Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked - Elizabeth Berg

Most of us are trained to think of lucky or fortunate circumstances as just random and unplanned. Some of us even think we’re part of some cosmic plan and fate controls our destiny. As The Happiness Warrior, I want to show you another way of looking at “luck” by using the “serendipity mindset”.  When we develop a serendipity mindset we can evolve beyond planning and use our wisdom, intuition, and intention to capitalize on chance encounters and random events. When we open our eyes up and really see the world and opportunities around us, our creativity is unleashed. Random happenings become life-changing, and our dreams can become our reality. When we’re prepared for serendipity, life gives us more options for being happier, connected, and secure with ourselves!

Serendipity can be defined as the ability to or the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things when we’re not looking for them. It’s not the same as luck, because serendipity can be intentional or “engineered”.  Serendipity takes luck to a higher level by providing something that’s even greater and causes us to be happier than what we envisioned. 

We can view serendipity as a smart and active kind of “happening” that everyone can pursue in their lives.  Making our own luck is skill that we can each personally develop and put to good use in the world around us. Serendipity is more than just a coincidence, rather a mindset that helps us connect steps and choices for better outcomes in our lives. This provides us with more chances for happiness and sublime moments of joy. Blind luck is pure chance, but serendipity comes when we realize that the universe has more in store for us than we can imagine. Unexpected events and chance meetings aren’t always just wild coincidences but often the critical factors that make the biggest differences in our lives.
 
Act as if the universe cares about you and your faith in yourself becomes a self-fulfilling and lifegiving journey.

I’ve always had a belief that when we’re doing the right thing and feel good about how who we are that good things happen. The next step is always there to present itself when we move forward in life with positive intention and self-awareness.  Everything we are looking for is always right in front of us when we’re present in our lives and learn to “show-up” for ourselves.

One of my five “Core Values” is maintaining a “ready-for-anything” mindset. With this mindset we can be more vigilant in identifying opportunities and events that we can use to create the outcomes we envision. This is the source of Intentional learning that helps us create conditions that are more conducive for greater opportunities and happiness. Intentional learners are assertive in their approach to learning, understanding, and moving forward. They set conscious goals and choose to increase their proficiency and use their knowledge in other areas of their lives. This is called “applied learning”. Intentional serendipity helps us to see our current situation as well as the broader spectrum. When we’re intentional, we’re conscious that we can use this knowledge in other areas of our lives. Intention grows and we gain new meaning and mastery of ourselves creating new meaning and enlightenment.

We live in a world with constantly changing new ideas and innovations that were created by “happy” accidents. When we follow our intention and believe in ourselves, the universe provides us with answers and solution to our problems. We learn and seek greater knowledge and make new discoveries that change our lives. Serendipity is there to show us the connection between surprising events and what we wish for. When we are happy as a community with diversity and respect for all, serendipity flows and grows to enrich our lives in ways that we’ve never imagined!

Serendipity helps us gain insight and wisdom. Chance encounters are worthless and soon forgotten unless we have the wisdom to see it for what it is and act on it. Serendipity refers to a happy mixture of circumstantial chance and individual perception. The world provides us with many opportunities to feel lucky, but these are useless without the right person at the right time to capitalize on those moments. Serendipity is contingent on the interaction between the circumstance and the individual. We have the power to increase the number of events that can lead to unexpected and life-changing outcomes.
 
Serendipity is very closely related to the theory of Quantum Physics, which tells us that we can create the lives we dream of when we believe in ourselves to move forward in life.

HOW TO CREATE SERENDIPITY

Creating a mindset for personal happiness and success through our thoughts in action is critical. We can’t be happy or create serendipity unless we remove self-created negative emotions and thought patterns. We must remove feelings of envy, spite, or fear of unknown people. Instead focus on:

1. Creating a more diverse mindset of ideas and experiences in all areas of our lives. This increases the probability of life-changing encounters or good luck. Be deliberate and purposeful. I like to go for long walks and bike rides to explore places I’ve never been before. Diversity helps us to learn about the experiences of others with respect and empathy. Empathy grows and drives our intention.

2. Suspending judgment. ‘Lucky’’ people are open to opportunity, and they suspend judgment on ideas, even the ones that at first seem ridiculous. Even encounters or ideas that seem crazy or illogical can lead to serendipitous encounters. Life is more magical when we stop judging and shaming others.

3. Research demonstrates that play can stimulate unexpected ideas. Playfulness is a way to experience more unexpected encounters and step outside the blinkers of our current perspectives. Playfulness has a way of taking us outside our boundaries and taking down our defenses. When we lose our playful nature, we become unhappy and lose our connections.

4. Listen to and be mindful of the world around you. Opportunities of significance are everywhere. Listen to your world, look around you, and be surprised by what you find. Everyone you meet and everything you hear, see, or feel, has the possibility of changing your life.

I always say that “life happens” when things don’t go as planned. Some call it Fate, but I believe it’s the universe steering us in the right direction. By telling ourselves that we’re just lucky or unlucky we’re missing out on the best parts of the life and selling ourselves short. Serendipity provides the sublime moments of joy and discovery that make our experience happier and more fulfilling.

Without serendipity many of us that are struggle in our current environment will continue to decline and grow stagnant. With more disruption and chaos, the more our old ways fail us. A serendipitous mindset is needed to move forward and reinvent our lives to meet the challenges of an increasingly complicated world.

Developing serendipity is a skill that we can all use to help us find new ideas and people to change our lives for the better.  We develop serendipity when we have vision and creativity. Plans can be made and followed through, but serendipity will always be there when we understand it’s power.

The Serendipity Mindset is the process through which we discover unknown unknowns. Understanding that life is a product of our environment rather than just sheer luck is a way to share ideas and strategies for a better life. Serendipity has huge benefits to society as well by helping us to use our creative powers to dream of a better world. Serendipity is real and our reality is ours to create!