Directional Synchronicity: The Lottery!

Ok, I know what you're thinking so first let me just say that I fully acknowledge this might just be wishful thinking...but read the whole post first and then tell me if you think there might be a synchronicity somewhere.

It all started on September 24th when I found a used lottery ticket on the ground by my mailbox. When one finds a lottery ticket one needs to verify that it isn't a winner, right? I did check and discovered that no, it was not a winner. BUT the ticket reminded me that I had a coupon for a Buy $5 Lottery Ticket and get a $2 one free.

So I dig around in my mail pile to find the coupon and discover that it expires THAT DAY.

Of course, I go to buy a $5 ticket and get my free $2 lottery ticket.

The $2 one is not a winner, but the $5 ticket is. I win $5. I keep the winning $5 ticket in my purse for the next time I happen to go to the gas station.

The following day, I am watching Family Guy and the episode is entitled, "Lottery Fever" . I am surprised and excited to see another lottery reference so soon. I tell my husband about the lottery synchronicity and that perhaps this is a 'sign'. My husband says, "Forget the scratch offs - if we win the lottery, I want it to be the big one."

Before you scoff, I need to tell you that you will never win the lottery if you don't play. And maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not going to ignore a potential synchronicity that tells me to play the lottery. I don't normally play... but the last time I had a dream about the lottery I bought a ticket and won $75. Small wins, people, small wins.

So anyways, I don't know much about the lottery but I tell my husband to stop at the gas station so I can buy a ticket. I cash in my winning $5 scratch off and tell him I want the megamillions. Before I can ask any questions, the guy punches it in and gives me 5 single entries. BUT I notice that I didn't get the Megaplier number. I was disappointed but not so disappointed as to get another ticket. This is just for fun anyways.

So, the night of the drawing, I creep down to the computer after 11 to check my ticket. I am kicking myself for not getting the Megaplier. I don't understand the whole megaplier thing but it seems like you need it to really win big. I have a number here and a number there but I can't really tell if I won.

Today I stopped in to the gas station and asked the attendent to check the ticket. Sure enough, I won again - $2!!! (small wins, people, small wins). So what do I do with my $2? Well, I am going to ride the rush. I bought one ticket WITH the Megaplier this time. The drawing is tomorrow night. Maybe I will win.

If this ticket doesn't win, I'm done for now until I get another inkling of a sign. I will keep you posted.

BUT JUST FOR FUN... here's my promise. IF I win the FULL megamillions jackpot ($113 million), I will believe that it was your positive energy that helped and I will give $1,000 each (one thousand dollars!) to the first 20 people who comment on this post (one comment per person please - don't be greedy).

Mirror Synchronicity: My Sympathies

This morning a friend of mine sent me an article from The Globe and Mail about the Hallmark cards targeted towards people who had experienced job loss.

This afternoon, my grad school advisor emailed me and asked me if I would be interested in co-authoring a research study about the evolution of the language in sympathy cards.

He had not read the first article. Weird that both were sent to me via email.

On TV: A Gifted Man - Review

So, as you may remember from a previous post, I was looking forward to the pilot episode of A Gifted Man, a show about a surgeon who sees the spirit of his ex-wife. I have not read any other reviews about the show because I wanted to share my impressions first without the bias of others ideas.

I thought it was just okay. Alright, I admit I was a little disappointed. But to be fair, I will start with what I liked:

• I like the overall premise of the show (that a character sees spirits) because I was very disappointed to see the end of Medium and Ghost Whisperer.
• Margo Martindale is one of my favorite character actresses
• Jennifer Ehle looks like a young Meryl Streep and has the appropriate presence of an angel

Here is what I did not like:

• The Shaman character makes a comparison of the ghost to a "tumor."
• The main character's 'bad' attitude is over-acted and over the top. He is suddenly a kind and gentle person around his ex which is so much of a contrast so as to be unrealistic.
• The general plot seems contrived.
• The previous television shows about spirits have different spirits in every episode. I can't see where this show is going.
• There is too much of his medical practice closeups on inner organs.

So the grand conclusion for me is that I will watch another episode with hopes that they figure it out, but I do not see this show lasting very long. I welcome commentary from anyone who has seen the show to add what they liked/did not like.

