A “Touch” of synchronicity

You have to watch Touch on Fox on Thursday nights. It does a fantastic job addressing seemingly random- but hugely beneficial human connections. Similarly, in Man and his Symbols, conceived and edited by Carl Jung, M.-L. von Franz describes Jung’s concept of synchronicity as “a meaningful coincidence of outer and inner events that are not causally connected.”

While I do not want to limit Touch to being about synchronicity, it is the best illustration of this abstract concept that I have ever encountered.

The episode two weeks ago showed one of the two main characters, a gifted boy who does not speak, hold the cross-walk button to alter the timing of a person so she gets on the same elevator with someone. It turns out that meeting each other helps each of them heal. Meanwhile, his loving father, Kiefer Sutherland, keeps trying to connect with his son all the while discovering more of his son’s unexplainable brilliance.

And now back to synchronicity… Von Franz continues in Man and His Symbols with an example, “If I bought a blue frock and by mistake, the shop delivered a black one on the day one of my relatives died, this would be a meaningful coincidence. These two events are not causally related, but they are connected by the symbolic meaning that our society gives to the color black.”

Jung observed that when synchronicity happened, they are was an archetype, or symbolic theme, activated in the individual concerned.

In my Communication with Self class series, I explain synchronicity as our inner consciousness trying to communicate with our conscious mind in a manner similar to when we dream. Why wouldn’t the part of us connected to all of life be able to energetically collaborate with other parts of life to help us understand life? What?

I guess that is why I like Touch. It points to human connections that transcend logic and causality. And I find that downright refreshing.

Inner consciousness

What if there was a part of you that was connected to all things?

What if there was a part of you that was trying to guide you toward the things that you want most in life?

What if it was trying to communicate with you all the time- sometimes screaming at you? Through your dreams. Through coincidences. Through your experiences. Through the people that you are meeting.

What if it was drawing to you experiences to help you learn about and resolve the things that keep you from having what you want?

What if it was putting awesome opportunities in front of you and constantly trying to get you to see possibilities?

What is it was trying to show you how beautiful you are? And how precious life is?

And all you had to do was care enough (about your life) to pay attention and listen.

Call it your inner consciousness- or (depending on your spiritual beliefs) call it your soul, Christ Consciousness, Spirit, Buddha Nature, unconscious, spirit guide, Holy Spirit, intuition, Atman, inner voice, essential nature, higher self, or part of you that knows.

Whatever you call that part of you…  If it was desperately trying to get through to you, would you allow it to reach you? And would you allow yourself to be guided?

6 week class Series: Communication with Self- Understanding Dreams, Symbols and Coincidence

What are your dreams trying to tell you? The part of you that knows what is best for you is trying to communicate with your conscious mind all the time. It does this through dreams, metaphors, and coincidence and uses the language of symbolism.

This class series will show how to interpret your dreams and experiences to get guidance from the ultimate teacher- yourself.

Michael Hoffman is a transformational speaker and psychotherapist who has specialized in interpreting dreams and symbols for the past 25 years.

Classes are Wednesday nights, 7:00 to 8:30pm, September 29, 2010 through November 3, 2010 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, 4340 West Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane, WA. This class is free. It is designed so people can retake it and still get value. Child-care may be provided with advanced registration.

For more information call 509-850-7694 or email: info@michaehoffman.info.

So come find out what you are trying to say to yourself.

Give yourself information when making a decision

Feel stuck or trapped? Need to make a decision? Give yourself information. One of the first things things we do when we feel conflict or indecision is cut ourselves off from getting information about the situation. Then we try to make a decision without having the necessary information.

Whenever you are feeling confused or indecisive, the first thing to ask yourself is: “Do you have enough information to make your decision?” Usually, you do not.

It may be that you are trying to make the decision prematurely before all the necessary information is in. This tendency is often due to the anxiety and uncertainty of the unknown. If this is the case, it is essential to back off, let the situation to unfold, and allow the necessary information to emerge.

Other times, you may feel trapped or overwhelmed by a decision. Your perspective of the situation becomes narrow and limited. Peter Gabriel’s 1978 song Perspective puts it, “I need perspective, ‘cos I’m facing the wall.” (Click here to listen to Perspective via YouTube) You stop seeing possibilities. You cease allowing yourself information. You try to make a decision that requires information that you are not allowing yourself.So… start giving yourself information. Do some research. Bounce your situation (or part of it) off some people you trust in order to broaden your perspective. Is there something that you do not understand about your decision? Ask some questions. Who would know about such things?

What does your heart say? Are you listening to it?

Or maybe you need information that only comes with experience. If so, orchestrate some experiences that will give you the information that you need. Test the nature of the relationship or situation in question. Invite the person into your world and watch what they do. Risk being yourself in a situation and see what happens. Soon you will be able to see the person as they are or the situation as it is. Then you are free to navigate through it.

Once you allow yourself enough information to see things clearly, possibilities will present themselves. You will see an inroad to get where you want to be. Your decision and what you need to do will be clear.

See yourself as “part of”

When you are in an experience, do you see yourself as “part of” or “separate from”?  If you see yourself as part of, everything in the experience is available to you. You have a right to be involved- just because you are there.

So no more “being on the outside looking in”. The experience in front of you needs you to get involved. I was in the grocery store a while back and this woman was yelling at her son, “How could you be so stupid?”- as I was walking by. I was feeling bold that day and simply said, “Don’t say that to him.” She said, “That is none of your business. I responded, “You made it my business when you said it in the middle of the bread isle.”

I was part of that experience. Why not get involved and play my part? We all survived it. The kid seemed to appreciate it and I walked away feeling good about it. How many times had I just walked on by because I told myself it was none of my business. Then later I felt like I somehow condoned it. It is time to reclaim our sense of community. That Albertson’s store is my village. Why wouldn’t I say something?

Whether or not you participate in an experience is a by-product of how you see yourself in relation to the experience. I recommend getting in the habit of seeing yourself as a part of every situation that you are in. What do you have to offer it? What is your part of that dance?

Then all of people, possibilities, and resources associated with the experience are available to you. It is only you seeing yourself as being separate that excludes you. Being separate is a story you tell yourself; it is an illusion. You can just as easy choose to see yourself as part of and participate.

So give yourself permission to be a part of. Life is happening right in front of you. Let yourself have some.