I Was Looking for Answers… The Universe Sent Snakes

Subtlety isn’t one of the universe’s strengths

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I like to think I’m a reasonably self-aware person.

I’ve read the books.

I’ve listened to the podcasts.

I’ve meditated.

I’ve journaled.

I’ve contemplated life’s biggest questions while driving, showering, mowing the lawn, and standing in the cereal aisle wondering why there are seventeen versions of Cheerios.

I should be enlightened by now.

Instead…

Apparently, I needed three snakes.

The funny thing about conditioning is that it doesn’t announce itself.

It doesn’t walk into the room wearing a name tag that says,

“Hello. I’m the collection of unconscious beliefs you’ve been carrying around since childhood. I’ll be making all of your decisions today.”

No.

Conditioning is much sneakier than that.

It disguises itself as common sense.

As logic.

As responsibility.

As “just who I am.”

And my ego loves it!

We spend decades believing we’re making conscious choices when, in reality, we’re simply replaying old programming.

The perfectionist believes they’re being responsible.

The people-pleaser believes they’re being kind.

The controller believes they’re preventing disaster.

The doubter believes they’re being realistic.

The critic believes they’re helping.

Meanwhile, our authentic self is somewhere in the background waving both arms like,

“HEY! I’M STILL DOWN HERE!”

Unfortunately, our conditioned mind is too busy rehearsing imaginary conversations from three weeks ago to notice.

I know this because I’ve lived it.

A real life story

One afternoon I was mowing my lawn while mentally wrestling with a difficult decision involving someone at work.

Actually… “wrestling” isn’t accurate.

It was more like my brain had entered the Olympic finals of Mental Gymnastics.

One part of me already knew exactly what needed to happen.

Another part was desperately trying to negotiate with reality.

Maybe they’ll change.

Maybe I’m overreacting.

Maybe I should give them one more chance.

Maybe…

Maybe…

Maybe…

I wasn’t looking for clarity.

I already had clarity.

I was looking for permission to ignore it.

Then it happened.

About ten feet in front of me stood a large black snake.

Not slithering away.

Not frightened by the roaring lawn mower.

Just standing there.

Looking directly at me.

Almost as if to say,

“You done arguing with yourself yet?”

I stopped.

We stared at each other.

I acknowledged the snake.

The snake acknowledged me.

It was one of the more awkward interactions I’ve had with nature.

Eventually I went back to mowing.

Five minutes later…

Another black snake.

Same stare.

Same strange feeling.

Now, I’m a pretty rational person.

One snake?

Coincidence.

Two snakes?

Okay…now I’m listening.

The universe has my attention.

Then, because apparently subtlety isn’t one of the universe’s strengths…

The very next day, while walking my dog, I found a third snake.

Granted…

It was rubber.

But by then I understood the message.

Stop signs are there for a reason

Whether those snakes were divine signs, random coincidences, or simply my brain assigning meaning to an unusual series of events almost doesn’t matter.

Because the real miracle wasn’t the snakes.

For a brief moment, they broke through my conditioning.

They snapped me out of the endless loop of thinking and forced me back into awareness.

And awareness changes everything.

If changing our conditioning changes what we notice, is it possible that what we call “synchronicity” is the meeting place between an awakened mind and a meaningful world?

Whenever I tell the snake story, someone eventually smiles and says,

“That’s just confirmation bias.”

Maybe.

Psychology certainly has an explanation.

Our brains are extraordinary pattern-recognition machines. In fact, they’re almost too good at it.

Every second, millions of bits of information bombard our senses. If our conscious mind had to process all of it, we’d never make it through the grocery store. So, our brain filters reality, deciding what deserves our attention and what can safely be ignored.

It explains why, after buying a blue Jeep, you suddenly notice blue Jeeps everywhere.

They didn’t magically multiply overnight.

They were always there.

Your attention simply changed.

Psychologists also describe something called confirmation bias, it's our tendency to notice information that supports what we already believe while overlooking information that doesn’t.

For instance, if you’re convinced people can’t be trusted, your brain becomes remarkably efficient at collecting evidence.

If you believe you’re unlucky, you’ll notice every setback while quietly ignoring the countless things that went right.

Our conditioning literally trains us what to look for.

But here’s the question that fascinates me.

What if awareness works in both directions?

What if changing our attention doesn’t just help us notice more problems…

What if it helps us notice more possibilities?

Psychiatrist Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity to describe meaningful coincidences that seem connected not by cause and effect, but by significance.

He wasn’t suggesting we abandon logic.

He was suggesting that meaning matters.

Whether the universe placed three snakes in my path…

Whether my subconscious recognized a pattern…

Or whether my brain finally became quiet enough to notice something it had been trying to tell me all along…

The outcome was exactly the same.

It made me stop.

I paid attention.

I made the decision I already knew was right.

Perhaps that’s the point.

Maybe synchronicities aren’t interruptions of reality.

Maybe they’re interruptions of our conditioning.

For a brief moment, they break the trance of our habitual thinking and invite us back into presence.

And when we’re finally present, we often discover that the answers we were desperately searching for weren’t outside of us at all.

They had been patiently waiting beneath the noise.