Serendipity

Friday was a fairly slow day at work, so I turned to Psychology Today and found an article called "Make Your Own Luck: Five principles for making the most of life's twists and turns." The first principle the article lists--and the only one I made it through before a work project came along-- is "See Serendipity Everywhere." The article notes,

"Wiseman conducted an experiment in which he placed the same chance opportunities—money on the ground and a potential encounter with a connected businessman—in the paths of two different people, one who claimed she was an unlucky person, the other who said things always seemed to work out well for him. The "lucky" guy immediately noticed the money on the ground and pocketed it, then struck up a conversation with the businessman in the coffee shop where he'd been planted. The "unlucky" woman, meanwhile, stepped right over the cash, and sipped her coffee without saying a word to the same businessman."

Snap! After reading this, I was pretty determined to see the dollar on the floor and the business(wo)man in the coffee shop.

Lunchtime came around, and I drifted into Modell's for a pair of ear muffs since I'd misplaced mine. Modell's didn't have any earmuffs left, but I noticed a rack of bathing suits on sale. Ten minutes later I rang up with a one-piece and a pair of goggles, and over the weekend I swam twice in the pool at the gym.

What a fun and unusual way to enjoy the weekend! My arms are pleasantly sore from all the breast strokes, and at the pool I met several nice folks with similar interests and goals.


ON SATURDAY NIGHT I moseyed into the City Cinemas Paris Theater by myself to catch one of the last showings of "The Artist," and I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in almost a year! We sat together, munched on her Sour Patch Kids (thanks, Arielle), and she introduced me to a friend of hers. The movie was exquisite, the theater lovely. Highly recommended.

Couldn't help but notice, as the film progressed, how large a role serendipity plays in it. At the beginning, Peppy Miller drops her wallet amidst a crowd gathered before actor George Valentin; in lunging forward to recover it, she crosses the threshold separating the celebrity from the crowd, and she manages to laugh off the faux-pas, seizing the opportunity to bear her radiant smile before the cameras, posing and grinning alongside the actor. This serendipitous occurrence launches her into the limelight, propelling her acting career forward.

The lesson resounded this weekend; let's all heed it: see serendipity everywhere!