There is No Such Thing as Coincidence

Did you know that there is no such thing as coincidence? I have lived my life believing this. Consequently I have more coincidences happen to me than anyone I know. As a matter of fact, in my family they refer to coincidences as “Jan Johnsons”. I’m serious, members of my family will actually call me up and say “Jan, you will NOT BELIEVE the ‘Jan Johnson’ I had today.” Or, they will say, “My friend came into work today and told me a ‘Jan Johnson’ that just amazed me!” There is no hesitancy in their voice and I understand completely what they are saying because this has been going on for years. It’s gotten to the point now where not only my family members but my close friends and the close friends of my family members also now refer to coincidences that happen to them as ‘Jan Johnsons’. Isn’t it great?!

I guess all of this started back when I was a kid. Every time something would happen that seemed coincidental I would not only acknowledge it, but I would also tell everyone about it. I was (and still am) fascinated with how the world works and I have always consciously observed with awe the little things that happen in life; like when I think of someone and they call me even if I haven’t heard from them in years. As a young girl the more I acknowledged these things the more they happened. Eventually I started actually using the coincidences as guidance. I felt that if a coincidence happened I was basically on the right path.

Here’s a perfect example: About 20 years ago I was living in a beautiful home that my former husband and I had built. It had been featured on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens at one point (another coincidence I will tell you about sometime). I loved my home, but I had an urge to live in the mountains. I found a piece of property that was really out of our price range at the time but I fell I love with it. I knew that the only way that we could afford to purchase this piece of property was if I sold our current house. This meant that we would have to move into an apartment while we built a new house. It also meant that we would really be pinching pennies to get it all done. I decided that I wanted to go for it. I was the instigator of this entire deal. My husband was just going along for the ride. But once I make up my mind to something there is usually no stopping me. This doesn’t mean that I don’t question myself sometimes. It’s at these times where I really value my coincidences.

So I put our house on the market “for sale by owner.” I had to sell it without paying a real estate commission or I would not have enough money to put down on the 35 mountain acres in the foothills of Boulder, Co that were beckoning me. Within about 4 days, sure enough, I got a call on an ad I placed in the paper about the house. The guy told me his name was Gary and asked me a few questions on the phone. He wanted to come right over to see it. When he arrived I realized that he was in a wheelchair. As Gary toured the house he fell in love with the place. For some reason when we built the house 9 years previously we had made all of the doorways extra wide. We had also put Italian tile throughout. The master bedroom was on the main level and the door to that room was extra wide as well. In the master bath we had one sink with a counter and one free standing pedestal sink. There were no steps leading into the house. Everything was flat. This house was made for Gary.

As I saw that he was getting very excited I started to get nervous that he might really want to buy it. Up to this point I had acted on a whim. Now, oh my gosh, this may really happen! What do I do? Am I doing the right thing?

During our conversation as I showed him around, Gary continued to comment on the amazing interior trim. He loved it and asked me who did it. I couldn’t really remember. Then he explained to me that he used to do interior trim work. He told me that 9 years earlier he had fallen out of a window on the second story of a home he was working on. This is what left him a paraplegic. He said that he always pays attention to the interior trim because that tells him a lot about the quality of a building. In my mind I kept thinking “9 years ago is exactly when we built this house that is now an exact fit for you.”

Gary left and said that he was going to put together an offer. I was frantic. My husband was not home and I was freaking out that I may be selling our house. Was this the right thing to do? Within 2 minutes of Gary leaving my phone rang. I thought maybe it was my husband and I desperately wanted to talk to him about this. However, it wasn’t him, it was a gentleman that asked me if this was the Johnson residence. I said yes. He asked if we lived in a house out in the country that was built about 9 years ago. I said yes. He said that I may not remember him but that he had done the interior trim on our house. He had moved out of the state for a few years, but had just moved back and was looking for work. I couldn’t believe it…but then again I could. When I hung up the phone, I knew that I was on the right track and that selling my house was the right thing to do.

I encourage you to observe your coincidences. They are definitely telling you something.

Embrace the sun within you. You are POWERFUL!

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