Ever notice that, while a story being told has the entire universe to play out, the hero or heroine seems to come across that one thing that they need to save the day, that one thing that we saw earlier in the story. That is just happens to be in the part of the universe where they are and in all the doings going on, they run across it? Or that the one person that can resolve/destroy/enlighten the situation happens to be their best friend/relative/political rival/hidden from them connected figure/lover…
These things happen in stories all the time because it’s easier for the writer, makes the story more dramatic, pulls us deeper into the narrative, but that’s what it is, a writer’s technique. In reality things are not that easy, not that neat, and not that plain, for which I thank everyone and everything because OMG! that would be so excruciatingly boring and maddeningly stupid if it were. Life is full of magic because it’s not that way. Because our lives are not plotted out by some omniscient narrator. Because we are the creator of our story and we have the ability to make plot twists for ourselves every minute of every day. That’s one of my favorite memes on Facebook. “If you make a mistake, yell “Plot twist” and keep on going.”
Finding just the exact right thing at the right time or meeting up with exactly the right person, hearing what you need to hear at the critical moment, these are amazing things that do happen, but they are magical because they are the exception to the rule and not the trap that we are stuck in. They are fantastic because they are signs that point to the fact we’re on the right track rather than the rails we can’t detach from. So instead of looking for the similarities between experiences, the synchronicities and the connections, I recommend that we look for the unique, the indescribable, the fantastic and fun and just because. Those are the moments you can be sure are not scripted. Those lease to the plot twists that can lead you into the life changing moments that define a lifetime.
