How To Improve Your Luck - Lesson 9

Why do people believe that knocking on wood will bring good luck or that breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck? Beliefs attached to good and bad luck go back to ancient times. People believed that gods and goddesses lived in nature and brought about the seasons. Keeping in touch with them was one way of keeping things on a steady course.

Experts point out that the people we call lucky believe in their own luck. They have a mindset that makes them feel in charge of their destiny. They move through life with a lucky attitude. And part of this self confidence can come from attaching yourself to a lucky charm or ritual. Ask any athlete! Good luck charms and rituals help athletes prepare for a game by giving them a sense of security and control over things they really have no control over such as weather, injury or bad breaks.

Actors are also known to be insecure and superstitious. They have to worry about forgetting their lines or that someone taller, skinnier, and younger will replace them. With all these worries and insecurities, they cling to their own superstitions to protect themselves from bad luck so they can focus their entire attention on their best performance.

Do any of these rituals or "magic charms" add to our luck? Experts say they do, although not in the way you might expect. All these little external manipulations enable you to fix on what's most important and to stay in the moment. Everybody can use rituals to eliminate distractions. If you have a demanding day ahead - a test to pass, a job interview, something that calls for your concentration and good luck - you'll want to focus on the task and not the worry.

The specific form of ritual does not matter as much as the purpose behind it. You can create rituals that no one will ever notice. For instance, when you get in the car in the morning, you can tap the steering wheel and say "I am centered and focused and calm and ready for a wonderful day." If you have a test or a meeting or something that requires your best effort, choose the clothes you want to wear and lay them out the night before - just as an aikido black belt champion does. Imagine what tomorrow will bring and visualize yourself attracting good luck.

Your little ritual or lucky charm situates you within yourself and makes you aware of your composure, discipline and alertness. It focuses you on what you want life to bring to you and allows all channels of good fortune to be open to you. But remember - you are the ultimate gate keeper who allows or blocks off the flow of all good things in your life.

Happy New Year to Everyone!