"Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered."
William Shakespeare
Are you a lucky person? Or are you someone to whom catastrophe often happens? According to Professor Richard Wiseman in his book The Luck Factor, you can become luckier through changing your thoughts and behaviour.
Professor Wiseman conducted research with 400 volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds. He explored why some people seemed to lead charmed lives full of lucky breaks, while others experience one disaster after another.
He found that lucky people generate their own good fortune. He used the principles he found as the basis for a Luck School. 80% of those who participated increased their level of luck, happiness and success.
"Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; This is good luck"
Buddha
In my independent survey of lucky people, I have noticed certain characteristics they demonstrate. Here I combine Professor Wisemen's findings with my own observations:
1.RESILIENT ATTITUDE
Resilience champions seem to have been a theme this week on the Living page. Both Dr Judith Rich's Lessons In Resilience and Dr Cara Barker's What To Do When Someone You Love Is Hurting embrace the topic.
Lucky people adopt a resilient attitude that transforms "bad" luck into good. They find the good in a bad situation, realizing how a circumstance could be much worse. More than that, they see opportunity coming out of a negative experience. These attitudes help them to keep their expectations about the future high, and increase the likelihood of continuing to live a lucky life.
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted
but getting what you have, which once you have got it
you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."
Garrison Keillor
2.INTENTION
"Luck is what happens
when preparation meets opportunity."
Seneca
Consider what you really want for yourself. Positive expectations lead to self-fulfilling prophesies.
Cultivate the language of positive expectation. Get away from talking about how bad everything is, and anticipating the next disaster in life's soap opera. Assume that good will come from the most difficult of events. It will. In time.
Visualize: imagine the best outcomes you wish to take place. Expect the best.
The energy of intention is beautifully illustrated in James Lynch's post this week: Finding Your Passion Statement
"Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast;
in the stream where you least expect it, there will be a fish"
Ovid
3.INTUITION
"Luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer."
Unknown
Make lucky decisions, based on your intuitive guidance. Listen to, and evaluate what you hear inwardly with an open mind. With practice, you may discover that spontaneous decisions are well rewarded. It is possible to fulfil a very good life based on the inner resource of your intuition. I know people who do.
"A person does not seek luck; luck seeks the person"
Turkish Proverb
4.OPENNESS
Be available for chance opportunities; a new business venture, your life partner, the journey of a lifetime. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities because they are open to them. Anxiety and tension decrease your vision, in every sense.
Learn to relax, notice and enjoy the world around you. Be amazed. One summer I spent a few minutes studying a lavender plant. How was it growing like that, producing flowers with that extraordinary scent? How did that happen?
Let go of attachments to life having to be exactly the way you want. Allow the space for what you envisage to evolve into something much better than you could ever have imagined. This saying opens the way to the best outcomes:
"This or something greater for the highest good of all."
"My luck is getting worse and worse. Last night, for instance,
I was mugged by a quaker."
Woody Allen
Tell the people you love that you love them. Making these important connections can lift you into a new world of possibility and freedom. Share the best of yourself. Experience joy in the giving.
Celebrate the beauty of the present moment. Breathe deeply, drop your shoulders, smile. Right now, you could be blessed with an idea that transforms the quality of your life, and the lives of others.
"Dance under the stars of life and feel infinity flow through you."
Davide de Angelis
5.ACTION
Good luck does not necessarily just happen. You may not know that a person who is "lucky" has been applying themselves to an objective for some time.
Many of Professor Wiseman's lucky participants went to considerable lengths to introduce variety and change into their lives. Doing so increased the number of chance opportunities they encountered.
Before making an important decision, try constantly altering your route to work. Disrupt a routine and have fun doing things differently: get out of bed on the other side; reverse your car into the garage, instead of driving it in forwards; spend an evening with the tv switched off. Go to a new place on vacation. Meet unusual people. Read a different newspaper. Random experiences introduce the potential for new opportunities.
"Nature creates ability; luck provides it with opportunity."
François de la Rochefoucauld
Have you been blessed with good fortune? Do you know lucky people? What does "good luck" mean for you?
"Be lucky, mate."
Cockney greeting
I would love to hear from you, either as a comment here or contact me at ClearResults@mac.com.