Have you ever picked up the phone to call a friend, only to find your friend calling you? Do you notice the moments of “synchronicity” when everything you do happens with ease, green lights all the way, the right song on the radio at just the right time?

What does it mean to be “in sync”? To be “in tune” with each other, or with our selves or even the universe? How do we do it? And why? Or is it just in our minds?

On this TED Talks Steven Strogatz looks into how synchronicity works, not only between living things, but with non-living things too…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSNrKS-sCE0[/youtube]

 

Have you ever thought about the synchronicity of birds flocking or fish swarming together?

Three rules:

1. individuals are only aware of their nearest neighbours

2. tendency to line up

3. all are attracted to each other, but try to keep a small distance apart

With these rules you see in a computer model how it works…

4. when a predator is coming, get out of the way!

Out of the desire to save themselves, they do what is best for each other.

 

Photo:

So peaceful huh? A moment of synchronicity when I was walking in Pokhara, Nepal, around this time last year.