The Day Synchronicity Spoke Chinese

Sign. Sign. Sign. Everywhere a sign.

That was quickly becoming my anthem. So many signs were coming at me, fast and furious, that I couldn't help but wonder if they were all pointing toward something. Anything.

It started out as a completely normal day. I had groceries to buy, but then I found myself pulled toward the bookstore, Borders Books. I am simply incapable of walking past a bookstore without stopping in. There is something about the smell of stacked pages that makes my senses wake up and my creativity catch fire. I was wandering down the aisle, so lost in my own head that I didn't even realize a woman was standing right in front of the new arrivals display. I just marched right through as though she wasn't even there.

Then, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me back.

It was that same woman, and she was pointing directly at a book on the shelf, repeating, "My book, my book!" She began apologizing profusely, over and over, and I quickly told her that it was okay and not to worry at all. But then, something shifted inside me. I looked at her and said, "I believe in signs, and I am meant to purchase your book."

She looked at me, completely shocked. "You are going to buy my book?"

"Yes," I told her. "I follow signs and synchronicities, and I believe this to be one."

This was a hardcover book. I had no idea what it was about, and truthfully, I did not really have the money to be spending on it. Still, I looked at her and said, “There is only one thing I ask.”

She watched me curiously as I continued, “You must sign my book.”

“Me sign your book?” she asked, visibly surprised that I would even want her to. "Yes," I said.

She agreed. We stepped over to the information desk so she could grab a pen. She asked for my name, and I told her it was Alicia. She started writing, and after a few seconds, she handed the book over to me. I looked down at the inscription.

It read: Dear Alicia, (a beautiful Chinese character), all the best, Tinling Choong. I pointed to the character and asked, "What does this mean?"

She looked directly into my eyes, as if she were looking straight into my soul, and said, "This means Yuan. Yuan is similar to synchronicity. You meet someone, and you just know you were destined to meet them. My grandmother always said those who have yuan have good luck."

She smiled, and my heart just swelled. I thanked her and explained that I had actually studied Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity in depth, and I was seeing exactly where and how these life signs were aligning. We parted ways, beautiful strangers connected for a moment.

As soon as I arrived home, I sat down and devoured the book, finishing it in no time at all. It fit so perfectly into my life and my studies. The story was all about fate, connection, and the unseen forces that shape our paths.

Cut to eleven years later. After over a decade of searching for the right tattoo artist, I finally found the one. I had that exact character tattooed onto my inner forearm, right close to my wrist, in dark red ink. The tattooist actually advised against the red ink, warning me that some people's skin doesn’t retain it and it fades quickly. But I insisted. It had to be red.

Why red ink? I chose it because of the ancient Chinese legend of the Red String of Fate. It is this gorgeous traditional belief about destined connections between people. The idea is that an invisible red thread ties together those who are meant to meet. No matter the distance, no matter the timing, and no matter the obstacles, that connection remains unbroken.

And why on my right inner forearm, so close to my wrist? Because it faces me as a constant reminder, and when I reach out to shake someone's hand for the very first time, it is right there, connecting me to them.

So now, as I look down at the red tattoo on my wrist, I think back to that moment in time. I thought I was simply buying a book. I never imagined I was carrying home a word that would stay with me for more than two decades, eventually finding a permanent place etched into my skin. I found this to be the day that synchronicity spoke Chinese.