Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of god: Case studies in synchronicity - Article

Billie was "career immature" and lacked knowledge of herself and of the world of work. Through the career/life planning process, Billie began to match her own interests with her skills and training. She discovered that she loved the college atmosphere and began to investigate other positions in the academic setting. She developed a repertoire of transferable skills and decided a career in financial aid would meet her needs well. She did not, however, see how she could find such a position when there were no openings in her college, the only one in the region. As she became enthusiastic about her new career direction, Billie was energized and hopeful. She reported that for the first time in her life she knew who she was and what she wanted to do. She, too, reported a transcendent sense of rightness about the direction of her life.

During the career counseling process, Billie described a dream she had before her husband died. The dream had a profound effect and had stayed with her over the years. Recently, she had experienced the dream again in a slightly different form. In the first dream, she sat on the banks of a river. A man dressed in a formal military uniform rode by on a white horse. He was dressed in white, and his horse's saddle was blue. He seemed to know her but stopped only long enough to tip his hat to her and ride on. She felt some sadness toward him, but she was mainly puzzled because he did not stop. In the dream, across the river a black horse with a red saddle was standing alone. She had the dream several times. The new version was identical, except for its ending. Again, the rider tipped his hat but this time galloped quickly by. Across the river, the black horse seemed to be beckoning her. She crossed the river, mounted the horse, and rode away.

Billie planned to attend a college career fair that attracted college personnel recruiters in the region. She and her counselor developed a resume targeted toward a position as a college financial aid officer. She now understood that in any location, her son could have the high school experience that she had never had and, in fact, when she discussed it with him, he was willing and excited at the prospect. Her biggest concern, however, was that a salary in financial aid would not allow her to save enough to send him to college in just 41/2 years.

As a result of the fair, she interviewed at a college on the other side of the region's main river and was made an offer that included a benefit that would pay her son's college tuition at that institution. She was delighted with the job and relieved and grateful for this benefit. At the last meeting with the career counselor, she said her dream had come true. The colors of her current college were blue and white; the mascot was a knight on a horse. When she interviewed for her new position, she could not help but notice that the mascot was a black stallion and the school's colors were red and black. She said her dream had been pointing her in the right direction all along. She knew now that she was never meant to stay at this college--with the man on the white horse--that they would have only "a nodding acquaintance." She knew she was meant to take the job at the new college--to "ride the black stallion."