What exactly is chaos? Chaos theory is about finding an underlying order in what looks like random events. It turns out that weather is chaotic. Weather cannot be predicted exactly. This is because too many random events occur in the atmosphere that impact weather. However, when you use a computer to plot these random events, a predictable pattern occurs. Can you think of something in your life that at first glance seems random, and yet does have an underlying pattern?

It turns out that the rhythm of your heartbeat has many types of mathematical patterns. It has time and frequency patterns as well as chaotic and fractal patterns. Would you like to see and hear your heart patterns?

Fractals, which are geometric patterns that are repeated at ever-smaller scales, are abundant in nature. A head of broccoli is a great example of a fractal. If you tear a piece of the broccoli off, it still looks like the whole. And if you tear another piece off, it, too, looks like the whole. A fern leaf has the same fractal nature. Can you think of other examples of fractals in nature?

Not surprisingly, many quantum properties are present in all living and natural systems. The system possesses properties that the parts do not, and properties of the parts can only be understood in the context of the system. The heart is a great example!

If you take a heart in isolation, you see an organ that pumps blood. When you take the heart in context with the rest of the body, you find that the heart communicates with the brain and nervous system, and is affected by your breathing and whether you are standing up or lying down. Many systems in your body are reflected in the pattern of your heartbeat. Can you feel your heart speed up when you inhale and slow down when you exhale?

In the human body, our cells seem to “just know” what to do, although they don’t have a brain. This “just knowing” is called cognition and may be a result of entanglement. Thus, when one part of the cell does something, the other parts know and act accordingly.  Can you think of something you do that automatically affects someone else?

We can change the patterns in our lives by changing our beliefs, feelings and thought processes. Some people call this “reframing.” Can you find something bothersome that you can reframe into something good?

A short detour into the topic of quantum particles: they seem to move in random ways. However experiments show that the random movements create predictable wave-like patterns. Life may seem random sometimes, though when viewed from the 30,000-foot level, patterns are revealed. So rather than focusing on the outcome of events, we should be looking at the patterns in our lives. Take a look around, what patterns do you see?