Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

mcchen's picture

Serendipity

Serendipity can essentially be defined as luck, by coming across a fortunate situation by accident.  Schwartz's advice to "allow for serendipity" seems a bit silly because it is something that we cannot control, it is supposed to happen by chance.  I suppose another way to interpret his advice is that he's saying in order to increase satisfaction we have to see the positive side of every situation instead of focusing on the the unfortunate aspects of our choices.  His advice is very open to interpretation and does not give his readers a clear cut method on how to increase satisfaction, he seems to say it is up to the individual to find a way to be happy with his/her choices.  I suppose I can interpret it so that serendipity plays a large role in my life, from waking up just before I'm late to class or finding the perfect pair of shoes, it's all in my interpretation of it. 

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
4 + 1 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.