After purging my books, recently, I was thinking about one book in particular… about how I had finally found a copy of it after years of wishing for one. And, I thought to myself how finding it was such a happy accident — I had just happened to come across a copy in a used bookstore, when I was no longer searching for said book.

But, even as the thought occurred to me that this was just a random accident, another thought popped into my head that said, “Nope… It wasn’t an accident. Nothing ever is.”

I don’t believe in the Law of Attraction, but nor do I believe in anything being random. I believe absolutely everything in this world has a reason for being… nothing is coincidence. And I very much believe in timing — that things happen when they are meant to, and just as they’re meant to, whether that’s something we wanted to happen, or something that was extremely hard (but that could teach us something, if we let it ), or all of those seemingly random “happy accidents”.

Finding that book when I did wasn’t accidental — it was timing. When I first heard of the book and added it to my TBR (to be read) list, it was not the right time for me to read it… nor were all those years I spent wishing I owned a copy of said book. But, the moment I discovered that book in the bookstore, and held that copy in my hands — that was the signal that NOW was the time for me to read that particular book; its message would speak to me right where I was at, right at that time. It would be exactly what I needed to hear.

And yet…

So often we don’t pay attention to these things. We don’t “listen” for the timing; we don’t pay attention to the messages life sends us (I know I’m starting to sound a bit woo-woo here, but bear with me for a second, if you will ). But, what if we did? What would happen if we all started using our intuition, and believing that everything happens for a reason?

I believe we wouldn’t have as much stress, for one thing. A lot of our stress comes from expecting things to be one way, yet having them turn out differently.

I think we would also be more trusting — we would have faith in things working out for the best… for our best. Maybe we would even be willing to risk more, thereby living more fulfilling lives, instead of always being afraid to fail.

A quote I love says, “Failure is nothing more than a chance to revise your strategy“. Isn’t that perfect?

I know I’m as guilty as the next person of chalking things up to “coincidence”. I am, however, getting better at learning to pay attention … I’m getting better at trusting the timing of life. And, truthfully, it feels very freeing.

How about you? Have you ever noticed something that wasn’t coincidence, but more a matter of timing? Share your story!