Luck is an Attitude
Copyright 2005 Mary Desaulniers
A friend of mine who started playing the dollar-a-week lottery 4
years ago seems to have a knack for winning. He has won at least
5 times, each win ranging from $200 to $1000.
I can't help but feel a bit envious. I can explain away his good
fortune by saying that he has more luck than I. But when I
compare his situation with mine, I see a different story. His
luck comes with a perfectly rational explanation--he plays the
lottery every week whereas I am, at best, a once-a-year player.
"Same number each week," is his motto. "You can't win," he tells
me "if you don't throw the dice."
"Do you ever think that you're just throwing good money away?" I
ask.
"Of course I do," he replies, "but I avoid that kind of
thinking. If I allow it to become a mindset, I 'd never buy a
ticket."
So what is the reason behind his luck?
Engagement. He takes the time to talk himself out of doubt and
makes the effort to turn the tide in his favor. He takes the
initiative to be engaged. And that is perhaps all luck is--the
willingness to do all you can to change your destiny.
Azriela Jaffe, author of "Create Your Own Luck" (2000),
attributes luck to toxic-free thinking. Negative beliefs prevent
you from seeing the solution to your problems, she suggests.
Opening your mind allows you to move beyond the obstacle by
finding your way around it. Toshu Fukami, a highly successful
Japanese businessman who wrote "Lucky Fortune"(1997) to explain
the whys and wherefores of his success, makes a similar
association between good fortune and positive thinking. Lucky
people, he says, are those who have a knack for "finding
something to their advantage in any given situation.' Both
writers define luck as a state of mind, an attitude that anyone
can develop.
If this is so, what can you do to attract luck into your life?
1. Stay Positive
Staying positive is more than cultivating happy thoughts; it is
knowing what gives you joy and purpose and going for it. Lucky
people are able to find out what their purpose in life is and
the meaningful activities that help create the "being" they wish
to become. They are willing to do everything they can to realize
their vision without developing a jaundiced view of themselves
and their world. Fukami observes that lucky people have a very
positive core of being; they refuse to be depressed about
failures or obstacles. Science Fiction writer Holly Lisle says
it all:"If you will not put yourself in a position to fail, you
cannot succeed."
2. Believe in an ordered and intelligent universe.
Lucky people tend to have faith in a benign and ordered
universe. They tend not to see events as random but purposeful.
Fukami claims that developing "empathy with the cosmos" by
opening yourself to the energy of the stars allows you to
participate in a sympathetic universe: "you will think of
yourself as being seen and protected by, led by and deriving
power from those very same stars." Similarly, Jaffe says that
paying attention to intuition and meaningful coincidences is
central to creating luck. Why? Intuition is wisdom deeper and
broader than the individual mind. Often the one who succeeds
pursues his dream despite social censure because he has a
"hunch" that his strategy will work.
3. Stay on the Path.
Staying on the path does not mean that you have to hang on
stubbornly to a particular strategy or perspective. In fact,
people who succeed will find a different approach when they hit
the wall. Success depends on trying paths that do not bring
results and creating other paths that do. The key is to keep
finding a way to your vision, even if it means abandoning a
course of action that does not work. Jaffe refers to luck
builders as "expert lemonade makers. They spend little time,
perhaps only minutes, being angry. Instead, they get right to
work making luck out of any change in plans--even telling
themselves that perhaps this is what God had intended all along."
4. Give through gratitude, forgiveness, kindness.
In order to receive, you must first give. An attitude that
serves the interest of others will bring the greatest returns.
This is known as the "boomerang" effect. Being grateful for what
you have, forgiving those who have either knowingly or
unknowingly offended you and giving yourself to help others are
all ways by which you open your heart and mind to receive the
blessings of the Universe.
5. Be patient.
Thomas Edison once confided to a friend the difficulties he had
working on his invention--an early version of the stock-market
ticker. He wrote: "I'll never give up, for I may have a streak
of luck before I die." This willingness to work and wait for the
lucky streak is the patience that will bear fruit. If success
depends on persistence and right timing, then patience is an
indispensable factor in luck.
I ask my friend if he considers himself lucky. This is what he
says: I've always felt lucky. Even when things don't turn out
well, I look around the corner and wait. Something good always
shows up!"