Synchronicity is Jung’s meaningful coincidence, like a dog fighting its leash mid-meditation.

Meaning-making comes from noticing the happening, not the coincidence itself.

Noticing these moments brings more optimism.

I sat cross-legged in the sand, doing my best impression of someone with their thoughts under control, when the yoga instructor said the line every meditator has heard a thousand times: Your mind is like a puppy. It wanders off; you gently bring it back. It wanders off again; you bring it back again. No yelling. No drama. Just patient redirection, over and over, forever, amen.

And at that exact moment, not as a vague afterthought, but right then—a woman 20 feet away in front of the class, behind the instructor, and in front of the ocean, was locked in a full-contact wrestling match with an actual dog on an actual leash. Pulling. Tugging. The dog wanted the water, she wanted the boardwalk, and neither of them was interested in gentle redirection. It was the least zen scene on the entire beach, unfolding in real time as a soundtrack to a lecture about zen.

I opened one eye. I am fairly sure I laughed out loud, which is not great yoga etiquette.

Here's the thing about moments like that: You can shrug them off as a coincidence or let them stop you in your........

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