How I Know there's a Higher Power

Here were my goals for 2011, the Year of the Rabbit:

1. Maintain a healthy interpersonal relationship with a certain someone;
2. win a fantasy trophy (get some hardware somewhere, almost don't care what type of sport it is)
3. graduate law school
4. pass the bar
5. obtain a full-time job (a job, any job!!!!!) sometime by the end of this calendar year
6. continue in my healthy, disciplined way
7. make some sort of signficiant breakthrough in my life.........something, anything!!

Did I achieve them?
1. Kinda...I didn't do it was that "certain someone" I had in mind, but continued to develop good relationships with other people
2. YES....won my main fantasy football league this year (the one I keep bragging about) and am getting a perpetual engraved trophy. Love the idea.
3. Check.
4. Check.
5. CHECK!!!!! That was big. Got it in September, continuing to work, didn't know how I felt about it at first, but now really relating to everyone and loving it. Can't express how gratefulI I am for having that job.
6. Yes, still healthy, although losing 5 pounds and getting back to 160/165 would be nice.
7. Kinda...made a BIG disciplined move to learn Chinese and converse well....think I've made major strides there.

So all in all, a good year! What's in store for 2012? I'll have a comprehensive 2011 sendoff in my next post as well as a 2012 preview. Call THAT a cliffhanger.


The title of my post: How do I know there's a higher power? There are little clues everywhere I go. Impossible coincidences happen all the time that remind me that there's something going on here; it all fits together too well. Funny thing is, when I encounter these "little coincidences" I always do a double-take and am no-doubt convinced that it's definitely a higher power at work, but I never document it or anything, and the thing is so minor that I forget after a few good nights' sleep (with vivid dreams....o I LOVE vivid dreams). However, for example, today I'm just clicking through facebook and pull up an acquaintance's page (we be-friended each other but to be honest we met once and it was one of those fringe-facebook-befriendings), and all of a sudden I see that THAT friend is friend of someone whom I met at CVS who I'd wanted to know about for the longest time (I know, it's a little creepy, but unbelievably serendipitous at the same time). I know the magic and mystique of Facebook and all that and how they can "connect" you with everyone, but there's NO WAY Facebook knew about this vague connection because it was purely in my head. I wasn't even actively trying to find a person, I was just "Facebook-surfing," if you call it then.

Other small signs that I kinda remember: Thinking of an obscure word/town/name while driving in my car and suddenly the word will pop up on a street sign, an object appearing out of nowhere even though it was supposed to be somewhere else. I don't know, it seems like the blubbering ramblings of a mad man, but there it is, it's what I believe. I was born agnostic with my parents not really having any TIME for religion; always working and whatnot. What little religious background I have involves Chinese cultural legends about Buddha and Buddhism, hardly grounds for claiming I am a "believer" in any religion. I am probably the least educated adult out there about religion. I've never realy needed it, experienced it, or gave it a chance, it's always been one of those spheres that have been closed off from me, or I've closed it off myself.

I'm pretty sure the next "big change" in my life is supposed to be some sort of finding of religious experience....I've won my Fantasy football leagues, no need to be at home on Sunday mornings watching football anymore. And Jan. 1, 2012 happens to be a Sunday. I believe I will

(And obviously this is not an endorsement of any religion or a solicitation for readers, I don't even know which religion I'm going to "experiment with," but I do know I'm very curious about what there is to offer, and at this point I get very little value from watching bad movies and reading endless books that I forget about in a few days anyway.) So I'm ready to delve into this facet of my life. 2009: it was delving into my field of law; 2010 it was reconnecting with my family; 2011 it was engaging in a career and reconnecting with my Chinese roots; 2012 might be about religion (and getting on the Amazing Race/Survivor).