It was Sunday morning, December 9, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. I woke up around 4:30 am with thoughts of re-birth. In Canada, my place of birth, it was my birthday. In celebrating a higher path, birthdays can be symbolic sites of re-birth. You can embrace changes that are aligned with your path. Every moment then becomes a ‘birth’ day…and every soul crossing that path is an angel. You can read my previous blog on why I did my PhD on celebrity culture in Western Australia and how gifted souls crossed my path in serendipitous ways. While reading the blog, you may have observed what I would call my ‘lucky breaks.’
Often, we hear stars getting lucky breaks. If you read biographies or media reports on Brittany Spears, Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle, Maria Aragon, Aishwarya Rai, Lisa Ray and other public personalities, you may have observed them being discovered in an accidental manner, getting noticed, or receiving ‘overnight sensations’. Their lives took creative turns. Indeed, they worked hard and the moments of success were right. Quite likely, they were also open to a hidden phenomenon that receives less coverage in media. The secret is called ‘serendipity.’
For George Marques, “Most people spend most of their time working at things by which they hope to be remembered. But history will forget most of us regardless of our accomplishments. Those that it remembers, it does so accidentally. The pursuit of goals alone does not a man make. What I think is more important is to notice the pauses between the words, the silence between the notes, the space between the time. To do so requires a pace slow enough that you are permitted to witness and reflect upon the serendipitous moments of your existence as they arise, and, if you dishonour them, just as quickly disappear. It is in these chance encounters that anything is possible. A gift of change to a musician performing for his pedestrian audience, help for panhandler hoping for his next meal, a smile of appreciation for a coworker, boss or employee, an offer of help to a tourist in the metro station. If you fail to pay attention to these briefest of moments, the magic of your existence will disappear with them. So why, may you ask, do we end up where we do? Is there any particular rhyme or reason to our lives? And what, in the end, does it all add up to?”
We can address the question by focussing on serendipitous ‘moments’ while following our path in unknown times and places. It is the ‘moment’ and its consciousness that counts. It is no mystery that at the ‘right time’ and ‘right place’, magical experiences often happen. You make these experiences possible or co-create them with souls crossing your path in unknown ways. The photographs shared in this blog represent some of the places where I channeled my path and seized the moments.
The question that still remains : how do we enable serendipity?
Here are some guidelines:
* Follow your talent / passion. If you feel that it is different or fear that the majority may not accept it, quite likely, that is exactly what you need to do.
* Fans love celebrities because of who they are – not because they resemble others. If your loved ones care, they will want you to shine in ways that were unknown to others. Let that change happen.
* Practice freedom through unconditional love for your ‘self’ and all beings. You activate freedom for self when you imagine the same for others.
* Take risks and challenges in following your path. Give yourself permission to get lost and find that path.
* Pay conscious attention to things or people coming your way.
* Embrace changes that are aligned with your path.
* Take a leap of faith and seize moments.
* Every morning, write notes of gratitude or a ‘joy list’ to keep track of your developing path. Make changes where necessary.
* Reward yourself for gifting uniqueness that is part of your re-births. You can do this every day, as each day counts towards your ‘birth’ day.
Live your life with the freedom of serendipity now – not later. Start embracing serendipitous moments today and shine on your path. As Surekha Subramaniyam, HR consultant in talent management, states, “Freedom – no matter in what relationship you ever are in life – never forgets. You owe it to yourself to be free. It’s in no one else’s hands but your own. You don’t need anyone else’s help to be free. Freedom is a state of mind. You neither need to snatch it from anyone nor to fight for it. You just have to be. It is the simplest, and the most difficult thing of all.”
I will carry these messages in my journey to Melbourne and will continue celebrating my moments of ‘re-birth’ in Perth, Singapore, London, and Barcelona.
In the meantime, see if you can find the next ‘lucky star’ and share with us. I trust that it is inside you.
With affection across the world,
Samita Nandy
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