The Universe Is Winking at You

Isn’t it wonderful when you meet someone who points you to a little bit of magic in the world you wouldn’t otherwise have noticed? This happened to me recently with the word “isophene.” On my podcast "Fifty Words for Snow," my Welsh cohost Emily John Garcés and I go hunting for words that English forgot—words that name things we’ve all felt but couldn’t quite articulate. In a recent episode, "Math and Music," we had the joy of speaking with writer Susan Sechrist, who has the audacity to talk about math and science not like boring subjects in school but as a secret language for discovering life’s magic. Ratios, patterns, numbers—she makes them sound like poetry, like the lyrical hum of existence itself.

Writer Susan Sechrist

Source: Courtesy of Susan Sechrist

Isophene: a line on a map that connects points of simultaneous biological events

Take isophene. This glorious word comes to us from biology and describes those moments when things happen in different places simultaneously without any direct link. Susan explained it with plants—how the same species bloom at the same time across vast distances. No text messages. No memos. Just this silent, shared rhythm that nature seems to be tapping along to, like a cosmic drummer keeping perfect time.

Plushy Seals and Isophenes

Which brings us to the seals. Picture it: I’m in a shop, holding a plushy seal. Now, do I need a plushy seal? No. Does anyone need a plushy seal?

Absolutely not. But there I am, clutching this absurdly adorable lump of fake fur like it’s the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, across the globe, Emily is in another shop, doing the exact same thing—picking up a plushy seal, staring at it, wondering if she’s having some kind of breakdown. We didn’t plan this. We didn’t coordinate it. It just… happened. This, my friends, is isophene: the universe’s way of winking at you, saying, “Yes, you’re ridiculous. But you’re not alone.”

My plushy seal

Source: Used with permission/Maggie Rowe

But wait! There’s more. Emily, in her woodland—a magical place that sounds like it should have hobbits in it—described stepping out on a frosty morning and seeing the most extraordinary sight. Frost was everywhere, glinting on leaves and branches, each pattern as intricate as a hand-embroidered hanky. It was like the cosmos had been up all night with an ice pen, doodling masterpieces on everything. And here’s the kicker: The same kind of frost patterns were forming miles away, in other woodlands, on other branches. No conference calls. No secret frost WhatsApp groups. Just atmospheric conditions and nature’s inexplicable genius.

This is what isophene is about. It’s not just frost or seals or plants. It’s in the way your mate texts you out of the blue when you’re having a rotten day. It’s in the way a book falls off a shelf and opens to the exact passage you needed to read. It’s the cosmos’s little way of saying, “Hey there! Pay attention! You’re part of something bigger!”

Take the Isophene Challenge

So go on, find your isophenes! Notice the frost, the seals, the synchronicities that make this bonkers, beautiful dance we call life feel a little less random. The universe isn’t just a load of chaotic nonsense. It’s an interconnected, slightly mad, but undeniably fabulous spectacle. And you—yes, you—are right in the middle of it.