Ticket to Magic
It's far easier than you may think to experience more synchronicity and wonder in your world
While unpacking boxes in my new home a few days ago, I came across a file folder labeled “Inspirational.” As I flipped through its contents, I was taken back to a time in my life when my world had just opened up dramatically and everything felt newly alive with magic and synchronicity.
Magical Boarding Passes
One of the items in the folder was a set of boarding passes from an August 2013 trip to watch my son compete in a Junior Nationals swim meet in southern California.
At that time, I was deep into the magic of numbers. I still am!
The numbers 11 and 12 have always been especially big for me. For me, the number eleven highlights and amplifies the power of oneness, unity and connection. My birthday is on 12-12 and 12 is a key number in the lore of the Roundtable, among others.
So, on August 4th {8/4 being a ‘12’ day and the day before my son’s birthday}, I boarded the plane filled with joy and excitement at this trip to California. Something nudged me to really look at my boarding passes ~ and I was blown away by the numbers laid out in front of me.
For the first leg, I was on flight AA1111, in seat 11A, boarding at 11am, and arriving at 1:10pm. What?!
For the second leg, I was on flight AA2073 {adds up to 12}, in seat 12D, boarding at 1:20pm. And, as I said, we were flying on 8/4 ~ another 12. Just wow…
But wait, there’s more….
The Inspirational file folder also contained a boarding pass from a September 2015 trip ~ and my handwritten note about what happened that day.
I was on my way to a very powerful retreat in Boise, Idaho. When I landed in Chicago, I pulled up the boarding pass on my phone to get the information for my connecting flight. I was surprised to see that I was in boarding group 1 and in seat 2C. I know I didn’t book a first-class ticket, so how is this possible?
Then I pulled out a hard copy of my boarding pass that I’d printed the night before. The printed version said that I was in boarding group 3 and in seat 18A ~ standard economy class, as I’d expected. I hadn’t received any notice from the airline that they had changed my seat assignment or boarding group.
I shrugged it off, figuring that somehow the airline must have changed our flight to a much smaller plane where there was no first class.
As I boarded the plane, I was relieved to see that it was not a tiny puddle-jumper. And as I buckled in, I noticed how roomy the seat and leg room felt. Wow, United must have upgraded their seats recently, I thought.
It was not until the flight attendant pulled the compartment curtain closed and offered me a drink before take-off that I let this unexpected reality sink in. Somehow, I had been magically upgraded to first-class!
No explanation, no fuss, no bother, and nobody coming over to tell me that there had been some mistake. All I needed to do was accept this gift from some other realm, and enjoy myself as I was transported to my retreat in style!
Umm, yes… I’ll have a glass of champagne, please….
Magical Meetings
As I continued unpacking, I was reflecting that the experience of being repeatedly blown away had faded a bit for me. It feels odd to write that, since I am often filled with awe and wonder at my life and the world. It’s just that the seemingly non-stop parade of unbelievable “coincidences” seems to have slowed as the shiny newness has worn off.
I realized that it has become a part of the fabric of my life to such a degree that I’m tending not to notice or be surprised by it as much.
In that moment, I told myself that I’d like to bring more of that childlike wonder and “beginner’s mind” into my daily life. So I set an intention to really be open and aware, and to invite in even more magic on a daily basis.
The very next morning, I was walking to a coffee shop in downtown Asheville and realized I had passed the street I was meant to turn down. Making my way back, I was stopped by two women on the sidewalk who needed help figuring out their parking meter.
“Can you help us? We’re tourists. We come from a place where we don’t need to pay for parking.”
“Of course. Where are you visiting from?”
“Northern California.”
“Oh cool, I’m from northern California.”
“Really, where?”
“A tiny town in the Gold Country called Sonora.”
They both stood there, looking at me and squinting. And I assumed that, like most people, they’d never heard of it. Then…
“We are from Sonora!” What?!
We spent the next 10 minutes, flabbergasted at the synchronicity and discussing all the people we knew in common.
What were the odds? I happened to be on that street by accident, passing by at the exact moment they were there. They happened to ask me for help and I happened to ask where they were from. If any one of those circumstances were different, we would not have experienced this magical meeting.
And yet, when I stop to think about it, I could fill a book with stories like this where I’m left scratching my head in wonder at how I could have possibly ended up there.
In fact, I had experienced a very similar magical meeting a few weeks earlier in Denver. I walked into a beautifully decorated lobby space on the 6th floor of my daughter’s apartment complex in downtown Denver to take a zoom call. In that same moment, a woman was just leaving that space ~ a woman who had been a treasured customer of mine when I owned my stationery boutique in Chapel Hill more than 10 years earlier.
Again, what are the odds we would meet in that exact moment?
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein
The Way of Magic
I absolutely love these experiences. It always feels like a wink and a nod from my multidimensional self, reminding me that there is so much more to life than we have been conditioned to believe.
Here’s the thing: we are surrounded by magic and synchronicity in this incredible, interconnected web of life that we exist within.
Most of the time, it goes unnoticed as we move through the majority of our days in a state of distraction, overwhelm and even survival mode.
And yet, we can access this realm of magic very easily. It just requires a bit of spaciousness and slowing down. As we focus our intention, attention, and appreciation in the direction of delight and wonder, it reveals itself.
In fact, this is very much a part of the Flow of Nature that we can align with in our business organizations and initiatives to experience far more thriving while making a meaningful impact.
p.s. As I began to write this article, I happened to glance up at the clock ~ 11:11am. The only other time I looked up at the clock while writing? 12:12pm. As I sat back down later to finalize the post… 4:44pm {aka 12}.
How about you? Share your recent experiences of synchronicity and magic in the comments below.
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