Show Me a Sign - Defining and Deciphering Synchronicities
It’s no coincidence that when I sat down to write this week’s post, the idea of synchronicities immediately popped into my consciousness…and that last week’s post was a channeled message from Carl Jung - the person that actually coined the term.
Some might not call that a coincidence or synchronicity at all, but say it was the logical next topic to follow-up with.
But that’s the thing about synchronicities…they can hardly be explained. Their meaning and significance can only be felt and known by the person experiencing the event. But before we get deeper into the nuances of synchronicities, let’s back up and start on the surface.
There are no coincidences.
To put it simply, synchronicities exist on the basis that there are no coincidences - that nothing is random and everything is somehow orchestrated and full of meaning.
To try to summarize Carl Jung’s theory in layman’s terms…the existence of synchronicities suggest that there is order in chaos/life, and that our inner and outer worlds are more dependent on each other than logic and traditional science might suggest.
Essentially, synchronicities function as signs/omens/messages from the Universe or higher consciousness to guide us towards our “highest” timeline (or fulfilling our life’s purpose and aligning to our most authentic selves).
This concept seems simple enough, yet people have such a hard time determining what counts as a synchronicity, and then deciphering its meaning.
So for the rest of this post I’m going to do my best to give you some pro tips on how to tune into your messages, and then I’ll give you a few personal examples and how I might go about deciphering them.
The Divine Conversation
Communicating with the Universe is an intimate and personal practice.
It requires a kind of stillness, self-awareness, and discernment that develops through a consistent back and forth.
Once you start reading signs, you realize you’re having a conversation with life, and synchronicities are like whispers spoken in a language only you understand.
That being said, the first bit of advice I have for someone just starting to become aware of their synchronicities is to be careful of who you share them with.
Like I said in the beginning, the significance and depth of a synchronicity cannot be explained through logic. So if/when you decide to share the meaning of a synchronicity you experienced, 9 times out of 10, it will not hold the same weight for anyone else. And when it doesn’t, it’s inevitable that it loses some of its magic/power.
That sparkle that you feel after experiencing a synchronicity often dies once you try to explain it.
On the other hand, when it does land with someone besides yourself, and they’re able to validate or confirm the meaning of your signs, the magic and sparkle doubles in strength.
(As a kind of side note, that’s why having a spiritual mentor or peer in your life can be very beneficial. They can provide clarity, discernment, and a perspective around these things that might not be available to the person experiencing them (though the goal is to not need external validation).)
The second bit of advice I have when trying to understand your synchronicities, is to not use your mind to analyze them.
The mind is a powerful tool, but when it comes to communication with higher dimensions, the rest of your body is just as intelligent (if not more so). It’s best to tune into your Heart and Gut when deciphering a synchronicity.
What that means is that the first sense or feeling of an idea that comes to you when you’re experiencing a synchronicity is often the correct one.
The best way I describe that is just intuitively knowing what it means without being able to explain it. And again, this is a very personal experience, and not everyone’s intuition or psychic abilities manifest in the same way (go check out my post about Intuition to learn more about that), so don’t worry if you don’t receive information through knowing.
But this brings me back to what I was first saying - this is a conversation between you and Life. The more familiar and aware you are of your intuition and senses, the more confident you will be about deciphering synchronicities.
The third bit of advice, that I haven’t done in years, is to keep track of/record your synchronistic experiences. Although I said to be careful not to overshare your experiences, it’s actually extremely beneficial for you to externalize/express them.
This has many purposes. For one, it’s just nice to have a record of all the more magical moments in your life so that you can look back on them. It’s quite common for you to return to them later in life and still be able to gain insight from them, even if it’s in a completely different way.
Furthermore, sometimes smaller synchronicities gain exponential significance and multiple layers of meaning when they’ve been accumulated and looked at from a broader perspective and over a long period of time. In fact, that’s a huge benefit of journaling in general…you get to see synchronicities play out in your life even if they didn’t seem important at the moment or by themselves.
The other benefit of writing them down is that you are doing your portion of the conversation with the Universe.
You see, if you don’t acknowledge in some way that you have received the communication, and identify what meaning you have assigned to it, then it is harder for the Universe to continue the conversation, and signs will become more infrequent. It’s like someone is calling your name over and over again but you never turn your attention towards them to let them know you can hear them. Eventually they will give up.
That being said, the more you acknowledge and make efforts to communicate with the Universe (like making choices based on synchronicities or reflecting on them through writing), the more often you will start to see signs, and the more obvious they will become.
