Maybe it's just a coincidence

I read a post today on "The Skye's the Limit" and it started me thinking about coincidences. I figured that rather then take up half a page in Skye's comments, as I may have done once or twice, that I'd post a completely off the Surf topic here.

I have this thing about 11:11. I always seem to look at the computer at work at 11:11. Seriously, it happens at least twice a week.

Or so I thought it did.

I noticed that it was 11:11 today, was it a coincidence that this happened on the same day that Skye was posting about coincidences? And that it would then cause me to post about the same thing? But wait a minute, when was the last time that actually happened. A week, a month? I couldn't remember.

Before we look into that further I'll explain about another situation.

A few months ago I was speaking to a friend of mine, Kara, and she asked if I'd read the Obituaries in the paper. Someone our age had passed away, and Darwin being so small it was rare for you not to at least have heard someone by name if not know them by face, but on this occasion neither of us had.

I forgot all about this, and a couple of days later I was getting out of my car, which I park behind one of our old night clubs Rattle n' Hum, and looked up at the building and thought about all the good times that we had in that night club.

My thoughts jumped from Rattle's to another club called the "Vic", and all the good times we had there. I then started thinking about meeting people at the Vic, and then the night I saw a mate of mine Clint for the first time in ages. I remember catching up with him and having a drink, wandering through the club catching up on old times, and I remember him limping as we were walking around.

I then remembered back to when I was working at the Norther Territory Institute of Sport and Clint was in the Rugby Squad, and the laughs we used to have there.

I also remembered the day at the NTIS when answering the phone to Clint calling to tell the coach some news, but because I answered he told me instead. He called to say that the doctors had found cancer in his knee.

I remembered talking to him about it for a while, then not seeing him for ages until that particular night at the Vic, and then wandering around, catching up on old stories and enjoying the laughs we used when we were a few years younger.

I remembered sending an sms to Clint a few months later to see how he was doing and wish him well because I hadn't heard anything for a while.

I remembered sitting at Clints funeral with all his friends and family. I remember the eulogies thanking everyone that visited and sent sms which kept his spirits high.

I remember crying at the funeral.

My mind dwelled there for most of the walk, between good times and sad, until something caught my eye and my mind went off somewhere else.

Later that week I was at work and someone asked me to check an article in the paper from a few days before. As I was flipping through the paper I remembered what Kara had said about looking in the Obituaries.

When I flipped open the page I saw it almost immediately. It was the anniversary of Clint's passing, and it was on the same day that I'd gone back through all those memories.

Not a coincidence?

I'm not convinced.

I was attending a Buddhist Meditation session a few months ago and they had a special guest who talked about the similarities between Buddhism mantra's and chants and Aboriginal beliefs and songs.

It was interesting to see how he made the connections, and to be honest sometimes they seemed quite a stretch, but what he did say was that both areas were very close to him, he studied one for 20 years and the other for 16 years, and that you always seem to find similarities in things that are important to you.

I think the same goes for coincidences. Things happen around us all the time, but we only notice a very small portion of them.

The 11:11 example for instance. I look at the clock at work anywhere between 5 and 50 times a day. The only time I notice the time is when it's 11:11 because I believe that happens all the time. The time is probably 10:34 just as often, but that's a boring number and not important, 11:11 is cool!

Sometimes we see things as being more then they are because we want to believe that there are clues, plans, or paths there for us to follow, let us know that we're on the right track, or to provide guidence and affirmation for what we believe is true.

Sometimes............ it's just a coincidence.