“The universe is neither good nor bad.” The self help podcast proclaimed. I figured I should make some use out of my hour long morning commute. “Good and bad, opportunity and complications, they just exist. What you look for and how you frame things is what you will get out of what simply exists. You have to synchronize yourself with what you need.”

I snorted. So if I look for money, I will find it? I doubt it’s that easy, I thought.

The podcast continued. “You will doubt. This is part of the process.”

I raised my eyebrow, though the recorded voice could not see it.

“Pick a color, any color,” the recorded voice suggested.

Orange, I thought. Orange.

“Now that you’ve picked your color, pause this podcast. For the next 24 hours, keep that color in your mind. Be alert. Watch for it. Come back tomorrow for part two.”

Shrugging, I paused the podcast. Orange it was, then. C’mon universe, show me what you’ve got.

The first thing I noticed was the orange tiger lilies on the receptionist’s desk. Then more and more orange items caught my eye.

A orange highlighter in my desk drawer.

Orange crayon art done by a co-workers child.

Orange flowers on a co-workers blouse.

An orange car in the parking garage.

A road worker wearing an orange hard hat.

Almost every billboard on my drive home had some orange in it.

The next door neighbor’s kids shooting hoops with an orange basketball.

Orange roasted carrots with dinner.

By the time I left for work the next morning, I was seeing orange everywhere I looked. I pushed play on the podcast then shifted my car into drive, passing my mailbox with the orange metal flag on the side.

“Welcome back,” the calm voice began. “I’m willing to bet you have had an interesting 24 hours. Whatever color you picked, you should be seeing it everywhere.”

True enough, I thought.

The podcast continued. “Whatever color you picked, there is not more or less of it in the world than there was yesterday. You and your perceptions have changed. You are now in sync with that color.”

The voice paused. “Now you may be thinking this is all well and good, but what does the color blue or the color orange have to do with your goal of making more money, finding love, being healthier, actively creating or what ever your specific goal is? The answer is - everything. If making more money is your goal, being in sync with financial opportunities is unlikely to cause you to win the lottery or find a bag of money on the street.”

I snorted. I guess the speaker had heard that particular objection before. I returned my focus to the podcast.

The speaker was saying. “If you actively focus on opportunities around money you are more likely to recognize the opportunities already existing in the world. You may see a job posting you might have overlooked before. You might see a commercial that will cut your cell phone expenses in half. If health is your goal, a friend might offer to join a gym with you. You may decide to take the stairs instead of the elevator. “

Okay, I was starting to buy into this a little.

“For the next 24 hours, think about what is important to you. What parts of your life could benefit from some synchronicity. Now pause this podcast and come back tomorrow.

What did I want?, I thought, willing to give this whole synchronicity thing a try. I want to spend more time with my family and less time working.

At lunch, I was getting into the elevator when I noticed the CEO already in this one. Normally, I would have waited for the next one, but today I stepped in.

“Jim,” the CEO said into his phone. “The bottom line is we need more people to make the proposed expansion work. Even if we could find the right people, we have no where to put them.” He paused. “Jim? Jim?” He lowered his phone.

“Dropped call?” I asked casually.

“Happens every time.” He answered, “I should know better than to try to use my cell phone in the elevator.”

I took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to eaves drop, but… elevator.” I shrugged.

He chuckled. “No problem.”

“Have you considered letting employees work from home, maybe sharing office space here on alternating days?” I asked. Then I held my breath. Was I being too forward?

“Well, it has been mentioned, but it wasn’t actively considered.” He responded. Then he paused. “You’re Mike from HR, right?”

“Yes,” I answered, surprised he knew my name. “I work with Karen’s team.”

“How do you think Karen would feel about her staff working from home? There are documented challenges on managing remote teams. Do you think she would be willing to accept the added complexities?” He asked.

“It’s come up in conversation several times, how she would like to get to her son’s ball game before the 8th inning, how tired she is of take out for dinner but by the time she gets home, it’s too late to cook. I think she’d be open to it.” I said.

The elevator door opened and his phone rang. “Hi, Jim, sorry about that. Will you hold for a second?” He smiled at me and held out his hand for a handshake. “I think you are on to something. Expect to hear from me in the next day or two. I’d like to hear your ideas.” He put the phone back to his ear. “Jim, I’m back. I was just talking with Mike from HR…”

I didn’t hear anything after that, as we had both gotten in our cars. Maybe this synchronicity thing was working, I thought as I swerved around an orange traffic cone.