Steve Jobs, the visionary founder and CEO of Apple Inc, in his Standford Commencement Address, talks about connecting the dots. He says

…You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

They say when you make a decision that aligns with your higher self, the Universe conspires to make this happen.

I should know.

Last month, I signed up for the Heath Coaching Training Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. The expression ‘Coming home’ has different meanings for different people, but enrolling in this course has been a kind of homecoming for me.

What I want to share today though, is how it all came together, now that I can look back and connect the dots.

So here’s my story from my days living in Pune,India:

November 2005:
A writer friend of mine asks for my help to edit a book he’s working on. I ask him what style and tone he’s looking for and for reference he gives me some books, one of them being Joshua Rosenthal’s Integrative Nutrition.

I don’t open this book or ever look at it. It sits on my book shelf, gathering dust and I totally forget about its existence. A year later I quit my job, pack my house and leave my stuff, including this book, with my best friend Atmo.

June 2010:
A year of being diagnosed with uterine fibroids, I sit and share with another dear friend about my new-found interest in nutrition and also the desire to shift my career-path. She highly recommends the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where she graduated from in 2001. I go home, check the website and love everything about the program. I sign up for the newsletter and voraciously read the blog, check out the videos, recipes…

December 2010:
I’m at my friend Atmo’s house. She has moved homes and is now living in a much smaller space. She steps out for a bit and I feel the deep desire to read a book. I look around. Her stuff is still unpacked but on a corner table, underneath some magazines, there’s a big red book. I reach out for it and to my disbelief its Integrative Nutrition!! My jaw drops as I’m amazed at the co-incidence. When my friend returns, I tell her all about the serendipitous happening. She smiles and tells me this is in fact one of MY books (I have no memory of ever having this book!). And while she cleared out all the other books, she somehow could never get herself to throw this one out.

I realize I’m reunited with this book after five years. It has shifted two homes and was almost discarded but eventually finds its way back to me. I’m someone who believes in miracles and magic and yet this one tops the list by a long shot!

Looking back, there are two things I can see clearly. One, things always happen at the right place and at the right time. Much as we like to control and swerve our life’s direction, there is always a grand scheme of things, a flow, of which we are part. Second, when we’re really aligned with our true self, secret doors start to open. This feeling, that Abraham refers to as tuned in, tapped in, turned on, sets the stage for magical, mystical forces to come together and assist us in following our heart’s desire.

Here’s to that…