Weird Coincidence Survey
Dr. Bernard Beitman spent his career as a psychologist researching the relationship between chest pain and panic disorder, but since he retired he's taken up the study of coincidences.
He founded the Coincidence Project, recently completed a book (Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen), and has a "Weird Coincidence Survey" that you can take to gauge how sensitive you are to coincidences.
From an article about him in the LA Times:
I don't consider myself spiritual, but, for whatever reason, I have strange coincidences happen to me all the time. I guess I'm sensitive to them. One minor example that Paul and I have noticed is the way our posts occasionally synchronize with each other (in terms of their subject matter) despite the fact that we never know what the other is going to post.
Or one of us will post about something the other has been reading about, such as the time that I prepared a post about the obscure corporate mascot "Peter Pain," while 3000 miles away Paul happened to be reading about Peter Pain in a book.
He founded the Coincidence Project, recently completed a book (Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen), and has a "Weird Coincidence Survey" that you can take to gauge how sensitive you are to coincidences.
From an article about him in the LA Times:
Beitman is still collecting data, but he has drawn a few conclusions. The most commonly reported coincidences are associated with mass media: A person thinks of an idea and then hears or sees it on TV, the radio or the internet. Thinking of someone and then having that person call unexpectedly is next on the list, followed by being in the right place at the right time to advance one’s work, career and education.
People who describe themselves as spiritual or religious report noticing more meaningful coincidences than those who do not, and people are more likely to experience coincidences when they are in a heightened emotional state — perhaps under stress or grieving.
People who describe themselves as spiritual or religious report noticing more meaningful coincidences than those who do not, and people are more likely to experience coincidences when they are in a heightened emotional state — perhaps under stress or grieving.
I don't consider myself spiritual, but, for whatever reason, I have strange coincidences happen to me all the time. I guess I'm sensitive to them. One minor example that Paul and I have noticed is the way our posts occasionally synchronize with each other (in terms of their subject matter) despite the fact that we never know what the other is going to post.
Or one of us will post about something the other has been reading about, such as the time that I prepared a post about the obscure corporate mascot "Peter Pain," while 3000 miles away Paul happened to be reading about Peter Pain in a book.
Comments
Funny, I was just thinking about coincidences . . .
Posted by Phideaux on 12/02/22 at 10:53 PM
Well, we all know that one in a million chances will happen 99% of the time, don't we?
Posted by Richard Bos on 12/03/22 at 01:49 PM
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Category: Synchronicity and Coincidence