By the mid-1990s, when the college where Al had been an economics professor for 23 years offered an early retirement package, he was also involved in what seemed to be a lucrative multi-level-marketing business. He accepted the buy-out and left the security of his college position.

For several years Pala, an economic development officer, had been toying with the idea of finding a more satisfying career but had taken no action. At the same time Al left teaching, Pala lost her job during a hostile take-over, and they began working the MLM business together. It failed miserably. The only successful aspect was a website they developed to sell the products online.

Theirs was one of the first small business entrepreneur websites on the Internet, and so they decided to offer Internet training to other small business owners. Although Al and Pala paid thousands of dollars to reserve workshop facilities they had no registrations. To avoid complete catastrophe, they chose, at the last minute, to offer relationship and sexuality training instead.

Despite having only a few paying customers, as soon as they did the workshop day dedicated to sacred sexuality they knew it was their calling—this was it. Sacred sex had been Pala and Al’s private hobby for years. It was their passion and their greatest source of joy, but they never imagined they could earn a living through it. They now teach and write about sacred sexuality and relationships full time. They discovered how they could follow their bliss and earn a living doing it, and it all came out of what seemed to be a series of failures.

Variation:

    Keep a record of these important happenings in your lives. Refer back to them over the years. Is there a pattern in your series of synchronous events?