Free The Book of Why by Nicholas Montemarano Page A

but then I realized that the other boy’s desk touched the floor, and the floor touched the toilet, and even when I stood on the toilet, I might as well have been touching that boy, and I looked to the side and saw written on the wall, It’s all in your head, dude.
    That night, in bed, I heard the cop from the cop show my mother watched: Snap out of it! It’s all in your head!
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    Some days—I still remember them—it seemed as if the world heard my every thought. I wanted a seat on the bus—I didn’t like to touch the hanging straps—and there was a seat. I wanted someone else to pull the bell cord—I didn’t want to touch it—and someone did. I wanted the clouds to part and they parted. I didn’t want to go to gym and the teacher was out sick. I thought of a song and the song came on the radio. I thought of a bluebird and a bluebird alighted on a low- ​hanging branch on our tree.
    One day, on my way home from high school, a squat man wearing an army jacket was walking toward me. His jeans were baggy and too long. He was talking to himself, but was looking at me.
    An image in my mind of the man hitting me—just a flash. I had to pass him to reach the subway. I didn’t want to cross the street, only to have to cross back, even though that’s what my mother had told me to do to avoid people who don’t look right .
    As I walked past the man, he came at me as if that had been his intention all along. He punched my face, then pulled my jacket over my head so I couldn’t see. He threw me to the ground and kicked me, then took my jacket and walked away talking to himself.
    People stopped to look, but no one went after the man.
    An older man with a gray broom-handle mustache—he was hosing the sidewalk in front of a florist—asked me if I was all right. He reached into the pocket of his apron and gave me a handkerchief.
    The taste of blood running from my nose; the lovely smell of flowers.
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    Another rule was, Don’t be afraid .
    Another was, Whatever you’re afraid of will find you .

 
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, Illinois, 2000
    It’s not an accident that I’m standing on this stage. It’s not an accident that each of you is sitting exactly where you’re sitting. Believe me, there are no such things as accidents. We have complete responsibility for all that we’re experiencing in our lives. We create everything, even so-called accidents. Coincidences are never coincidences. Nothing is random. Nothing means nothing.
    This is good news. There’s a reason behind everything, and that reason is you.
    Synchronicity is just the universe winking back at you. The universe is saying, “Pay attention. This means something. This is what you’ve been thinking about, what you’ve been asking for.”
    When you’re aligned with abundance, you can create accidents on purpose. You can count on everything and everyone you need to show up at the perfect moment. Don’t hope and pray for the right person to enter your life. Don’t hope and pray for lucky breaks. There’s no such thing as luck except the luck we create.
    I encourage you, every morning when you wake, to make the following commitments to yourself. I promise to pay attention today. I believe that everything means something. I believe that the universe is constantly winking at me, reflecting my internal state, giving me a chance to cancel and erase any negative thoughts and feelings I may be having. I commit today to being open to serendipity—to expecting it, in fact. I believe that everything I need will present itself to me. I believe that I will meet the exact people I need to meet at this moment in time. I believe in perfect timing. I believe in creating happy accidents.
    Now, I acknowledge that there are people who don’t believe any of this. Some people believe that the worst that can happen, will. And so