It's odd how things work out...(part 2)

So let's get one thing straight, right from the start:

The scientist in me rejects the notion that Fate is anything more than a mind-made association between un-related events, to give us humans a nice warm feeling that we are not living our lives at the whim of random events, or in an uncaring Universe which is oblivious to our existence.

The spiritual side of me is not so sure, as my day-to-day human experience is that at critical moments in my life, events do conspire (usually) in my favour.

And yes, I know that my human experience is distorted by the lens of my psyche.
And that even if Fate is in fact an observable phenomenon, it does not mean it is real in the sense that there is some Universal force or principle at work behind the scenes, rather than an artefact of the human mind doing the observing.

The fact remains however, that it appears real to me, and there are times in my life when if I put my Faith in Fate, things invariably work out more easily and more in my favour than if I try to engineer or plan the same outcome.

As an example, since my last posting, my life has become even more hectic than usual: mounting work pressures, personal and family health issues have all contributed to this.
As a consequence, I realised that I had lost balance between the work, family and personal aspects of my life, and needed to regain that balance before my health suffered even more.

It was clear that the only way to achieve this was by changing the conditions of my work. Of course that is easier said than done, whilst still meeting the responsibility I have to my family and myself to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

Given that I have a great professional and social relationship with my line manager, I discussed this issue with him, and we agreed that something needed to be done, though it wasn’t immediately clear what could be done, without jeopardising my financial situation.

While pondering what the possibilities were and how to create more options, a colleague of mine contacted me, out of the blue, with a job opportunity that superficially seemed better suited to my current needs.

That in itself was a startling coincidence.

Upon further consideration of the opportunity, I realised that while it was indeed better than my current situation, it was not that much better, and did not really support my long-term plans: it would do for a while, but it was not the direction I wanted my career to take longer-term.

So I began to consider what opportunity would constitute a significant step forward in my long-term goals, which would also afford me the freedom and flexibility to re-balance my life in the short-term.

After a few days’ contemplation, I figured out what the ideal opportunity would be: to start my own business, offering consultancy services initially to my current permanent employer, and then broadening my scope to a wider clientele.

However, it seemed to be very much a pipe-dream: an unrealistic expectation to set that such an arrangement might be acceptable to my current employer, or that I could start the venture without an established client-base.

So, without mentioning it to anyone, I set the thought to one side, as the ideal against which to measure other opportunities, but not one that was itself attainable.

Within a day of this, my line manager asked to see me for a working lunch, to discuss a proposal he had for me.

It turns out that he was thinking that the best solution, in his opinion, for me, for him, and for my current company, was that I start a consultancy business, with a guaranteed minimum amount of work from them initially, decreasing over time, as I extended my client-base.

The details were to be worked out, but he’d already got approval in principle from his management.

Now there is no guarantee that this opportunity will work out, or even make it beyond the negotiating table.

But as these events unfold around me, I have the unmistakable feeling that this is meant to be, and that I am being guided and assisted by Fate’s gentle hand.