The Heart’s Serendipity

Tags

heart matters, heartmonth, serendipitiy, surprises, surrender

To try and define serendipity is to perhaps attempt to fly without wings. Let that not stop me from trying, though, because the mere notion of the word makes me smile. Saying it out loud makes me smile even more. Try it. Slowly. Se-ren-dip-ity. There. Are you smiling yet? Now, let’s get back to the definition.

Let’s begin with the dictionary definition and origin of Serendipity:

…the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way…

Origin: coined by Horace Walpole in 1754, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of’.

What’s you’re definition of Serendipity? Does it involve any fairy tales? Here are a few of my offerings. 

Serendipity is an unplanned, unheralded, unexpected event, accompanied with a welcome surprise, which transports us to a different level of consciousness from the level of awareness that we initially stepped into the event with.

Serendipity is a suspension of attachment accompanied by a surrender to the possibility that infinite outcomes may exist for any given action.

How about a bit of word play? Serendipity happens when we allow our awareness to be ‘dip’ped much deeper into the gap in consciousness that seren-ity creates for us. Who needs wings, eh?!

Enough of definitions. Let me share some personal serendipities with you, in no particular order of time and space. Perhaps it will inspire you to think of some of your own.

Serendipity is a bit like when your teenager downloads yet another painting app for her phone, and you wonder – how many painting apps does she really need? A few days later, she shares with you one of her most creative ‘finger’ paintings yet. Yes, that.

Serendipity is a bit like when you, finally, after years of ‘rolling your own’ with your ‘practice’ of meditation, humble yourself enough to say ‘yes’ to the invitation of ‘meditation with pranahuti’ (Heartfulness), and the universe smiles back at you with deep love as it holds your hand on your new walk. 

Serendipity is a bit like when on a vacation trip to Mexico for spring break, you wake up early one day to take a walk with a Shaman who teaches you about how to ask permission of the universe – the earth, the skies, the waters, the winds – and then, a day later, your fear of water disappears as you learn to float in a crystal clear cenote. Yes. That.

Serendipity is a bit like when you go to the Friday evening happy hour after work on the insistence of a friend because you love all their deep-fried appetizers and you end up with a ‘chance meeting’ with a savant who ends up becoming your friend, then your wife and the one who has taught you every day over the past twenty six years about the meaning of higher love with her actions.
Yes. That.

Serendipity is the result of the universe’s gifts to us when we untether our mind from our heart and surrender a sliver of time and space to creativity, intuition, and openness. The result is that the infinite does its thing and adds sparks of joy to our heart.

The heart’s serendipity. Yes. That’s That. 

Kumud

P.S What does serendipity mean to you? Can you think of instances of ‘discoveries of sagacity’ that have created sparks of you for you? Join us and share some of your moments with us in our weekly community gathering in #SpiritChat on twitter, Sunday February 28 at 9amET. Namaste – @AjmaniK

The Heart’s Serendipity – Artwork by AA

A Spirit of Serendipity

Tags

discovery, serendipitiy, spirituality, travel

It has been a year full of wonderful travel opportunities for me, whether they be for ‘work’ or ‘leisure’. My most recent trip was to the country of Brazil, and to what seems to be a country within a country – the southern state of Rio Grande de Sul. The primary purpose of this trip was to attend a family wedding, and it was a beautiful affair indeed. I had no idea what to expect, for I had never been to a “farm” wedding before, so I simply went with an open heart and mind – going with the flow. And I am so glad that I did go, for some of the lessons that I learnt after the wedding was done, will stay with me for a long time.

The simple, matter-of-fact, understated elegance of this family wedding in a rural area was very (refreshingly) different from the loud, over-the-top affairs that I have been witness to many a times in the USA and in India. Like every day of the year, the cows on the farm were milked by 5:30pm, and then, the father of the groom “cleaned up” (really well!) and drove us to the church so he could bless his son for his new journey in life. If he was nervous about the fact that his son was getting married, he barely showed it. He seemed to go about his business with nary a furrow in his brow, as if he had nothing to be concerned about. Everything was going to be okay – that seemed to be the message of his countenance, his attitude.

I decided to watch this man – my wife’s Dad’s brother – for the rest of the evening, and, for that matter, for the rest of my stay on his farm. I consider the lessons that I learnt from observing him, a beautiful serendipity of this trip. I went to participate in a wedding – I ended up learning so many practical life lessons from him. Sixteen hour work days, 365 days a year, with nary a complaint – getting up before dawn, milking cows, working the farm, milking cows again – the man never seems to stop. Some of you may remember that “Farmer” commercial during Superbowl 2013 – it was probably based on Ricardo’s life of hard work, simplicity, humility, self-sacrifice, respect for life, and devotion to his family and community – “somebody who would bale a family together with the soft, strong string of sharing…”

So, what does all this have to do with #SpiritChat and serendipity anyway? Well, let me try and tie it together. One definition of Serendipity is “a fortunate occurrence that happens to us when we are not expecting it”. We go in search for something, but end up finding something totally different in return – and that something different is our “reward” for having taken the journey in the first place. While it is good to live our lives with our beliefs, our values, our thought processes and our well-constructed plans, perhaps, we ought to leave room for serendipity – for it is in those moments that we have the potential to leap forward in our spiritual growth. How would you define ‘spiritual’ serendipity? Have you experienced it recently?

I hope that I have given you a little bit of insight into this week’s #SpiritChat topic of Serendipity. The word may be “one of the ten toughest words to translate” in the English language, but never mind. We were never afraid of tough challenges, were we?! So, I invite you to join us in #SpiritChat at our regular hour of 9amET on Sunday, October 27th. You may come primarily for a twitter chat, but who knows what you may leave with? 🙂

Kumud

P.S. And yes, his son – the one who got married – was milking cows and working on the farm the very next day after his wedding… walking his father’s footsteps!