Synchronicities

Who knew that getting thrown by a horse would change the trajectory of my life.

Right after commencement from graduate school in New York City, I gave myself a gift of a week at a dude ranch in Arizona, because I love to horseback ride. I had an amazing time…that is, until the last day.

I was on a ride with the ranch wrangler, who was training a new lead horse – the one who always is in front on the trail rides. But the horse I was riding was the old lead horse, and he kept trying to be in front, which meant I had to continually reign him in.

We were at a full gallop at one point, and again, I reined in my horse, and it was one too many times for him. 

He stopped on a dime, and I went flying. I hit the ground. Hard. And I immediately knew that I was hurt. Badly. 

We were about six miles from the ranch, so all I could do was get back on the horse, and we walked the entire way back. I think I was in shock because the next morning, I just got up as though everything was normal, and got on an airplane back to New York. 

I still don’t know how I made it home, because I had such severe sciatic pain in my right leg. And if you’ve never experienced that, it is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life. 

I got an x-ray when I got home to make sure nothing was broken, which it wasn’t, and I went back to work. I had taken a job full-time in a marketing firm, after graduate school, at the company I had previously worked for, because I couldn’t get a social work job right away. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills, but mostly because my old boss had had a heart attack, and asked me to come step in to run the company while he was recovering. 

I was in horrific pain on a daily basis. I had just spent two years full-time getting a master’s degree, but I went back to take care of the business because he asked me to. That will give you an idea of just how codependent I was in those days.

Yes, I saw a chiropractor. I saw an acupuncturist on a regular basis, which would give me temporary relief, but the truth is, I was in unbearable and unrelenting pain for months.

I finally ended up in the office of an incredible sports medicine neurologist about two months after the accident, and it was a series of synchronicities that led me there, and set me on a trajectory that I couldn’t have ever imagined.

One of my sisters had had back surgery a few years before I had gotten injured, so I called her to get the name and number of her doctor. She lived about 30 minutes north of New York City, and her doctor was even farther north than that, so that wasn’t really a viable option. 

She suggested that I call a family friend, Janet, whose husband was a neurologist at New York University Hospital. 

Now, let me put this context. In those days, we had phone books. There was no internet, and I didn’t have a New York City phone book in my apartment, so calling Janet to get her husband’s phone number was my best bet. We knew Janet from our summer community on Fire Island, and so I took a shot and I called her at their beach house.

Now this was long before we had cell phones or answering machines, and so the chances of getting her on the phone when she happened to be home from the beach for lunch were astronomical. But she answered the phone. 

Synchronicity number one.

I told her what was going on, and I asked her if she could give me her husband’s phone number at NYU, and she said, “Oh, I don’t need to. He’s right here.”

Synchronicity number two.

He happened to be on vacation that week, so she put him on the phone. I told him what was going on physically, and he asked me to do a few things, like stand on my toes and try to walk, and stand on my heels and try to walk. And, within a couple of minutes, he diagnosed me. 

“You have a disc out of place,” he told me, and he gave me the name of a doctor I needed to see. I took the first deep breath I had taken in months because I felt like I was finally going to have some relief from this excruciating pain.

I asked him if I could call that doctor’s office and use his name. And he said, “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’ll call his office right now and I’ll call you back.”

Five minutes later, the phone rang. 

“Miss Campbell?” 

“Um, yes?”

“This is Dr. Harris’s office. The doctor just spoke with Dr. Watson about your situation, and Dr. Harris would like to see you. What time can you be here?”

What time can I be there? Dr. Harris was one of the most sought after neurologists in sports medicine in New York City. I mean, he was the doctor for the New York Knicks, and she wanted to know what time I could be there? Not to mention, it was the Friday of July 4th weekend, and nobody was at the office that afternoon. 

Synchronicity number three.

So I told her I was getting in a cab immediately, and that I’d be there as quickly as traffic would allow. I was in so much pain that the only way I could tolerate that cab ride was to lie down in the back seat. When I got to the doctor’s office, they put me in an exam room and told me to put on a gown, and while I was waiting for the doctor, I happened to be reading a book at the time called Goddesses in Every Woman.

When the doctor came in, he introduced himself, sat down next to me, and then he happened to notice the book. “May I?” he asked, gesturing towards it.