Mirror Synchronicity: Japan

So last night at a party I had a past-life reading for the first time. I found it to be... interesting. I have been curious about my 'past lives' for as long as I remember but never had a reading before. This was a freebie, so it was quick. She told me that in the 1500s I had been a teenage boy training to be a Samurai in Japan. There were a lot more details to the reading, primarily around positive traits and attributes carried forward into this lifetime such as integrity, loyalty and pride.

I had never met the psychic before and I found the story to be intriguing. She could not know that I lived in Japan as an infant and actually spoke Japanese as my first language (my nanny spoke little English). I have always lamented that I had the potential to be fluent in Japanese had my parents pursued my language education. Additionally, I am strongly interested in Buddhist and Zen cultures.

SO, here's where it gets kind of weird for me. A year ago I had magical sort of dream about flying koi fish when I was in Las Vegas at a casino. The following day, I saw a slot machine with a Koi on it, played it, and won like $80 and then continued to win for an hour on the slots that I was draw to. [Regrettably, I did not blog that directional synchronicity when I returned from my trip].

So LAST night I had a dream that involved a classroom environment and I remembered distinctly that I needed to go to room 226. Because I woke up with that number in my head I was curious about the symbolism. I typed +226 number symbolism into Google and the first hit that comes up is this Wikipedia story about Koi fish which are from Japan. Apparently the oldest Koi lived to the age of 226. What is strange to me is that there is no way I would have consciously made the connection with that number to Koi or to Japan.

So last night's dream tied both back to the dream last year about the Koi and also to my past life reading. Does it mean anything? Maybe, maybe not, but it was still pretty trippy!

Directional Synchronicity: Kismet meeting #2 of 2

Yesterday I drove to Cleveland for the day to spend time with my uncle who had lost his wife (my aunt) last year and just recently lost his mom. We had a wonderful day visiting, but given that Cleveland is a two hour drive, I was tired on the drive home. About half an hour before I would have arrived home, I received multiple pleas from the volunteer coordinator at the hospice. There was a patient who was actively dying and alone. His family lived out of town and the facility did not have the staff to stay with him. They were looking for eleventh hour volunteers. Was anyone available?

I thought about it. I was exhausted. It was 8:00 at night and I had not yet eaten dinner. I had been away from home all day, and had things I had planned to do.

Yet I felt compelled to go volunteer. Why? I kept asking myself... why are you doing this to yourself? Are you trying to be a martyr? I really wasn't, but I just knew that I should go.

Funny enough, it wasn't for the patient - he was fine. There was an on-call nurse, Mary, who had been sitting with him until they could round up the volunteers. I had never met her before, but like my other post that I mentioned, there are some people who you instantly click with. We started talking about the patient, which transitioned to how I knew everyone at the hospice (I used to work there) which transitioned to metaphysical stuff. Amazingly, Mary and I have a LOT in common. She started to talk about synchronicities. I laughed. I said, "You don't know who you're talking to! I have been writing about synchros for seven years!" We bonded at the bedside of a dying patient. After she left, I thanked the patient. I told him he was a great party host for introducing us. I stayed with him for hours and we just sat and held hands.

Later when I did the shift change, someone who worked at the facility told me a bit more about the patient in life. He definitely was the life of the party and would've been the type to have introduced Mary and I. Funny. I hope that Mary and I become friends.

Directional Synchronicity: Kismet meeting #1 of 2

It is amazing to me how people can give off strong energies in such a short time period of knowing them. I had an experience yesterday where I met two kinds of people at the same time (strangely enough, they were talking to each other). One I could not get away from fast enough, and one with whom I felt an instant connection.

For the first time in a year and a half, I went back to the metaphysical store that I had visited during the time my aunt was dying last year. I wrote about this particular store in my book because I had a series of synchronicities there. I wanted to go back and visit again, perhaps buy some things and tell them that I wrote about them in the book I just published.

Long story short, the owner was not really interested in my story. I am high energy sometimes and perhaps he was annoyed by my babble. He did mention that he was on the verge of selling the store, so perhaps he had already checked out. To make matters worse, when we determined it was his wife who had been working last year, I said something stupid.

"She was kind of cranky."

Ooops. Blank stare from him. Then a bit of a clenched jaw.

Oh no I insulted his wife. I really didn't mean to insult her, it was just an observation. Actually, it was an understatement. She was not just cranky, she was disinterested... and not what you might typically assume that the store owner of a metaphysical store would be like.

