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Serendipity

Lately, between conversations with my best friend and working on some difficult traumas of my own, I've been discussing religiosity.  In these conversations, religious experiences are viewed in a negative light.  Despite the many negative experiences, I continue to discuss grace, something related directly to religious experiences.  Sometimes, I say "be kind to yourself" or ask that people "give some patience."  Though what I truly mean is the granting of unmerited favor, gift of goodness and  forgiveness without having to earn it. I mean, grace.
 I keep thinking back to the church hopping days of my childhood, when I would go to different churches with my friends. Despite feeling distinctly other, I loved churches. I love listening to a good sermon. I love experiencing ritual and spiritual practice. There is a peaceful quality to spiritual practice and ritual (meditation, prayer, the process of taking communion, etc.) that I know few other ways to experience. This peace is the same peaceful quality I relate to laying in my own bed after having been gone for a while or the smell of my significant other.
The place where I just started work was built out of an old nunnery, and there are several locations in the building that still scream chapel.  It also attempts to build in a holistic approach to the mental health care of children, including in medical care, schooling and community supports in the offerings These are the impacts I am facing as I began to read The Positive Psychology of Synchronicity by Christopher Mackey.  I will also point out that I wanted to read this book a couple months ago, before most of these impacts were being discussed. Essentially, this book is very synchronized to my life.

 I received The Positive Psychology of Synchronicity by Christopher Mackey from NetGalley in expectation of an honest review.  The book is a wonderful combination of research, stories, science and psuedoscience.  I particularly enjoy the flow of Mackey's writing about personal stories into the historical record.  It has an intertwining of past and present I feel is important when discussing psychology, especially the trans-personal.  the evidence of synchronicity provided in this writing makes it difficult to argue wit. The only downside to this book is that I feel it is a lengthier read than necessary.  Christopher Mackey uses wordy stories to describe simple ideas. I encourage this read from anyone with interest in the psi part of psychology. 

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