“For me, serendipity, coincidence and chance are more interesting than any pre-conceived construct of our human encounters.” ~ Charles Traub
Serendipity is defined as the occurrence of events by chance which have happy or beneficial outcomes. I daresay each of us has experienced what seems like surreal happenings that have no logical basis. I think of a recent situation where I went into a supermarket, threw a bunch of items into my cart and suddenly realized I had left my wallet at home. Feeling very embarrassed, I mumbled an apology to the store clerk, retraced my steps and returned everything to its original place. As I opened the refrigerator case door to return some milk, I almost slipped on something that was under the heel of my shoe. Bending down under it, I saw a $20 bill which seemed to have appeared magically. My mom raised an honest daughter, so I proceeded to customer service so the employee could go on the loudspeaker and announce the lost money. He laughed and said “Nope, that $20 is yours. It’s your lucky day.” I grabbed all the items I had previously gathered, went up to the same teller and said, “I can pay for my purchases now! The universe just helped me!” The bill was $19.77, and I waltzed out of that store thinking I had been touched by an angel or, at the very least, a magical act.
The term “serendipity” was coined in 1754 by an author named Horace Walpole. Its invention was based on the Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip” whose heroes were always making discoveries by accident of things for which they had originally not been searching. Similarly, I think that all of us have experienced some of life’s greatest blessings when we least expected them. In my own case, I traveled with my son to Raleigh to see about a property to buy. Suddenly, the man next to me on the train started talking and mentioned he was a realtor. He gave me his business card and, out of that encounter, a friendship and maybe a future business relationship has formed. At a concert for Irish music, a young woman sat down next to us and, after talking, we realized we all share a love for Celtic music. I told her that my son had recently lost his piano teacher, and we were looking for a new one. She looked me in the eye and said, “I’m from Winston-Salem, and I may be that piano teacher you’re looking for.” Talk about stumbling into the right person and opportunity at the right time!
In the article, “Serendipity: The Joy of Unexpected Discoveries,” the writer, Sameer Gudhate, mentions that there are numerous stories of successful individuals who attribute their achievements to embracing serendipity. He alludes to Alexander Fleming for instance and “his accidental discovery of penicillin while studying bacteria (which) changed the course of medicine forever.” He jocularly mentions that the invention of Post-It Notes evolved from a failed experiment at 3M. By encouraging a culture that embraces serendipity, we have a chance to enhance our own creativity and problem-solving abilities. By cultivating a serendipity mindset, one can let go of the need to force outcomes, welcome the unexpected and trust that the universe will provide what you need.
Many faith traditions in fact view serendipity as the hand of a higher power orchestrating your steps behind the scenes, reminding you that there is a larger design in force. I like to think of this as a kind of divine nudge, a sign from the universe, a manifestation of grace which defies the usual logic which holds us in its normative thrall. The well known philosopher Deepak Chopra phrased the spiritual interpretation of serendipity quite aptly when he said, “The coincidences or little miracles that happen every day of your life are hints that the universe has much bigger plans for you than you ever dreamed of for yourself.”
Some time ago, a failed romance made me lose my faith in love. That week, I was going through some family things I had inherited and found an old silken hatbox with a letter in it. The painstakingly written missive turned out to be a passionate love letter from my father to my mother. It was as if I was being given a sign that his love, which had been so enduring, was showing me not to take the path of despair. I am certain I was meant to find that letter (serendipitously) and use it as a blessing to reconfigure my own life – possibly with the inclusion of that Raleigh man on a south-bound train.
