Hi everyone,
A few weeks ago in When the Universe Knocks we opened the door to a larger mystery.
This week, we notice what happens when that same mystery quietly shows up in everyday life—hiding in plain sight.
This piece by bestselling author Martha Beck got me thinking.
She tells the story of the day she decided her writing self needed a braver animal symbol than the tortoise she'd always favored. When she settled on the tiger, the tigers began to arrive.
In droves.
A friend greeted her, out of nowhere, with “Hi, tiger.” A photograph of one turned up at her door. A print of tiger lilies revealed itself, on closer look, to be made of tiny tiger faces. By the end of the day she had stopped counting and started wondering. 1
We’ve all had some version of this.
The book that falls open to the very page you needed. The old friend who calls the same afternoon you think of them. A word, a name, a number that keeps surfacing until you finally look up and pay attention.
Beck doesn't claim to know what any of it means. Many coincidences could be just that—chance. The mind is, after all, a remarkable pattern-finding machine, seeing faces in clouds and meaning in randomness.
I tend to believe otherwise. Living in such an intelligent Universe, it's hard for me to imagine that every wondrous experience is random. Some moments seem to arrive with far too much precision to ignore.
Either way, in moments like these, I love the single question Beck asks herself in three different ways, letting each word take its turn at the center:
Why is this happening to me?
Why is this happening to me?
Why is this happening to me?
Maybe that’s all a coincidence ever really is. Not an answer.
Just a quiet (or loud) tap on the shoulder.
An invitation to pay closer attention.
Ahhh 🐯✨
What's a coincidence you've never quite been able to explain away—the one that still makes you stop and go Huh?
Tell us in the comments — we’d love to hear it.
Video
Speaking of coincidences—here’s a string of them between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy that has been circulating for decades. Some are well documented. Others have grown a little taller in the retelling. Together, though, they’re enough to raise an eyebrow.
Wild, huh?
Speaking of Not Random
(In case you missed it)
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