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Do you believe in serendipity? I do. Many important inventions and discoveries may never have happened if it was not for chance events. Insulin, Penicillin, X-rays, Allergens were all accidentally discovered. Here is an article which lists some of these. An open mind is needed to capitalize on these chance events- as the American physicist Joseph Henry once noted, “The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.”

Here is a blog post on CNN that talks about randomness. New ideas require some down time, some coming off the grind- many researchers see creative thinking as a four-step process: preparation, incubation, illumination and verification or revision.”Incubation is “the ‘mystical’ step,” one in which both the conscious mind and the subconscious mull over the problem in hard-to-define ways.” Hard to define, yes, but not hard to foster, as long as chunks of the day or the week are left open for relatively random activity: long walks, surfing the Internet, browsing a bookstore, household chores that don’t require too much thought, watching the birds at the birdfeeder and gazing out at the ocean.”

Here is another great reference to serendipity discoveries , a blog post on Harvard Business Review- apparently the Post it Note, Viagra, Nylon, Aspirin, tech behind Ink Jet printers were all chance events!

The lesson- don’t restrict yourself to the tried and tested- go explore the world, venture out little bit, take risks…the possibilities are immense! Something somewhere is waiting to be discovered, that distant person you never thought you could be friends with, may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you, go ahead extend that hand of friendship! Most of my friends today are a result of serendipity, and hence I am a firm believer