Intentional Serendipity

The Truth Behind Luck

In Monday’s blog, I wrote about Free Music, having attended 3 concerts over the weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When I wrote and posted it I did not know I would attend yet another one Monday! It is the time of year for seasonal concerts. I hope you are enjoying some festive outings, especially free ones that seem to pop up, unexpectedly.

I love when things fall into place, seemingly without intention or intervention, effortlessly. Like when I split a ride share from the airport into Manhattan, not knowing our hotels were in the same block. Or when I randomly clicked on an unfamiliar icon on the map to discover a place that is destined to become one of my favorite venues for stargazing and just hanging out.

Last week, when I scored free tickets from a local radio station to see David Byrne (of The Talking Heads) my free music adventure began. The excitement of winning was tempered with a reality check, who was there to join me? I am still waiting to make new friends with whom I can go and do all things musical and artsy. I long for past relationships that filled that social gap, which for me is an important part of a rounded life. I postponed a looming pity party and gave myself a pep-talk about being patient. In time, I will forge friendships with peeps who love cultural events as much as I do. Until then, I had free tickets, FREE! to see David Byrne. The concert was over the top, by the way, well worth seeing, or should I say experiencing? Family members who live nearby were not available or interested. I was determined to go by myself if necessary for no other reason than to accept this unexpected gift. Then I remembered my sister-in-law would be visiting that week. I texted her, any chance she would like to join me? Oh boy, yes! How serendipitous that she was in town. What fun we had. What luck that I won those tickets.

But here is the point of this post. The word luck does not jive with me too much. Luck implies that the goodness and grace and peace and beauty that I recognize and celebrate just falls from the sky, as if rain only makes the chosen few wet. When people say how lucky you are, they discount the intention behind serendipitous events.

I won those tickets because I listen to, support and keep up with happenings for a local commercial-free radio station. The fact that the concert was on the day after Thanksgiving was not lost on me. Perhaps there were very few people entering to win, making my chances all the greater. However or whyever it happened doesn’t matter. What matters is that I took the first step by responding to a call to enter to win. I followed one of the founding ELAN Principles by which I strive to live: Make Things Happen. Be intentional about curating your life. Take chances. Go places. Engage in new things.

For example: I was able to split a ride-share from the airport because I tapped the shoulder of the woman sitting next to me when I heard her discuss the booking with her daughter. She hesitated, saying they had too many bags, but her daughter reminded her it was a suburban. Even so, it was tight – how could two women traveling to a city for the weekend need three or four suitcases (not an exaggeration) each? I knew I could hold my own in my lap if necessary and besides, who is going to turn down a half-price ride? The fact that their hotel was two doors down from mine was pure gold. Gotta love that serendipity.

Discovering Keith House, where I now volunteer for James Turrell’s Skyspace Come to Good sunset events, was also serendipitous but intentional. Even though it is near a coffee shop/trailhead I have visited many times, I knew nothing of it until I was searching on the map for things to do during our weekly Discovery Date. Golden Serendipity struck once more; there was an event that very night, tickets available.

Some may say how lucky that things work out just so. I say serendipity (or synchronicity) combines with intentional footwork leading up to such magical mash-ups of time, place and circumstance.

Lucky is a secular way of saying blessed. However you frame it, I give thanks all day long for this life that I’ve had an active part in creating for so many decades. Blessed yes. Blessings abound if we pay attention. It takes intention to catch them, honor them, give thanks for them and share them. Whenever Free Money happens, I celebrate it, out loud, improving my practice of honoring all good gifts with words of thanks and recognition to the giver. What you pay attention to and what you voice (out loud and internally) multiplies. I’ll explore Observe Your World and Watch Your Language (two other ELAN Principles) more on future posts.

Watch for serendipity. It is happening all around. Voicing thanks invites it to return. So does being intentional with your actions and responding to gifts with giving. Serendipity seems to just happen. Take a closer look and you’ll see the truth behind that luck.