And the final benefit of recording your synchronistic experiences, is that if you do lean more towards using logic, then writing it down somehow gives your experience more validity. It’s as if up until that point the experience is just existing in your head, making it hard for you to keep track of and confirm its existence. But once it materializes into words, you start to feel a little less crazy, and you get to stop replaying and analyzing it in your head.
The last bit of advice, before I give my personal examples, is to be intentional about what signs you want to receive.
Not only is this really helpful for the skeptics out there because it’s slightly more concrete evidence, but this is generally a healthy habit because it provides some kind of structure and intention behind the signs.
This lets you lead the conversation instead of trying to aimlessly keep up with it.
This doesn’t mean you demand to see certain signs and then spend your whole day waiting to see it. Trying to manipulate or control synchronicities not only doesn’t work, but it defeats the whole nature and purpose of them.
What I mean is that you can request or inform the Universe what a sign means to you and what question you’re trying to answer in order for it to mean something specific. But after you set that intention, then you surrender all control over how and when it will manifest.
For example, you can set the intention that seeing butterflies means you’re on the right track. That doesn’t mean every single butterfly you see is a message….but you might see one right after you make a difficult decision. And it won’t just be in your general vicinity….it might fly close to your face, land on you, or be somewhere out of place to catch your attention right as you’re questioning your decision.
Another example of the difference between controlling versus surrendering, is staring at a clock waiting to see a set of angel numbers, versus seeing it as your total on a grocery receipt or randomly turning your head the exact moment you happen to pass a house with that number - with no sense of anticipation or expectations. Planned and manipulated versus spontaneous/random.
That being said, the last last bit of advice I’ll give you is to stay patient, flexible, and curious.
Co-creating a conversation with the Universe has no guarantees, shortcuts, or things to do to make life happen the way you want it to.
There are no cheat codes.
Everything happens with Divine timing and according to your Soul’s plan.
All we can do is try to stay in the loop about what’s going on.
That being said, let me try to give you some examples of my own synchronicities, and how I’ve learned to decipher some of my signs.
Distinguishing Synchronicities
I might as well use the example that is currently unfolding.
Like I said, it was no coincidence that this topic popped into my head when I sat down to write today.
You see, I didn’t choose to channel Carl Jung last week. I didn’t use logic to decide who would be best to channel in order to captivate the most readers or meet some other expectation or goal. That was just the person that happened to come forth when I opened myself up to receive guidance.
Then, when I opened myself up again today, it wasn’t until after I started writing about synchronicities that it hit me that Carl Jung coined the term (I actually had to Google it). And the moment I saw the search result say “Carl Jung” is when I got that familiar jolt in the depths of my body.
It’s like everything in me came into alignment in that moment and said, “See, God exists.” (And just an FYI, I am not in love with the concept or term “God” because of how religious it tastes, but for some reason it felt like the most fitting word in this context.)
That is what synchronicity feels like (to me). It feels like a flash of lighting that resonates as Truth throughout my entire being.
It might also give me other physical reactions like body chills/tingles, a ringing in my ear, or I’ll suddenly take a deep breath as if my body is accepting it as Truth and is enlivened by it.
Then, a more internal, cognitive reaction I get to a synchronicity is that my brain will suddenly be able to connect a bunch of dots all at once without any effort (this is the closest way I can describe the feeling of instantaneously knowing something without being able to explain it). I will suddenly be able to see the connections and bigger picture/purpose of a bunch of “random” things I experienced or noticed in the past week, but it’s so random and so detailed that it’s impossible to put into words.
Other examples of synchronicities that I get on a daily basis are seeing angel numbers (triplet digits like 222, 333, etc.) I see about 5 sets of them a day (sometimes more) when I leave the house, and I do not look for them. They can appear anywhere there are numbers, but they are never the same building, phone number, or license plate (the more permanent things that I could easily just keep an eye out for if I know where they are). It is always somewhere different and my eyes are always guided to see them in the split second that they are in view.
(That’s the other thing. I know my intuition is extremely visual (clairvoyant), so that’s how my signs come in - “insignificant” things catch my eye at meaningful moments. However, you can easily receive signs through any of your senses (auditory, olfactory, touch, etc.))
Anyway, the ways you can receive signs are infinite, so I will not keep diving into examples. Let me get into how I decipher signs.
Reading the Signs
Let’s go back to this current synchronicity…
So the random choice for me to channel Carl Jung is connected to my choice today to write about synchronicities…that is the meaningful coincidence (synchronicity).
And I just described how/why I know it was a synchronicity because of how it made me feel.
However, that doesn’t really tell me what the message is behind it.
This is where consistent practice, communication (a back and forth), and self awareness come into play.
The Universe, a higher consciousness, my spirit guides….they all know that I am constantly questioning my life’s purpose (and have been since I was a teenager).
