My strange and seemingly boring little old life is full of  coincidences that  cheer me up when times get tough. Although my coincidences are seemingly unrelated to my bipolar disorder, I use them as a way to increase my positive thinking when I am feeling down or suffering from mild depression.

In a recent NYT article, the author touted a study claiming that people benefit from making sense of the nonsensical and in fact become somehowmore generous as they attempt to decipher the weird things.  In a similar way, I sift through the bizarre coincidences surrounding me in order to add value to my own life. This translates into searching for random coincidences where there may or may not be any both to get me thinking and to make me a happier person.

The strangest recent coincidence  happened last week when my 3-year-old niece Isabella  (who is on the opposite side of the country) decided that her Dad (my brother) should be a chicken for Halloween. Unbeknownst to her, I had purchased my very own chicken hat the day before. There is an increasing likelihood that both my brother and I will both be chickens for Halloween. Apparently, chickens are a new theme for me to be on the look-out for. If you have any idea what this might mean, please let me know.

In a different sort of coincidence, just last weekend, my friend named philosophypages.com/ph/spin.htm">Baruch Spinoza as her favorite philosopher from the book of “Dead Philosophers”.  By chance, when I stumbled upon the Alchemist Name Generator the next day, one of the randomly generated names was Raimundus Spinoza. I know it sounds incredible, but I am not kidding. (please note my facetiousness) Perhaps I should be focusing on him?

Deep down, I know it’s possible that these are only random acts of the universe at large, but in my new philosophy of trying to appreciate the magic of my world, each coincidence makes me smile, which also has its own health benefits. Searching for meaning has become on of my little coping mechanism for life.  I have yet to read “The Drunkard’s Walk” which gives a detailed mathematical explanation for both the randomness and the coincidences in the world, but maybe a deeper understanding of the complexities would help me in a different way.

However, on the serious side, if you are newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and you need a little more substantial help than I have to give, I recommend looking into an oline support group for people with bipolar disorder. Not only will you find more information, you will find a helpful community of people who have been living with this illness.