Recently I found myself telling someone about the many times i've decided I wanted something in my life and the next thing, like magic, its made manifest. Is this a coincidence or is there something in the idea of believing the Universe will provide, and our belief in the impossible becoming possible, that makes these things happen?
I was a young Mother and involved in quite a few small start-ups, too many actually given I had three children under the age of 4 years, when one day our eldest son looked at me as I was leaving for work one morning, through his little 2 year old eyes, cuteness that made me want to just stay at home, and asked in his limited speech "you going to work Mum?".
My heart felt crushed, and by the time I was driving back home that afternoon, having thought about all those cherished moments one gives up and misses in Motherhood, whilst becoming a slave to work, that I had made up my mind to give it all up and become a full time Mum. It was really quite an easy decision. I'd grown up with my Mother at home and having her around brought such a wonderful sense of security, just knowing she was always there for us, and would provide for whatever we needed. My Mother gave up so much for us.
Yet I have to admit that on reflection, Mothering full time can often feel like a thankless role because no one pats you on the back and tells you you're doing a great job. What do little children know other than to just take, take, take? Yet I wouldn't have it any other way and i'm thrilled that I was able to spend so much time giving, especially in our children's formative years.
Coming back to my life before Motherhood, it was easy to give up some of the mini enterprises i'd been involved in, excepting for my Guest House which now needed to be sold. Someone had been interested for some time, yet just never made the commitment to actually sign a sales agreement. So one day I said to my husband, I know what I want. I'd like to rent out our home to an international couple for a lucrative rent to create passive income for our family, and we'll then move into my Guest House and then I can try to sell it myself whilst we were living there.
It seemed like a pretty simple plan, so we agreed, and the next day I put an advert in the local newspaper. Within hours of the advert going live, as coincidence would have it, an international couple contacted me. It was quite bizarre actually because they loved our place and before we knew it, we were signing a contract for them to move in. But then, coincidence stepped in again and I was then contacted by the person who had been interested in purchasing my Guest House. Without even having time to think, we had signed for someone to rent our home, and then sold the Guest House, all within a matter of weeks.
Not one to waste time, I was out looking for a new home to purchase and found one which I thought was perfect, as it was on the corner of a street where the Nursery school which our son attended was situated, and on the other corner was the Nursery school which our daughter attended. Perfect i'd thought. Sadly though, the offer fell through. To my chagrin, I had no choice but to go with a rental in a golfing estate that my husband eventually found. I was disappointed as it meant a long drive to our children's Nursery schools and at the same time i'd have to leave our new born at home to do the school run.
One Saturday morning, we were driving to sign the contract for this new place within the golfing estate, when I received a phone call from a friend. "Where are you?" she asked. I told her that I hadn't gotten over my dream of living across the road from our children's schools, yet sadly, we were on our way to sign a rental contract for a place within a golfing estate that I didn't want to live in. "Quickly turn around" she said. "There's a house for rent on the corner of the streets where both the Nursery schools are". What?!!! - I told her that it couldn't be, as i'd tried to purchase this house and the sale had fallen through. "No, its on the other corner" she told me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and before we knew it, coincidentally, we were signing a contract for a home that matched exactly what I had in my minds-eye.
So, do you believe in Coincidences?
We'd been living in this property for only a matter of weeks, when Estate Agents began ringing the door bell, bringing around potential buyers. Realising our time renting here was going to be short, I decided to begin my search for our forever home. I took a drive within an area that I was fairly unfamiliar with, but only a short drive away from the schools, and found a road called 'Bogey Street' that for some reason appealed to me. Having supper that night, I mentioned the name of the street to my husband and then said to him that if I could, i'd love to find an original old farmhouse so I could feel like I was back home in England, because I missed the olde worlde feel of my home country.
The next morning, having breakfast with the children and our Nanny, and now having time to read the morning paper as a stay-at-home-Mum, I scanned through the adverts for the private "homes for sale". I found one that piqued my interest and made a quick call to the owner to ask about the property. "It's in 'Bogey Street'" she responded, "an original old Farm House". I was absolutely gobsmacked. Coincidences abounded. We bought this home and have many beautiful memories raising our children there. How and why these coincidences occurred for me I have absolutely no idea and whether things like this are every day occurrences for everyone, I can say with absolute certainty, no they are not.
I have many stories of coincidences that have continued to happen to me after the few i've mentioned here, some of which make my hair stand on end. What I have come to realise is that we have to state our intentions to the Universe and believe our dreams are possible, then take steps in faith towards these dreams, even when we don't have all the answers as to how we are going to make them happen. I remember as a little girl my own Mother saying these exact same words. "Believe" she would say, "just as it says in the Bible". So it's with this, that i'd like to encourage you towards your dreams and cultivating beliefs that everything is possible. Perhaps coincidences will begin to follow your path, just as they have mine. What do you have to lose?
Sam McDonald has been married for 30 yeas and has four children. They are a Strength-based family, using the CliftonStrengths® to enhance marriage & family life. Their home is in Hampton Court, UK and the FalseBay Coast, Cape, SA. She is a Futurist and Chief Visionary Officer for WITH-HUMANITY, a change-maker with a dream to disrupt our current meritocracy by "Unlocking the IntrinsicIdentity © of all Individuals in service of greater human engagement" creating an all inclusive universal value metric and social system.
She is a Normative Visionary, Systems Thinker, Disruptor, Change-Maker & Activist. Graduating Cum Laude with an MPhil in Futures Studies from the University of Stellenbosch, after failing matric, she believes matching one's intrinsic wiring to how we learn yields exponential results, leap-frogging our current education system. She influences thinking in order to create futures-led enquiry & change towards a future we all want to be part of - linking strategic leadership and management with futures thinking. Her use of Interdependent Rules of Engagement© and the CliftonStrength® Assessment, as well as various Foresight Methodologies, are tools of choice to influence mindset change, and help people understand each other's unique world views, which are coloured by what she terms our Strengths Language.
She moved to South Africa in 1983 from Nottingham, UK and has lived in both dysfunction and functional environments. These she views as her "cross to bear is your gift to share" - serving as a bridge in understanding how to create function out of chaos.
She and her fellow Coaches, work with motivated clients using the CliftonStrength® Assessment as a power tool for:
Strength Based Interviewing & Recruitment
Assisting motivated individuals to fall in love with their careers and find the work they were born to do.
Working with high achievers to discover their value and purpose
Working with Start-ups to gain momentum, motivation & self-awareness of the Entrepreneur
Assisting Students to gain a greater self-awareness, expediting their career path, building confidence and self-esteem.
Working with individuals to re-engage in their work environments & leveraging their strengths
Working with marriage relationships to help you love again and understand the toxicity, reduce negative experiences, create understanding and, in turn, assist with long-term strategies for lasting transformation
Finding your true Purpose, Passion and Value in Life
Falling in love with your life and work again
She teaches the 'Interdependent Rules of Engagement© & Vulnerability' to focus on living 'Interdependence' as the key to healthier environments - choosing this as 'rules of engagement' over 'Dependence', 'Co-Dependence' & 'Independence'.
Follow the link if you would like to take the Strengths Assessment and here to read more about how to discover who you are at your core.
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