Coincidence, Fate and Synchronicity

I was having a good day. Work was flowing well and I felt like I had made some good decisions that would positively affect my future. Sensing it might be time for a morning tea break, I looked down at my watch to see glowing back at me in red from the dial, 11:11. 

A week later, and the same thing happened again. And again. And again. 

I thought it was a funny coincidence and mentioned it to someone. Instead, she looked back at me with a serious expression and declared that the universe was sending me a message. "It's a spiritual message, pay attention!", she said.  

It is believed that seeing 11:11 is significant. Type it into your internet search engine and you will discover a myriad of articles that tell you just that. I am not here to question the beliefs behind these assumptions. Instead, I want to ask just one question:

What happened to all the other times that you looked at your watch, or phone, or the little digital clock ticking over in the bottom-right of your computer screen, and it didn't read 11:11? Why don't we notice nor remember them?

Some statistics suggest we check our phones over 250 times per day. Surely we would see the time then. And that doesn't include seeing it on our laptop screens, watches, or the clock on your office wall. But why didn't these times come to our attention and remain in our memory as being significant? 

Because we are attributing meaning to something that is most likely coincidence. It's not fate, nor a message from the universe, nor the angels, nor anyone else. 

This is synchronicity. 

It's very human to search for meaning. But how many times a day do we misattribute it? How many times in our lifetime? And in the long history of the human race? What else have we managed to get a little wrong?

I am reminded of a psychologist who once told me, "thoughts are just thoughts, not fact".
Something to think about.