Nothing is a Coincidence.

"If you believe in coincidence...then you aren't paying attention."

-David Life

Here are some "new age" things I believe in:

1.) The book, "Conversations with God." (I'm not very eloquent in summarizing this ideology, but I'm going to try anyway.) Think of God as the ocean. Then imagine taking some buckets and filling them with water from the ocean. They are all part of the ocean, but now they are in separate containers. These containers are us--our bodies, and so therefore, we all have a part of God inside us. We have the power to create our world and our life. We do this so that we (God) can experience him(her/it)self, because just knowing something or being told something does not have the same effect as actually living something.

2.) The book "The Secret" which I'm sure you've all heard of by now. Or read. I agree, some of the message has been pushed towards the gimmicky---but the basic idea that our thoughts manifest in our lives is what I believe in. This can happen in positive or negative ways, which is why it's so hard...we (or at least I) am geared towards preparing for the worst. Trying to prepare for the best is difficult, but if you can honestly 100% convince yourself that you already have what you want for long enough I really promise it will show up in your life.

3.) Astrology. And not those dumb "horoscopes" you get in magazines or newspapers. My favorite astrologist is Susan Miller from astrology zone. We can all agree that the moon has a magnetic pull on the tides, right? So why is it so far-fetched to think that the alignment of the stars and the moon have a magnetic pull on us? We are, after all, simply composed of vibrating atoms of energy. Not everything Susan Miller says in her monthly reading applies to me in my life, and I definitely don't put my life in her hands. But if she says the upcoming full moon could be a good time to take a trip, I might try to make it happen. If she recommends not signing a contract this weekend because Mercury is in retrograde, I might find a better time to do it. So far, she's been pretty right on...

I also believe that there are no coincidences in life. If things seem to line up, I believe that it's life trying to tell you something. Sometimes I find that I go through a period of a couple of months where I'm just existing, where nothing really exciting happens and life just goes. Then there are times when things line up and I ignore them. And then sometimes, things line up and I go for it.

I'm telling you all this because things are lining up right now, and I feel like I'm going to try to go for it.

I can't tell you exactly what is lining up, because I don't know. But here are my clues:

I went on a hike last weekend with American Erin and her friends, and her and i ended up walking down the mountain together. We got into a really intense conversation about coincidences and religion, what happens after death and stuff like that. I told her I believe there is something after this life because of what happened with my mom.*
                           *side story: After my mom died, my little 9 year old brain thought that if I wrote her a letter and left it by the windowsill at night with extra paper and a pen, she would write me back, kind of like the tooth fairy. Obviously I outgrew that idea, but once during a particularly dramatic adolescent day of high school, I decided to write her a letter again. I had the radio tuned to the station we loved together, and while I was writing to her, my "song" for her (in high school you make official songs for everything, of course) came on. It was "Arms of the Angel" by Sarah McLaughlin. My heart stopped and I took it as a sign she was with me. The song ended before I finished the letter, and I was disappointed. Then, on the radio, the D.J. (Alan Almond, for my Michiganders) said "You know, I really like that song. Let's play it again." I couldn't believe it. When does that ever happen live on the radio?

And so Erin and I agreed that we have no idea what this whole life and death stuff is about, but that organized religion doesn't answer the questions for us. Looking back after this week, I think that conversation with Erin opened my eyes for what was to come...it reminded me that coincidences should be regarded as big red flags...


Meanwhile, I've been teaching Mr. Pardon, the rich entrepreneur of the "Pardon" chain of stores here in the Indian Ocean. It was actually Erin's job, I was just substituting on the days she couldn't go. Well on Monday, she tells me that her assistant position in the school district starts this week and she can no longer teach Mr. Pardon, so I would be finishing off the week with him. On Tuesday, Mr. Pardon and I get into a conversation about his life...how he started his business and the insane ups and downs he's gone through with it. I was amazed. Inspired. Mr. Pardon (now almost 60) has been filthy rich, then bankrupt, then rich again, then robbed, then his store was set on fire, then rich again, then sued by the (last) French President's wife, then robbed again a couple more times. When he tells the story, he is smiling. When he has those super low lows in his life, he never said "I was so depressed." Instead, he would think "ok, what's next?" Then he got out the only two English books in his giant library--books he bought while in South Africa for a month. They are books by Paul Arden, kind of inspirational, about taking chances and going off the beaten path. I don't know why, but the moment just struck a chord with me. He let me borrow the books.

The next day, I had to take the bus up to St. Denis, so I had lots of time to read the books. The sun was shining on the ocean, and the sky was 5 different shades of blue. The wind was fresh and it felt really good coming through the windows on the bus. I had my music on and for some reason, the books were really making me excited for something. Motivated to do something. And then, for no real reason, I started thinking about my Dad and a couple of my friends telling me that I should write a book. I just brushed the thought off when they said it---what do I have to say that is special? Sure, I've traveled a little, but it's not something new. There's millions of American girls who travel, fall in love, and move across the world. Eat, Pray, Love beat me to it. So did a million other books about humorous American/French culture-clashing relationships. 
Why should I think that whatever I have to say is anything anyone wants to read about? What do I possibly have to offer? 

If I've learned anything from Mr. Pardon, it's that sometimes you just gotta go for it. Take a risk. It was a little ironic that he told me his real-life example of that just before giving me those books that said the exact same thing. Books he's never even read because he never finished learning enough English to read them. Why did he choose those books? He didn't even know what they were about. (I asked him that and he said it was because he liked their design...it had nothing to do with the content...another strange coincidence...) Why did he pick that day with me to search for the books? And why did he offer to let me borrow them? He didn't know what was going on in my head while we were looking through them...

THEN (don't laugh) I am on this mailing list from that Conversations with God book. Sometimes they just email you some quotes or positive things to think about. That night, I received this in my inbox: 

On this day of your life, jen, I believe God wants you to know...

...that you are only one short step away from manifesting

what you need to reach your goal.

Do not stop now. Whatever you do, do not stop now.

Okay? Is that clear enough? Is that a clear enough sign?

You asked for a sign, didn't you?

So, is that clear enough?

And just now, before I started to write this blog, I checked out Susan Miller's astrology page. This is what she had to say to me...

The move of Saturn into your ninth house of learning, speaking, traveling, and philosophy will mark a monumental change in your life starting October 5 and continuing three years, until September 17, 2015. This is an area of your chart that is all about learning new information, giving out information, and assessing information in the philosophical sense. This house also rules foreign travel. Travel may become a bigger part of your life, and you will more likely go to foreign lands so that you can learn from your travels and broaden your thinking and your horizons. Your whole mind will open up, and with that, your goals will broaden, too. Saturn is always about reaching for the stars and trying big things, you may sell a book or screenplay idea in the coming three years. You may get a visa, green card, or passport from a foreign country, or go through a lawsuit which seams to take time, but that may eventually benefit you.

So after all that...I'm finding it hard to ignore it all and say "wow what a bunch of strange coincidences..."

I still don't know what I possibly have to offer the world, but I do have some stories and I did make some (huge) mistakes in my life. Maybe I can make some little girl somewhere who is going through the same thing know that she isn't so alone. Maybe I could inspire someone to take a risk too, like Mr. Pardon just did for me. At the very least, maybe it will be therapeutic to write all of the swirling questions out of my head. Maybe I could write our tropical French love story, and then they'll make it into a movie, which I will of course act in...and voila, my life would be complete!!

The only problem is...I have no idea where to start...