Increase Synchronicity for your Book with this Simple Practice
/One of the most exciting parts of the creative writing process is finding synchronicities: those moments when you get a sign that is specifically meaningful to you. Someone calls you just as you’re thinking of them, or you see a symbol that gives you a nudge forward.
It’s also a magically efficient way to move your creative writing project forward because so often synchronicity gives you exactly what you need for your book, exactly when you need it. Especially if what you need is a sudden burst of inspiration.
Synchronicities are my secret specialty. I love increasing luck, serendipity and significance in my author’s lives. This may seem like a superstitious topic, but I do it in a way that is very concrete. Synchronicity is made up of certain ingredients, and all of them can be practiced by taking simple steps. Literal steps: I mean walking.
I call this the “synchronicity walk” and it’s the perfect tool to rekindle inspiration for your writing. Let me break it down. At their core, synchronicities come from a place of appreciation, intuition and insight. The more you practice those ingredients, the more synchronicities will pop up. You can’t force them, but you can put yourself in their natural path.
Schedule some time for yourself and try these steps on a walk:
1. Get your Gratitude On
As you step out the door, put yourself in an appreciative mindset. Small coincidences are working in our favor constantly, but we don’t notice them. In general, problems draw our attention. After all, the purpose of pain is to draw attention to whatever’s going wrong. However this natural negativity bias makes for a life of constant trouble shooting, and far less creativity. Therefore on this walk we need to nurture “positivity bias” so we can build on what’s working, what’s syncing up.
2. Listen to Your Intuition
Here you’re literally doing the “leg work” for what we often try to accomplish in our head, like becoming more intuitive or listening for guidance. This is your chance to wander. Stop thinking about what you have to do, or where you should go, and pay attention to where you want to go. Where are you being pulled? If you have an inkling to turn left, turn left. If you have an inkling to go into a shop or park, do it.
3. Be Gentle and Trust
When you’re on a treasure hunt for synchronicities, it’s difficult not to get weighed down by expectations. But it you won’t get anything but a headache walking around asking, “Where’s my sign? Where’s my sign? Where’s my sign?” Instead, notice how things are coming together. Simple things you usually wouldn’t notice, like the fact you made time for this walk. This starts to get you in the habit of nurturing positivity bias.
4. Jot Down Epiphanies
Instead of expecting the clouds to part and a beam of light to reveal itself, just jot down notes of any insights you have. You don’t have to force it, and if you come out of the walk with nothing but more space in your mind, that’s fine. This is a practice, just like meditating.
It may sound simple, but this is the method I use to make life magical. And it works! With time synchronicities build, and life feels more significant, inspired and even guided.
For instance, I have a few “Guardian Authors” who always seem to pop up when I need them the most. Charles Dickins is a major Guardian Author for me. His quotes and references always fall into my lap right when I need a little guidance. (More on Guardian Authors soon…)
A few weeks ago I set out on a synchronicity walk, and I had forgotten I was carrying a gift certificate for a book store, until I walked right past it. When I walked in, there was my Guardian Author on the front table. There was a new imported journals (for Colombia), on the front table with a gold embossed quote by Charles Dickens, “You have been in every line that I have ever read.”
The journal was the exact price of the gift certificate, so I made the trade, and felt the little tingle of magic in that moment. For me writing is very spiritual, it’s all about receiving little messages through stories and then sending them back into the Universe. That quote is a little love note from the book, a little message, and it was exactly what I needed to get my pen moving again.
On the long journey of writing a book, little synchronicities keep your enthusiasm high. Big synchronicities snowball from the smallest actions. So, right now as you finish reading, just choose a time and a place for your own synchronicity walk. Go to wherever you feel the urge to go!
