I totally agree. I believe that when we live intentionally by focusing our attention on a certain direction the Universe – that being God, physics, mathematics, and nature – respond in unknown ways to direct the course of our life. How we move through our days and what happens is a fluid process directed by both our free will and these mysterious universal patterns. If we let it be, we are guided, but we can also choose to get in the way. Unfortunately, I do that all too often.
Hi Donna, Yep - darn it - that is the truth of things - we are always making the choices. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and thanks for being in my life.
Provocative read, Donna. Over the years I’ve spent more than a few minutes considering this and similar questions. I still don’t have answers. I can absolutely get behind the notion that we are entangled beings, and that everything I do, every decision I make, every molecule I inhale and exhale has an impact on someone or something else.
But is it all preordained? I don’t think so. Because I don’t want to have pin the horrors that occur on some higher being with either a bad attitude or no empathy. Sure, we don’t know what comes next for those who suffer now, and it’s quite likely there’s something way better than this behind the veil. Still, ugh. Just no.
No to tragedy being preventable in the spiritual sense, because if it is, and it’s allowed to happen anyway, then I’m suddenly even angrier.
Our choices matter. We have control over many of those, and there are miracles happening every minute in our midst.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful answer Elizabeth. I especially like the last line because it nails what I was trying to say which, aside from 'I don't know my answer on this' is that both things might be true. We have the power of choice and there is more going on than we know.
Yes to entanglement! I went down the rabbit hole a bit when I was writing this piece so, for such a short essay, it took me ages🤣 because I kept reading about all the fascinating aspects of theoretical physics. It's endless.
Happy Thanksgiving from up here in Canada, may you be well!
Wonderful essay. I believe in G-d. I believe He is the author of the universe therefore everything happens for a reason. He has a plan. I would never say this to one who is grieving and when I see the Jew hate around the world I have to remind myself that G-d has a plan. This is the only thing that alleviates the fear and pain for me.
I love hearing this take! My faith in God alleviates my fear and pain too. I think the thing I'm not on board with is when we seem to get so stuck trying to find the reason for the thing that we don't move forward. I believe this analytic procoess is a different way of living than trust and surrender which has a gracefulness to it.
Hmmmm. Do I believe everything happens for a reason? Or just some things? You've asked a good question.
When shitty things happen, I tend to think it's happening for a reason. Because I'm trying to find some glimmer of hope as to why the shitty thing is happening. What lesson it's there to teach me.
When life is going swimmingly, I don't tend to think about this very much at all. I just make sure to be INCREDIBLY grateful every single day (especially when things are going well.) I pray every day and will double down on the prayer front when I'm really struggling. So much to ponder here with your post Donna. xo
I can relate to this Kim! That glimmer of hope in the dark is how we get through. I don't know how people do it if they aren't searching for some kind of meaning in things - but maybe it's something all humans do, I don't know.
It is a big question to ponder, and likely one we'll never have an answer to.
I am so glad this little essay (which actually took me forever to write because I kept going down the rabbit hole🤣) is making you think💕
This massage therapist loves that chicken scapulae got you where you needed to be. Today, a client and I were talking about and reveling in all the patterns that connect us - if only we open our eyes and hearts to their significance.
Haha, a chicken scapulae!! Good one Amanda🤣 I never thought about that but it's true.
I do think we are all connected. When I send out a post I visualize a beautiful web where my words go out to land in the hearts of those who need them, even if I have no idea where they are supposed to land. We can't fathom how that connection works we can only roll with it.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a great comment. The chicken bone will now live forever in my mind as a guidepost🍗(that emoji is a chicken leg but it doesn't really look like one!)
This question has been very much on my mind this week. Thanks for your beautiful words, Donna. I don't know either. Though I do often find myself looking back on events of my life with the strong feeling that it couldn't have been any other way, that everything led to everything else, and ultimately took me where I needed to go, however much I may have resisted it at the time....
I think it's a good thing to have the sense that it couldn't have gone any other way, even if we may have preferred that. I know there are times it would nice to see how every thing is leading us to the next right thing in advance so we could sink into the experience. But that's cheating🤣
Thank you for your kind words Vicki, I love your perspective.
Thank you for this. I have been saying that my universe is almost miraculous. I have fallen in love in my 70's and feel like I am in my 40's or 50's. We had so much in common on a dating app that it was unbelievable. Slowly we have evolved and are in our 5th year. Go figure.