(And I mean my life’s purpose on a very three-dimensional level. Simply put, what am I meant to do as a career? I am so multipassionate that I have never been able to land on what it is I need to invest my time into in order to be financially abundant. I feel called in so many directions, and it’s on my mind 24/7).
Recently, in another attempt to try to find an answer, I decided to dive further into my spirituality on a public level (hence the Spiritual Sovereignty series, and the creation of the Weekly Woo-Woo).
This was a big step for me, and a decision I wasn’t sure about. I kind of just followed a feeling….
Well, this little synchronicity (of Carl Jung coming through and then being guided to write about synchronicities), was my sign that I am headed in the right direction. Because when you are aligned to your soul’s plan and your authentic self, life flows.
The fact that I was able to create meaningful content that resonates with me, comes through me effortlessly, and happens to logically make sense without me planning it out, let’s me know that I am headed in the right direction.
I know this was a very specific example and perhaps not very dramatic or interesting, but that’s the thing about following signs…it’s a whisper. It’s in the details. It requires such presence and trust, and only you know the true value and meaning of it.
On a more general level, whenever you encounter a sign, and you’re not sure what the meaning behind it is, there are many avenues for more specific messages to come through. It’s also good to reflect back on what thoughts or emotions you were processing in the moment that you saw a sign.
For example, whenever I see an angel number, instead of searching what that number means online, I will try to remember what I was thinking about in that moment. Was I day dreaming about a goal I have? Was I questioning a decision? Was I just feeling happy? Whatever it was, that’s my guides’ way of saying they got my back and I’m on track.
The other main way I get my messages is actually through the internet. I’ve been doing this for so long that my spirit guides know that I’m going to research the meaning of certain crystals, plants, animals, or whatever symbol is showing up in my life. Then, as I’m reading up on the sign, certain phrases will stick out and resonate with me more than all the others. That’s how I know I’ve received the message.
Of course there are things like card readings, psychics, shamans, astrology, etc. But if you set the intention, you really don’t need to rely on anything like that to get your messages. You can receive messages just by talking to a friend, overhearing a stranger talking on their phone, song lyrics that won’t get out of your head, or listening to someone yelling to themselves on the street. These things might not seem spiritual or enlightened, but the Universe does not discriminate the way humans do.
I personally like to set an intention before browsing YouTube, and then click on the video that draws me in. That, or there will be yet another sign that lets me know which video I’m meant to watch. And sometimes I’ll just put on something random and then the next video that automatically plays is the one that has the message for me.
Oh, and the other layer to this current synchronicity (that I almost forgot to share) is that when I was researching Carl Jung’s definition/perspective about synchronicity, I found out he referenced the I Ching as the main reason/source he created the concept. And what book did Reia (my one year old daughter) keep pulling off the shelf this past week? The I Ching (which I have not read yet…surprisingly). So the second meaning, besides me being aligned to my purpose, is that I need to look into what the I Ching wants to say to me, or that I should incorporate it as a tool in my spiritual practices.
The third layer, which is still developing, is that the first thing I read when I opened the book, was that the I Ching is a divination tool, like “throwing yarrow sticks”. I have never heard of this kind of divination (and I’ve heard of many)… and guess what has been popping up into my consciousness for the last two weeks…yarrow. I’ve been seeing it in so many different ways and contexts, it became an obvious sign.
So I decided to look into it, and have landed on two possible reasons yarrow is coming into my life. One is that I need to work on setting boundaries, and two is that I need to practice and develop my intuitive/psychic abilities more. And sure it can be both (and I absolutely do need better boundaries), but the fact that it showed up in the context of the I Ching and Carl Jung, it’s making me lean more towards the message that I need to dive deeper into my psychic abilities. That evidence, alongside a whole other set of synchronicities regarding mediumship, is turning into a much more concrete answer.
——————————————————————
I hope after seeing how much I had to write just to touch upon the depth and layers of such “small coincidences”, you can start to grasp just how complex this topic is, and why it’s so important for you to make it a consistent, personal practice.
There is truly so much to gain from participating in this Divine conversation with Life, and I hope this (drawn out) post has inspired you to take your intuition and the signs you receive more seriously.
As a final note, I will say that you need to make sure you stay grounded in this 3D reality when you begin working with signs. It’s very easy to become ungrounded and float through life consumed by deciphering messages (as I once was). I am constantly honing my discernment to make sure I don’t get swept away by ideas that are not somewhat grounded in reality.
That being said, with two feet on the ground, feel free to let your spirit soar into all available dimensions until you find the answers that feel like Truth.
——————————————————————
If there is anything you want me to clarify or expand on, please leave a comment!
