Serendipity vs. Synchronicity

After I posted the blog about synchronicity the other day, I got a short email from a reader, asking, "Instead of synchronicity, don't you actually mean serendipity? Don't both words mean discovery?"

I had heard of the word, serendipity, but I had a notion that the two were only vaguely related.

It was my understanding that serendipity was finding something by accident and feeling lucky that you did, whereas synchronicity as we've already discussed, is a whisper, a message, a helpful incident, that comes directly to us from the universe and it feels like a mini-miracle.

I decided to go visit Mr. Webster for an answer ...

Serendipity
ser·en·dip·i·ty  [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] –noun
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. 2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.

The best thing about my discovery of the meaning of the word serendipity is that finding it was serendipitous.

While looking for the full dictionary/encyclopedic meaning of discovery so I could provide more of a description for the blog, I found that discovery is very similar to serendipity but their meanings differ in how a something, or a thing, is found.

Discovery is finding and learning something on purpose, while serendipity is an accidental discovery, or a finding, that turns out to be fortunate.

Previously, I had thought serendipity had something to do with fate.  In a fuzzy way I guess it does, depending on what you believe.

However, I am glad I found the full meaning of the word, because now it will help me describe some of the discoveries I come across that you’ll find here in the blog. This would be instead of you thinking I’m a doddering old fool by saying it was accidental, now I can elegantly describe it as being serendipitous.

And no, serendipity is not the same as synchronicity ...

Namaste.