Jennifer, I love that your universe is miraculous!! This is so great to hear. It's fascinating that folks who feel this way tend to have more good stuff happen to them. There's some interesting research on people who think they are lucky.
Thank you for sharing this part of your story with us - who doesn't love a love affair💕!!
I believe in coincidences, in the literal sense of the term: two phenomena that happened at the same time by chance, but which were interpreted by our conscious mind as something planned. I find it harder to believe in miracles. However, I believe that we can attribute meaning to events and that this can give us a purpose. For example, you and Bruce could have been in the same place, but not started talking. And that could have changed your entire future.
The fact that you attribute meaning to what happened gives beauty and meaning to life, gives it a purpose, a path, a direction. And that, yes, is a miracle, that is the wonder of being human. Turning chance encounters into miracles. Is there a greater miracle than that?
This is an excellent definition of coincidences Rolando, thank you. I think I also believe in miracles but know that we cannot depend on the to happen because there is no magic forumla (at least none that I know) to conjure them up. I agree, turning a chance encounter to something meaningful is a small miracle in itself.
My favorite sentence: "We stayed in touch by mailing letters." I miss the good old days of human connection!
This was a beautiful thought to ponder. I wish we had the ability to watch our lives over to see what would've happened if we'd chosen the clothes road. There are a million instances in my life that I'd like to know alternate outcomes.
Wouldn't it be fascinating to be able to see other paths we could've taken! I think the movie Sideways is about that and I'm sure there are others as well. When I look back and see that this needed to happen in order for this other big thing to unfold it is mind-bending.
There just is nothing like an old-fashioned letter. I think you've motivated me to send one!
I just realized I got the name wrong, the movie I was thinking of is Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. Sideways is also great. If you haven’t seen it I’m pretty sure you’d love it.
You had me at “entanglement”. A monk in Thailand once told me, really, in asking about life after death: “I don’t know the answer, do you, does anyone?” I have come to realize it’s ok to not know but to still admire with admiration and curiousity.
Thanks for this message Donna. Lovely way to start my day.
I always marvel at folks who claim to know what happens after we die (except those few who have had a true near death experience, and that's fascinating). I think it's a tad audacious to set out what is going to happen because none of us have any idea so I disregard their words. You nailed it Di - curiousity and admiration go a long way!
Thank you for your presence here, I always love to hear from you💕
Sometimes it feels like, as a culture, we’re compelled to take everything apart and analyze every detail. And there’s value in that, we learn and grow through close examination. But it’s just as important to put things back together again and why I love "entanglement." Maybe this life is meant to hold both.
This is so true Julie. Us humans are not great at holding both but I have noticed a slight shift with this mindset. More folks are writing about it, joy and grief co-existing for example, and hopefully the cultural beliefs will change. I don't hold out too much hope about less analysis though, and you're right about us taking things apart to examine them. Over-analysis has two sides to it because the process helps us learn but also sometimes keeping us stuck in finding a reason rather than moving on.
Thanks so much for your insightful comment, I appreciate you taking the time!
I love this so much, Donna! ❤️❤️ I love the way you put it...that we direct our attention and desire, then the universe creates the path that rises to meet our every step. So beautiful! Although, like you said, we can't know for sure, I do believe we also make a sort of blueprint for ourselves before we incarnate. The details aren't filled in, but we choose some of the big pivot points beforehand. I suspect you and Bruce had some kind of agreement before either of you were born. Friendships like that are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this, my beautiful friend! 🤗💖
I'm so glad you love it Jenna! I share the belief that there are certain aspects of our lives we chose to come here to act out and learn from and, perhaps, the way we try to control and orchestrate events sometimes throws a monkey wrench into things. I remind myself that we all chose to be here at this time in history so, even though I may not agree with some of the directions science and tech are taking, humanity is ready for it simply because it's happening. I struggle with the relentless search for meaning in every little thing which is both exhausting and stagnating. A tight muscle might mean we need to stretch rather than have an existential crisis🤣
I totally agree. I believe that when we live intentionally by focusing our attention on a certain direction the Universe – that being God, physics, mathematics, and nature – respond in unknown ways to direct the course of our life. How we move through our days and what happens is a fluid process directed by both our free will and these mysterious universal patterns. If we let it be, we are guided, but we can also choose to get in the way. Unfortunately, I do that all too often.
