Agree and it is not just humans.
When we go diving, I will hover somewhere and stay very still until a school of tangs or something comes along, at some distance away from me. I will pick out one and without moving my head, just my eyes, focus on it. Suddenly, that particular fish will break formation and go darting in and out among the others. I have observed this happening over and over in various places, various times.
As to the phone thing: my husband and I will be talking about someone we haven’t seen or heard from in a long time, sometimes years. Within days, that person will call or email.
Want to make someone call or email? Just concentrate on them. A photo will help. They will contact you. Again, we have both tried this countless times and it will usually work. We also usually find out that something stressful has been going on for them and that is why they haven’t called/written. It will NOT work if that person is estranged from you for whatever reason they may have. Just for people, often just acquaintances, with whom you don’t have a serious history. So, it doesn’t overcome strong emotional estrangements, IMO.
The staring stranger in the crowd event is also accurate, or has been for me.
Yes, directed intention does work. Imagine hundreds, or even thousands of people all directing the same thought, at the same time, to the same individual. I know it would cause them to respond to that intention.