The Science of Serendipity and Synchronicity?

The Infinite Monkey Cage:
Serendipity 

In a serendipitous podcast search for podcast episodes about "serendipity" in the Apple Podcast search engine I came upon a 2015 BBC science podcast episode called 'Serendipity' at 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' podcast.

I had done the search after listening to one of Dr. Bernie Beitman's 'Connecting with Coincidence' podcast episodes featuring Ros Watts, because Bernie has been on a fool's quest to "scientifically" study synchronicity/serendipity/meaningful coincidence, and I wanted to hear what others in the podcast world thought about "serendipity" and/or meaningful coincidences.

Groovy Talk Bernie ... But WHO Are You Reflecting with Those Glasses?-)

Synchronicity/Serendipity?

I found it rather coincidental that Bernie and Ros were saying how seeing monkeys were a sign of synchronicity to them both and that the podcast on serendipity that came up in my search for serendipity podcasts (without even mentioning monkeys in my search) was a science show called "The Infinite Monkey Cage":-)  

But this monkey sync would also turn very WTF(?) for me on a personal couple of "meaningful coincidences" involving the date (February 24th) that podcast episode was downloaded on Apple podcasts (Australian time), because that date was my late big brother's birthday and he would always carry around his stuffed monkey like a teddy bear (he was born brain damaged and never learned to talk) and this year 2022, The Year of the Tiger when I tore the February 23rd page off my calendar to reveal all the diagrams on the 24th there was a monkey down the bottom:-)

And in a twist of fate which I never realized until last year when I had to take some ID forms in to prove who I was and grabbed my 2016 divorce certificate that was sent to me by my wife's lawyers 

(I think) that the official date of the divorce was February 24th. 

2016 was the Year of the Fire Monkey, by the way and the year my father passed away:-)

Also, in my local Queensland newspaper on the 24th was a story about 'The 3 Monkeys' coffee shop closing down in West End (the Brisbane suburb my father grew up and went to school in, as did my late ex-father-in-law John:-).

Shark Week in the Year of the Monkey

Mel Gibson: Your Life Mainly Comes Down to Fate?

Ros Watts talks about getting off at the Chalk Farm Tube Station in that podcast with Bernie and I thought why does that station ring a bell in my head ... even though buses have bells not trains:-)

Sing & Don't Cry

Absolutely (Madness album)

London Ska/Pop band Madness posed outside of Chalk Farm tube station for the covers of their no. 2 UK hit album Absolutely and no. 3 UK single Baggy Trousers.

Ah ... that's why [B]"E.R.N.I.E.";-)

And science will never be able to make sense of "fate", never mind the subject of "serendipity" I reckon.

A Sign from Above?

My compass/nautical star tattoo:-)

And isn't "serendipity" just about going with the flow and following your intuition/north star?

And hoping that your "inner compass" won't lead you into bad outcomes?

Charting Coincidence and Following Your Inner Compass?

The Human Experience Podcast:
Dr. Bernard Beitman

MA[Y?-]DE YOU THINK 
podcast?-)

Thinking Outside of the Box, the Book and the Podcast?

As Above, So Below with Dr. Bernard Beitman?

Bruce Springsteen in Brisbane,
Australia Valentine's Day, 2017

The Small World Theory?

On the subject of the "small world theory" I'm reading a book from an author named John Ahern I met coincidentally/serendipitously/ synchromystically  ... or by just dumb luck a few years back.

And I tried doing an Apple Podcast search by putting in "On the Road with Kids+John Ahern" to see if he had given any podcast interviews about the book over the years, and while I didn't find any in that search, a 2016 (The Year of the Monkey:-) podcast episode called "Eyres on the Road: Serendipity in the City with the Kids" came up and I had a listen to see just what their take on serendipity was.

Serendipity in the City with the Kids

I would advise you not to listen to that 'Eyres on the Road' podcast while driving, as I nearly fell asleep from boredom as that old couple raved on about their grandkids running around in a rainstorm.

The ironic thing is with this podcast episode, Linda shoots herself in the foot from the get-go when she doesn't let Richard have their young granddaughter in the show, because she is too unpredictable.

Isn't that what serendipity is about and what they are trying to tell you to do while on the road?

I also wondered whether it was serendipitous that the Ahern's camper-van overheated and broke down on a hill in Dubrovnik and they were forced to rent a room in a Croatian seaside town for days while they waited for parts to come in to repair their van?

Especially when John writes about having a poster of Dubrovnik on his bathroom wall for motivation to go on the camper-vanning adventure?-)  

Conversations Broadcast date: 
Monday 11 August 2014

Life can be a serendipitous journey I guess, but not a destiny destination, right?

Using "Intuition" and Axe Throwing Effectively?