Your words struck me Janice, "we can also choose to get in the way"! So often we don't think we are making a choice but we always are.
Happy Thanksgiving my friend!
Hi Donna, Yep - darn it - that is the truth of things - we are always making the choices. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and thanks for being in my life.
❤️
Provocative read, Donna. Over the years I’ve spent more than a few minutes considering this and similar questions. I still don’t have answers. I can absolutely get behind the notion that we are entangled beings, and that everything I do, every decision I make, every molecule I inhale and exhale has an impact on someone or something else.
But is it all preordained? I don’t think so. Because I don’t want to have pin the horrors that occur on some higher being with either a bad attitude or no empathy. Sure, we don’t know what comes next for those who suffer now, and it’s quite likely there’s something way better than this behind the veil. Still, ugh. Just no.
No to tragedy being preventable in the spiritual sense, because if it is, and it’s allowed to happen anyway, then I’m suddenly even angrier.
Our choices matter. We have control over many of those, and there are miracles happening every minute in our midst.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful answer Elizabeth. I especially like the last line because it nails what I was trying to say which, aside from 'I don't know my answer on this' is that both things might be true. We have the power of choice and there is more going on than we know.
Yes to entanglement! I went down the rabbit hole a bit when I was writing this piece so, for such a short essay, it took me ages🤣 because I kept reading about all the fascinating aspects of theoretical physics. It's endless.
Happy Thanksgiving from up here in Canada, may you be well!
Thank you, and the same wishes for wellness are winging their way back to you!
Oh, and there is no such thing as coincidence. It was meant to happen.
Wonderful essay. I believe in G-d. I believe He is the author of the universe therefore everything happens for a reason. He has a plan. I would never say this to one who is grieving and when I see the Jew hate around the world I have to remind myself that G-d has a plan. This is the only thing that alleviates the fear and pain for me.
I love hearing this take! My faith in God alleviates my fear and pain too. I think the thing I'm not on board with is when we seem to get so stuck trying to find the reason for the thing that we don't move forward. I believe this analytic procoess is a different way of living than trust and surrender which has a gracefulness to it.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this CK❤️
Hmmmm. Do I believe everything happens for a reason? Or just some things? You've asked a good question.
When shitty things happen, I tend to think it's happening for a reason. Because I'm trying to find some glimmer of hope as to why the shitty thing is happening. What lesson it's there to teach me.
When life is going swimmingly, I don't tend to think about this very much at all. I just make sure to be INCREDIBLY grateful every single day (especially when things are going well.) I pray every day and will double down on the prayer front when I'm really struggling. So much to ponder here with your post Donna. xo
I can relate to this Kim! That glimmer of hope in the dark is how we get through. I don't know how people do it if they aren't searching for some kind of meaning in things - but maybe it's something all humans do, I don't know.
It is a big question to ponder, and likely one we'll never have an answer to.
I am so glad this little essay (which actually took me forever to write because I kept going down the rabbit hole🤣) is making you think💕
Miracles do happen. I’ve witnessed many. Not sure about the “supposed to” part but I know that if we’re open to seeing them then we might. 🙏
Thanks for a beautiful post Donna ❤️
Exactly Dee - if we're open to seeing them then we might! Thank you for being here my friend🙏
This massage therapist loves that chicken scapulae got you where you needed to be. Today, a client and I were talking about and reveling in all the patterns that connect us - if only we open our eyes and hearts to their significance.
Haha, a chicken scapulae!! Good one Amanda🤣 I never thought about that but it's true.
I do think we are all connected. When I send out a post I visualize a beautiful web where my words go out to land in the hearts of those who need them, even if I have no idea where they are supposed to land. We can't fathom how that connection works we can only roll with it.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a great comment. The chicken bone will now live forever in my mind as a guidepost🍗(that emoji is a chicken leg but it doesn't really look like one!)
This question has been very much on my mind this week. Thanks for your beautiful words, Donna. I don't know either. Though I do often find myself looking back on events of my life with the strong feeling that it couldn't have been any other way, that everything led to everything else, and ultimately took me where I needed to go, however much I may have resisted it at the time....
I think it's a good thing to have the sense that it couldn't have gone any other way, even if we may have preferred that. I know there are times it would nice to see how every thing is leading us to the next right thing in advance so we could sink into the experience. But that's cheating🤣
Thank you for your kind words Vicki, I love your perspective.
