Paying attention is a life practice. Also referred to as the practice of mindfulness, I find it easier to do it if I think of it as paying attention. Literally attending to something.

When we are deliberate about what we pay attention to, with an understanding of what it is we truly want, we tend to receive the benefit of what we are seeking.

In other words, if we are seeking more vitamin C in our diet, we notice more things with vitamin C in them. We look them up. Little videos about vitamin C start popping up in the algorithms of our social media. We get what we are attending to. All because we made a decision to consume more vitamin C (P.S. don't take too much vitamin C).

There's also an article of faith that what we attend to that resonates with more than just our physical, linear reality, but also the cosmic plane, the heavenly realm, the Ear of God, the Universe, or all the names given the Great Central Source by eaons in the human pursuit of labeling things.

I am of that thinking.

I believe that what we attend to, with conscious and deliberate intention, is the essence of the physics and language of prayer. When we choose to attend to something, we are praying for more of it. We are aligning our emotions with it. We are speaking the language of God and asking for it. Which means that if we attend too closely to negativity without mindfulness we will succumb to it.

Many of us have a need to be comforted. Life is stressful. There's a lot of fear out there. People are behaving from that fear.

We need restoration and reassurance. We need to be reminded that Hope remained at the bottom of Pandora's box once all the evil spirits had been released into the world by the practiced hand of inevitability.

One of the most reassuring practices I've found is attending to instances of synchronicity. Defined as "the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection," synchronicity has a spiritual connection to it, if not superstitious.

Right or wrong, I've always believed that instances of synchronicity are signals that I'm on the right path. Whether it's just in the small space of an afternoon or in my life's work. It's a personal article of faith that God lovingly chucks me on the chin when I'm right where I need to be.

I choose to believe that repeated occurrences of synchronicity in my day, which happen far more often than we realize for our lack of attention to them, are telling me that I'm doing the right thing, or going to the right place, or serve simply as a comforting cosmic pat on the back.

Do I have any factual basis for that belief? Of course not. Beliefs regarding non-physical ideas are always articles of faith, not facts. And that's okay. Believing in the symbolism and reassurance of random bits of synchronicity is something I happen to believe in. And it's the cornerstone, in my opinion, of the physics behind why people with faith tend to live longer.

It makes sense to me that God would want methods like this to reassure us, knowing that humans are best motivated by a good old dose of dopamine and serotonin. It is through moments of synchronicity that I choose to accept that reassurance.

But even in strictly the physical, Newtonian world we live in, setting aside all notions of the metaphysical, it makes practical sense to make a deliberate life practice of placing our attention toward things that we want more of.

I want more synchronicity in my life. Sometimes it occurs in remarkably helpful ways, unexpected connections made, coincidences of good fortune, a winning raffle ticket right when the prize is most needed.

When these things happen, ascribe something meaningful to them. Give a nod of thanks for them. Appreciate the value they have with several thoughts about their value. Literally marinate in the dopamine for a moment.

None of this requires a specific or particular belief in God, or adherence to a religion, or worship of an individual -- which is a crucial part of my checklist of requirements for a genuine spiritual practice. It shouldn't require something of us that we cannot do by choice. Belief is not a choice. Behavior is.

Choose to see the miraculous in your life, no matter how small or simple it may be. Dwell upon them. Count them. Let synchronicity be a conduit of the Universe into your ear saying: "Well done. Keep going. I believe in you."