There's a difference between fighting the flow and choosing your path through it. Many people, when faced with the epiphany that much of the struggle and unhappiness in their life comes from fighting the flow, the Tao, the natural order, God's will, whatever they call it, respond by flipping 180 degrees and denying free will, believing this flow, this order is in control, and their job is simply to submit to it. This results inevitably in lots of magical thinking.

God's-willers -- whether in Christian Fundamentalism, AA, Taoism, or whatever -- take the frequent remarkable coincidences in their daily lives as proof that "things happen for a reason" and that God is determining these little events in our lives based on some pre-planned roadmap. But a much simpler explanation is synchronicity -- seemingly predetermined events are actually the result of lots of little factors we do affect. Call it karma, if you want.

You know the undeniable phenomenon that when you break up with a partner or when a loved one dies, all of a sudden the world is full of messages about lost love or mortality? Do you think God is altering the programming of radio stations to send you those messages personally? Of course not. It's a matter of what you focus on.

When The Way opens and an opportunity or solution presents itself right when you need it, both of these forces are at work. Without realizing it, you are putting out signals and actions …

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