I call coincidences happy accidents because they’re almost always in my favor 😊
There's nothing like a happy accident💕
Thank you for this. I have been saying that my universe is almost miraculous. I have fallen in love in my 70's and feel like I am in my 40's or 50's. We had so much in common on a dating app that it was unbelievable. Slowly we have evolved and are in our 5th year. Go figure.
Jennifer, I love that your universe is miraculous!! This is so great to hear. It's fascinating that folks who feel this way tend to have more good stuff happen to them. There's some interesting research on people who think they are lucky.
Thank you for sharing this part of your story with us - who doesn't love a love affair💕!!
I believe in coincidences, in the literal sense of the term: two phenomena that happened at the same time by chance, but which were interpreted by our conscious mind as something planned. I find it harder to believe in miracles. However, I believe that we can attribute meaning to events and that this can give us a purpose. For example, you and Bruce could have been in the same place, but not started talking. And that could have changed your entire future.
The fact that you attribute meaning to what happened gives beauty and meaning to life, gives it a purpose, a path, a direction. And that, yes, is a miracle, that is the wonder of being human. Turning chance encounters into miracles. Is there a greater miracle than that?
This is an excellent definition of coincidences Rolando, thank you. I think I also believe in miracles but know that we cannot depend on the to happen because there is no magic forumla (at least none that I know) to conjure them up. I agree, turning a chance encounter to something meaningful is a small miracle in itself.
☮️❤️
😘❤️
My favorite sentence: "We stayed in touch by mailing letters." I miss the good old days of human connection!
This was a beautiful thought to ponder. I wish we had the ability to watch our lives over to see what would've happened if we'd chosen the clothes road. There are a million instances in my life that I'd like to know alternate outcomes.
Wouldn't it be fascinating to be able to see other paths we could've taken! I think the movie Sideways is about that and I'm sure there are others as well. When I look back and see that this needed to happen in order for this other big thing to unfold it is mind-bending.
There just is nothing like an old-fashioned letter. I think you've motivated me to send one!
I don't think I've heard of that movie. Maybe I'll look for it tonight.
I just realized I got the name wrong, the movie I was thinking of is Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. Sideways is also great. If you haven’t seen it I’m pretty sure you’d love it.
You had me at “entanglement”. A monk in Thailand once told me, really, in asking about life after death: “I don’t know the answer, do you, does anyone?” I have come to realize it’s ok to not know but to still admire with admiration and curiousity.
Thanks for this message Donna. Lovely way to start my day.
I always marvel at folks who claim to know what happens after we die (except those few who have had a true near death experience, and that's fascinating). I think it's a tad audacious to set out what is going to happen because none of us have any idea so I disregard their words. You nailed it Di - curiousity and admiration go a long way!
Thank you for your presence here, I always love to hear from you💕
Sometimes it feels like, as a culture, we’re compelled to take everything apart and analyze every detail. And there’s value in that, we learn and grow through close examination. But it’s just as important to put things back together again and why I love "entanglement." Maybe this life is meant to hold both.
This is so true Julie. Us humans are not great at holding both but I have noticed a slight shift with this mindset. More folks are writing about it, joy and grief co-existing for example, and hopefully the cultural beliefs will change. I don't hold out too much hope about less analysis though, and you're right about us taking things apart to examine them. Over-analysis has two sides to it because the process helps us learn but also sometimes keeping us stuck in finding a reason rather than moving on.
Thanks so much for your insightful comment, I appreciate you taking the time!
I love this so much, Donna! ❤️❤️ I love the way you put it...that we direct our attention and desire, then the universe creates the path that rises to meet our every step. So beautiful! Although, like you said, we can't know for sure, I do believe we also make a sort of blueprint for ourselves before we incarnate. The details aren't filled in, but we choose some of the big pivot points beforehand. I suspect you and Bruce had some kind of agreement before either of you were born. Friendships like that are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this, my beautiful friend! 🤗💖
I'm so glad you love it Jenna! I share the belief that there are certain aspects of our lives we chose to come here to act out and learn from and, perhaps, the way we try to control and orchestrate events sometimes throws a monkey wrench into things. I remind myself that we all chose to be here at this time in history so, even though I may not agree with some of the directions science and tech are taking, humanity is ready for it simply because it's happening. I struggle with the relentless search for meaning in every little thing which is both exhausting and stagnating. A tight muscle might mean we need to stretch rather than have an existential crisis🤣
Sending love❤️