The Power of Coincidence
THE
P
OWER
OF
C
OINCIDENCE
How Life Shows Us
What We Need to Know
D
AVID
R
ICHO
Shambhala
Boston & London
2010
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com
© 1998, 2007 by David Richo
This is a revised edition of
Unexpected Miracles: The Gift of Synchronicity and
How to Open It,
originally published by Crossroad, 1998.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richo, David, 1940-
The power of coincidence: how life shows us what we need to know/David Richo.
p. cm.
eISBN 978-0-8348-2280-1
ISBN 978-1-59030-427-3
1. Coincidence. I. Title.
BF1175.R535 2007
123—dc22
2006035785
To Josh, my son, a synchronicity of love and joy:
Already by age eight, nature had taught you the deepest human paradox:
Running so elatedly to the edge of the pond,
with the bread you had carefully broken—
duck-bite-size—
your face, alight with impassioned expectation, fell
in disappointment and despair:
not one white feather anywhere.
The choice: keep your bread
or cast it upon the waters anyway:
tardy ducks might come
some other—Joshless—day.
A toss—
and suddenly, O your surprised eyes,
your revived face!
An arrow of ducks
came gliding, single-pointedly, to your feet:
more than ever you had expected,
coming closer than ever you had hoped,
from thin air, from nowhere, from everywhere.
May it always happen like that, Josh.
Contents
What Is Synchronicity?
The Many Ways It Can Happen
Stories That Reveal Synchronicity
Learning to Practice Openness to Synchronicity
Interpreting Synchronicities
2. H
OW
S
YNCHRONICITY
T
OUCHES
U
S AND
O
UR
R
ELATIONSHIPS
The Experiences and Events That Brought Us Here
A Dark Side
Practicing Beginner’s Mind
Synchronicity and Mirroring Love
Stories That Reveal Us and Our Relationships
Practicing Letting Go of Ego
Losing/Saving Face
Ego/Self at a Glance
Making Ego-Free Choices
Just Coincidence: The Trickster Ego
Practicing an Etiquette for Trickster Visits
Only One World
The Time It Takes
The Knack of Knowing Our Timing
The Embrace of Effort and Grace
When the Time Is All Wrong
Practicing in Time
Our Destiny Fulfilled
How to Know What We Want
A Fateful Tale
No Room for Chance
Ways of Foretelling
The Givens of Human Life
How What Happens Helps
Using the Tools
Crisis: A Given and a Spur
Diving In
A Mindful Practice
Guides Who Come to Wave Us On
Noticing Assisting Forces
Remembering Dreams and Learning from Them
Recurrent Dreams
Archetypal Dreams
Dreamwork and Active Imagination
The Care and Tending of Dreams
8. S
YNCHRONICITY AND
O
UR
S
PIRITUALITY
Making Love Concrete
How to Stay and See
Working in Space
Ready for Birth
Declaring and Dedicating
Preface
This book was originally published more than a decade ago under the title
Unexpected Miracles: The Gift of Synchronicity and How to Open It.
Since that time, my understanding of meaningful coincidence has deepened in many ways. Today I am more aware of how synchronicity figures into life and relationships. In addition, I appreciate more fully the challenges of opening oneself to the twists of fate, of exposing oneself to the turning of the wheel of life and of finding meaning in what looks like chance.