurge of emotion
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that comes from the Unconscious, from the Shadow part of you – the part of you that perhaps you’d prefer not to acknowledge. If we are really to get free enough to follow where synchronicity leads us we will have to make the de- scent into the self and meet what Carl Jung called the Shadow Self.
If we don’t take steps to meet the Shad- ow Self we cannot draw from its energy, and instead we will fight it, exhausting ourselves. Think of it this way: If you have a terrifying dream you can pretend it didn’t happen. But if it comes back again and again this may not be possible. If you still try to ignore it you may well find you’re afraid to go to sleep at all, and that will soon ravage your health and happiness. Even sleeping tablets and alcohol won’t work after a while. The dream, and the unconscious material it holds, has to be faced, acknowledged, and worked through, or peace cannot be re-established. Only then can you become authentically who you are. This is the Shadow talking to you. It lets you know it’s there through dreams – and it also makes its presence felt when you move into a destructive, critical, or self- destructive frame of mind.
We can do this work before it becomes problematic, of course, and I’ll be giving you the necessary guidance in these pages to make this possible. And if this sounds frightening, don’t worry. We all have to meet the Shadow at some point in our lives, and we’ll find it’s more than ready to make friends with us, give us its gifts, and help us forward. But we’ll have to meet it.
Dr. Allan G. Hunter is a counselor, thera- pist and professor of literature at Curry College, Boston. He also teaches memoir writing at Blue Hills Writing Institute. He is the author of Write Your Memoir, The Six Archetypes of Love, and Stories We Need to Know. He lives in Watertown, Massachu- setts. Learn more about Allan’s work at
www.therapeuticwriting.com
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