Of Aardvarks and Unicorns

It’s funny how things work out.

You’re walking down the street looking for a unicorn and you wind up finding a mermaid instead.

Let me stop here just to say that I haven’t been experimenting with LSD or spicing up my salads with hallucinogenic mushrooms.

I’m just relating a rather intriguing experience I had last week with synchronicity.

This is a concept first introduced by Carl Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection."

Synchronicity arose with Jung's use of the ancient Chinese oracle I Ching, and, by the way, it’s also the name of a 1983 album by The Police.

I became interested in Jung after reading about his concept of the shadow self, which he saw as the uncivilized, even primitive side of our nature. It is generally made up of the parts of ourselves we deem unacceptable.

Heart of Darkness

Suppressing the shadow self can prevent us from reaching our full potential, which is something that resonates rather strongly with me.

As Jung said, “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Synchronicity is intriguing, although I’m not sure if I entirely understand it.

I decided to look into the concept after listening to a podcast by motivational speaker Mel Robbins, who had encouraged her listeners to look for heart symbols during the day.

I work from home, so I’ve pretty much seen everything around here and the little heart cutout on my front door doesn’t count since I see it every day.

I forgot all about the ticker symbols until that evening when I switched on the TV and caught the end of a commercial about heart medication.

The ad ends with an overhead shot of group of ducks in a pond coming together in the shape of a heart.

Okay, so maybe there’s some to this synchronicity stuff…

On Thursday I went to pick up my laundry and I was walking on Narrows Avenue when I caught myself slipping into my default negativity.

I don’t begin to recall what was bugging me, but I was awfully peeved about something—until I caught myself.

Ahoy, There

Enough, I thought. Look for hearts. Better yet look for unicorns. That should keep you busy.

And that’s when I saw the mermaid.

Well, not a real mermaid, but a wooden carving of one mounted over a garage door.

I’ve lived in this neighborhood for nearly 12 years now and God alone knows how often I’ve walked by this building.

I must have looked at this carving plenty of times, but I really never saw it until that moment.

It was kind of spooky. I was deliberately looking for a mythical creature and I found one—maybe not the exact one, but I’m not complaining.

Is this synchronicity? I don’t know, but I do think that hearing about this topic got me looking for positive signs.

I’ve heard other self-help people talk about the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which is defined as a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information, so the important stuff gets through.

I know I’ve got to work at discovering good signs because when I’m left to my own devices, my brain finds negative images with the greatest of ease...or dis-ease.

For example, I was walking through Penn Station several months ago when I spotted a handbag in a gift shop window. There was message printed on the side of the bag that I thought said “Big Regrets Inside.”

Bag Attitude

I surprised, thinking that there isn’t a bag big enough in this world that can hold all my regrets, but I looked again and saw the bag actually said, “Big Secrets Inside.”

On Tuesday, I passed a local dance studio and somehow saw the word “disappointment” in the window sign reading “JazzBalletPointe.”

These misinterpretations have nothing to do with my failing eyesight. This is a failing mindset. And it goes beyond reading signs. For the last few days, I’ve been saying the word “unicorn” to myself whenever I got agitated as a way of reminding myself to lighten up and look for miracles.

This morning at the gym I was wheezing my way through a StairMaster routine when I started feeling crabby. So, I thought the magic word…aardvark.

Aardvark? What the hell? These two critters do not begin to resemble each other; the names don’t even sound the same.

I’ve got nothing against aardvarks, mind you, but I was looking for magic. This is where Jung’s shadow self comes in. I believe that my subconscious mind was looking to disrupt my positive attitude.

Synchronicity, RAS, the labeling doesn’t matter. I would just like to change the way I look at the world.

Now, excuse me while I mark off March 19 on my calendar. It’s National Aardvark Day.