So I had put my foot in my mouth. I tried to back out. I apologized profusely, but he was not letting me off the hook. Clenched jaw, fake smile. Wow. I am so sorry. I am sooooooooooooo sorry. Nothing. No concession that perhaps she might have been that way at that time. I was very uncomfortable and he just let me squirm. We left quickly.

The woman who had been standing next to him was the owner of another store. She had gone to visit him to make an offer for his store but he was already in negotiations. This woman, Carol, owns a store called Crystal Era in Elyria. She was so pleasant and light and she came up to me in the parking lot and said, "Don't worry - they're both unfriendly. You did not say anything bad."

We then ended up talking for fifteen minutes about metaphysical things, after death communication and of course synchronicities. This woman had the most unbelievable positive rainbow lighthearted energy about her. She was someone who I would want to sit next to on a bus, someone I would want to share tea with, someone I would want to be friends with. She said she had a lot of synchronicity stories. I asked her to email me so I could share them with you. I hope she does.

Navigating Without a Compass

My new neighbors Michelle and Dan are very much like my husband and I in one respect.  She and I believe in spirit communication, and the men do not.  In an extended coversation after I witnessed an orb, we expressed frustration with their inability to believe in what we know to be true.  Because I had just seen an orb, I wanted to pull out my camera and see if I could capture anything on film.  My husband touched my arm and said, "please don't."  It occurred to me then that not only did he not believe in signs and messages from the other side, but that he really wasn't interested in becoming a believer either. 

We (them women) were feeling sorry for them (our men), but then I realized that perhaps they have a different life lesson.  Perhaps it is their lesson in this lifetime to go without signs or proof.  Perhaps they are meant to navigate without a compass.  And then it struck me...perhaps they are more evolved souls than we are?  It has been said that God gives us the tools that we need to make our way in this world.  Maybe my search for signs has stemmed from a lack of confidence.  Maybe my search has been saying, "God, I don't feel strong enough to handle this world on my own, I need to know that you're there to hold my hand."   In thinking about the compass metaphor, I started researching orienteering.  Sure enough, it takes skill to read a map and a compass.  But the truely advanced orienteers find their way without either.  The Bushwalker's Guide to the Galaxy suggests that "someone who can navigate without them [Map and Compass] is less likely to feel stranded or lost."  Wow.  So, I guess this means that less reliance on "signs" and more reliance on inner self will better help us find our way.

Besides, it does not surprise me that these men don't want to stop and ask for directions.

As an aside, I found a really interesting article on another site about intention and our inner ability to navigate here.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Messages from Heaven!

Well, if you have come across this blog by happenstance or purposefully, you probably have an interest in after death communication and may have even experienced it yourself.  It was just brought to my attention that the Chicken Soup series has a call for essays about the topic:

Messages from Heaven
When our loved ones leave this world, our connection with them does not end. Death takes away their physical presence, but not their spirit, and we often sense them after they have gone. Sometimes we see or hear from them after they've passed, giving us signs and messages from beyond. We want to hear from you if you have experienced the other side or received a sign or signal from a loved one who has passed. The deadline date for story and poem submissions is October 3, 2011

I find this very exciting because it means that the topic of spirit communication is going more mainstream!  Another friend recently sent me some statistics about afterdeath communication which stated that 1/3 of the people surveyed had experienced some kind of communication in their lifetime.  I personally feel this number is low, as I know a few people who have admitted to me that they have experienced "something" but they still don't believe in the afterlife.  They are the type who might say "no" on a survey, just because they don't understand what happened. 

The orb in the corner

This past weekend I was visiting with my neighbors in their outdoor porch area.  My neighbor was telling me about the loss of her sister nearly twenty years ago.  She was describing to me how she could feel her sister's presence, but then she would end with, "Am I crazy?"  As she was talking, I noticed a big ball in the corner of the porch.  I was trying to pay attention to her but the ball kept growing and growing and it started to light up.  Although I see orbs frequently now, I am still not used to seeing them so I am always perplexed.  I felt bad because my neighbor was sitting in a position where I had to turn my head away from her to look in the corner but I was just so drawn to it.  Then as soon as I acknowledged it, it flared and disappeared.  It seems like every time I see an orb, it bounces around or does something to get my attention but once I acknowledge it, it is gone.  Anyone else experience this?  Why won't they stay when I admit that I see them?