Leave the Door Open for Chance Encounters
By Sandy Schroeder
I have always loved the word "serendipity," and it fits very well with the New York Times' support for chance meetings. You know how that works.
There is a distant neighbor that you run into while out walking, or an encounter in the market with a friend you have not seen in ages. Or maybe it's a meeting of the minds with a co-worker as you share similar creative thoughts. We all depend on that sort of stimulation to keep our ideas fresh and our minds in motion.
These chance meetings can be called serendipities, which the dictionary defines as chance occurrences of happy or beneficial events. Some of my best memories over the years began as serendipitous events that evolved into long-term friendships.
COVID-19 Vaccine Research Breakthrough
The New York Times cited a major scientific discovery that would help protect millions from COVID-19 that began as a chance meeting over a photocopier in 1997. That discussion between Professor Katalin Kariko and Dr. Drew Weissman laid the foundation for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines we are relying on today to fight the virus.
If that makes you wonder what other amazing/wonderful/happy things could occur by chance in your life, you might want to consider ways to leave the door open for creative sparks from friends, family, co-workers and more local and global contacts.
If you work at home, you may want to use live meetings, plus all of your virtual communication channels to get the most spontaneous stimulations.
Live Events
You can benefit from occasional visits to the office and attendance at any company conferences or other meetings to up your chance encounters.
When I was working in the medical field fulltime, we used retreats in the desert to bring together all sorts of scientists, researchers and clinicians. We arrived on Friday and returned home on Sunday having enjoyed a full weekend of medical research from all sorts of individuals. Most of the attendees came away with a fresh list of contacts doing similar research that they had never met before.
Global Interactions
At the same time, you can cast a much wider creative net as you use the internet to reach out to people around the world that are in your field.
According to the Times, scientists and mathematicians are now using the internet as their playground for research. They used to depend on local connections, but now they can share information and breakthroughs with other like-minded people around the globe 24/7.
As work habits shift with the pandemic, you may find working at homes works out well, or you may be headed back to the office at least for part-time work as your kids head off to school.
Whatever your plans, keep the doors open for chance discoveries where the lightbulb goes on and you learn something totally new from someone you just encountered.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Atlanta, Ga.