I said, “Yes, of course.” He looked through the table of contents, read the jacket cover, put the book down and asked me, “Have you read Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukov? 

“Uh, no, I haven’t.”

“Well, he said, I highly recommend it,” and I thought, Who is this guy? Here he is, this brilliant Western medicine physician, and he’s recommending a book to me about spirituality? Are you kidding me?

He examined me, and just as Dr. Watson had said, I had a disc out of place. He told me he was going to put me on steroids to reduce the inflammation in my spine, and he also prescribed a painkiller, which I ended up only needing for about a day and a half because the steroids worked so quickly. 

He also told me that he was confining me to bed for two weeks, and that the only things I was allowed to get up for were essentials, like going to the bathroom or eating a meal. 

But here’s the thing: what he said next blew me away.

“You’re going to be lying on your back for two weeks,” he said, “and the only place you’re going to have to look is up. So you might want to ask yourself what it is you’re doing stuck in bed.” 

Synchronicity number four.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Who are you?” I asked him. “I’ve never in my life had a doctor ever make a suggestion like that to me, much less be interested in a book about spirituality.”

He smiled mischievously and said, “I guess I’m not like the other doctors you’ve had.” 

One of my friends eventually referred to him as my chakra doctor, but his comments really did shift things for me.

For one thing, I began to realize that the only time I was in beyond unbearable pain leading up to those couple of days, was when I was at the office at a job that I didn’t really want to do. Now, I’m not dismissing the fact that I was in pain from an accident, but it was exacerbated every time I was in that office. So, as a result of meeting with him, I took the leap of faith, and I quit that full-time job.

He also referred me to three different physical therapists, and the only one of them who returned my call turned out to also be an Esoteric Healer, which is a type of hands-off energy work that heals the body, mind and spirit throughout lifetimes and dimensions. 

Synchronicity number five.

I was so inspired by Esoteric Healing – and the effectiveness of it – that I went on to train in that modality, which was the beginning of my experience as an energy and body worker.

Between the steroids, the physical therapy and the Esoteric Healing, I got better. Much better. 

And then about seven months later, when the disc started to deteriorate to the point where my bladder and bowel function were about to be cut off, due to the disc impinging on my nerves, I was referred to a brilliant surgeon who scheduled me for the OR the next morning, because he happened to have an opening. 

Synchronicity number 6. 

Long story short, the surgery was successful, and knock wood, I haven’t had any issues with my back since.

In retrospect, it’s as though I had been led through a divine roadmap. The synchronicity after synchronicity of calling my sister, who suggested I call a family friend, who just happened to be home at her beach house. Talking to her husband who just happened to be on vacation that week, to being referred to a doctor who just happened to be in his office on the afternoon of the Friday of July 4th weekend, to him referring me to a physical therapist who just happened to be an Esoteric Healer, to the referral to a brilliant back surgeon who happened to have an opening in his OR schedule the next morning. 

You can’t make this stuff up.

That work with the Esoteric Healer set me on a course of studying the body: everything from EMDR to Psychodramatic Bodywork®, to Somatic Experiencing®, to Somatic Resilience and Regulation®, to Transforming Touch®. And by the way, I will be talking about all of these in future posts.

The injury confirmed for me that I really didn’t want to be working in business, and that if I would just trust the Universe, a job would be presented to me, which it was.”

I’m still not particularly grateful for the accident or the pain I endured, but I am grateful for the very strong nudge from the Universe that reminded me that I didn’t go to graduate school just to stay stuck in a corporate job because of my codependency, and my fear of financial insecurity. I am grateful for all that happened as a result of it, and that I was willing to trust in the Universe, and say yes to the help that was offered. Oh, and by the way, two weeks after the surgery, I started a full-time job as a social worker in a recovery center, and I’ve been working full time in as a therapist, trainer and consultant ever since.

So here’s an invitation to you: 

Notice a synchronicity in your life; a moment when there is a coincidence: running into someone or getting a phone call from someone you were just thinking about; a moment of clarity or action insight as a result of reading a book, or watching a TV show or a movie. And rather than calling it crazy, accept it for what it is, a coincidence or a synchronicity, or a message from the Universe just for you.