Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Meet a highly empathic physician. David Cannon intends to help his patients. Through the fun and adventure of coincidences he strengthens the therapeutic alliance which increases positive outcomes. A patient which chronic lung disease had no options anymore Dr. Cannon had recently read about frankensense oil as a possible anti-inflammatory for lungs. While fearing being ridiculed for suggesting this to his patient, he went ahead. Very surprised, the patient said the he too was afraid to mention that possibility also fearing ridicule. It was as if the doctor had read the patient's mind. That's empathy! For more stories like this, tune into this episode.
Pre-order Dr. Beitman's newest book "Life-Changing Synchronicities: A Doctor's Coincidences and Serendipities" at Simon & Schuster, Barnes and Noble, Inner Traditions, Amazon, Books-a-Million, Bookshop.org (May 2025).
David Cannon was originally from West Virginia, and attended Duke University for his undergraduate degree in chemistry before going on to get his medical degree also at Duke. He went on to complete his postgraduate training in Primary Care Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia, and following residency training he completed two years of active duty in the US Navy.
After completing his military service, he returned to Lynchburg, Virginia, to join a then small group practice in general internal medicine. This has evolved over the past several years into a large primary care group with several offices of family physicians serving the community. Dr Cannon completed the Integrative Medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona in 2005, and since that time has shifted his focus to an integrative style of practice.
Bernard D. Beitman, MD has broken out of the restrictive bounds of conservative academic research to create a blueprint for the practical new discipline of Coincidence Studies. He served as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology and later as Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has reached over one million readers through his Psychology Today blog, radio show, website, and his books Connecting with Coincidence and Meaningful Coincidences. Yale and Stanford educated, Dr. Beitman is the founder and president of The Coincidence Project.
00:00 - 01:47 – Synchronicity as a Form of Empathy
01:48 - 03:16 – Welcome to Connecting with Coincidence
03:17 - 08:00 – Dr. David Cannon’s Medical Journey
08:01 - 12:00 – Coincidence at the Grocery Store
12:01 - 17:00 – The Power of Showing You Care
17:01 - 21:45 – Frankincense and Mind Reading?
21:46 - 26:00 – Empathy and Medical Errors
26:01 - 31:00 – Challenges in Modern Healthcare
31:01 - 37:00 – Empathy Increases Patient Outcomes
37:01 - 43:00 – Synchronicity Reduces Burnout
43:01 - 48:00 – Recognizing the Web of Connection
48:01 - 56:59 – Synchronicity as a Diagnostic Tool
#coincidence #serendipity #synchronicity
Meet a highly empathic physician. David Cannon intends to help his patients. Through the fun and adventure of coincidences he strengthens the therapeutic alliance which increases positive outcomes. A patient which chronic lung disease had no options anymore Dr. Cannon had recently read about frankensense oil as a possible anti-inflammatory for lungs. While fearing being ridiculed for suggesting this to his patient, he went ahead. Very surprised, the patient said the he too was afraid to mention that possibility also fearing ridicule. It was as if the doctor had read the patient's mind. That's empathy! For more stories like this, tune into this episode.
Pre-order Dr. Beitman's newest book "Life-Changing Synchronicities: A Doctor's Coincidences and Serendipities" at Simon & Schuster, Barnes and Noble, Inner Traditions, Amazon, Books-a-Million, Bookshop.org (May 2025).
David Cannon was originally from West Virginia, and attended Duke University for his undergraduate degree in chemistry before going on to get his medical degree also at Duke. He went on to complete his postgraduate training in Primary Care Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia, and following residency training he completed two years of active duty in the US Navy.
After completing his military service, he returned to Lynchburg, Virginia, to join a then small group practice in general internal medicine. This has evolved over the past several years into a large primary care group with several offices of family physicians serving the community. Dr Cannon completed the Integrative Medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona in 2005, and since that time has shifted his focus to an integrative style of practice.
Bernard D. Beitman, MD has broken out of the restrictive bounds of conservative academic research to create a blueprint for the practical new discipline of Coincidence Studies. He served as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology and later as Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has reached over one million readers through his Psychology Today blog, radio show, website, and his books Connecting with Coincidence and Meaningful Coincidences. Yale and Stanford educated, Dr. Beitman is the founder and president of The Coincidence Project.
00:00 - 01:47 – Synchronicity as a Form of Empathy
01:48 - 03:16 – Welcome to Connecting with Coincidence
03:17 - 08:00 – Dr. David Cannon’s Medical Journey
08:01 - 12:00 – Coincidence at the Grocery Store
12:01 - 17:00 – The Power of Showing You Care
17:01 - 21:45 – Frankincense and Mind Reading?
21:46 - 26:00 – Empathy and Medical Errors
26:01 - 31:00 – Challenges in Modern Healthcare
31:01 - 37:00 – Empathy Increases Patient Outcomes
37:01 - 43:00 – Synchronicity Reduces Burnout
43:01 - 48:00 – Recognizing the Web of Connection
48:01 - 56:59 – Synchronicity as a Diagnostic Tool
#coincidence #serendipity #synchronicity
