Are you lucky? Do your friends tell you how fortunate you are?
A friend once told me I was so lucky that if I fell off a cliff, I’d land in a passing convertible and continue on my way.
I’ve always felt lucky because so many providential events have occurred. But when I asked others around me if they felt the same way, I got quite a few nos. Only then did I realize my perspective wasn’t shared.
Yet I cannot feel anything but extremely blessed when so many serendipitous events have occurred throughout my life.
Not One Big Happy Event after the Other
I could easily adopt the opposite outlook since I’ve had my share of heartbreaks, disappointments, losses, and life-threatening health problems. Given my misfortunes, I might view the world as dark, depressing, and dangerous. Anyone who has read my fictional autobiographical series, starting with Blackbird, knows I’ve faced challenging situations.
Ironically enough, the dark clouds of difficulty trained me to look for the daily moments that lifted my spirits—for the bright spots, for the rainbows.
Here are three examples of my good luck from dozens I could share. The examples aren’t momentous or earth-shaking. For the most part, they are garden-variety examples of good fortune.
Unexplained Gifts
One evening, after a hard day’s work and a long commute, I took my two boys out for Mexican food. Our favorite restaurant was 20 minutes from our house, but it was worth the drive because the enchiladas were so good. Once we got to the restaurant, I realized I had forgotten my purse.
The thought of disappointing my kids and driving back for money was discouraging. My eleven-year-old son opened the car door and spotted several money bills in a grassy spot near the car.
Between the bills he found and the spare change we dug up in the car, we had enough money for a modest meal. No enchiladas ever tasted better than the ones we had that night.
Getting Car Floor Mats
Another time, I had gone with my two sons to a nearby hardware store to buy floor mats to cover the rusting floor of my “seen-better-days” VW Squareback. A package of four mats cost twenty dollars, and I needed only two mats. As a struggling single parent, I couldn’t afford to waste ten dollars on the two I didn’t need, so I left the store without buying anything.
Once in the car, deflated and defeated, I resisted the impulse to cry over my inability to provide for the safety of my sons and instead headed home.
About a half mile from our house, I came to a four-way stop sign. In the middle of the road were two floor mats. They were blue, the color of my car. I parked my car on the side of the road and got out to see if I was imagining the floor mats. Surprise! They were brand new.
I looked around to see if anyone was going to claim them. No cars were in sight. I picked up the mats and put them on the backseat floor so my children’s feet would be protected from the rust. Problem solved.
Years later, my sons reminded me that I could always do the “car mat trick” whenever I was worried about money. But of course, I didn’t do the trick; the universe played the trick on me.
Checks from Unrecognized Government Agencies
Here’s my last example. Still a single parent with two young children, I received a huge tax bill in the mail, and I had no idea how I came to owe that much or how I would pay for it. Frantically searching for solutions, I wondered if my bank would lend me the money.
While trying to figure out what to do, I received two checks in the mail from two obscure government agencies I had never heard of. The total was nearly the same amount as the tax bill. I cashed the checks and used the money to pay the taxes.
I figured the government might one day come to collect the funds from me but hoped I’d have the money to pay them by then. Oddly enough, I never heard anything more. To this day, I still don’t know anything about the agencies that sent me the checks or what the money was for.
Can We Increase Our Good Luck?
From these and dozens of other experiences over my lifetime, I assumed that having good luck was everyone’s legacy. But now, I’m not so naïve. At the same time, I wonder if there are ways to increase our good luck. If there are, I think they would involve our mindset, actions, and energy.
- Mindset: Every morning, I write across the top of my daily journal the following words: “I am a lucky person.” In doing so, I’m establishing my mindset for the day.
- Actions: I pay attention and thank whoever engineers a good luck event or serendipitous moment when it appears. For example, as I left my home yesterday, I ran into a neighbor I’d wanted to talk to for several weeks. He was sitting alone, quietly enjoying the sun and warm breeze, and was as delighted to run into me by chance as I was to chat with him. When I continued on my way, I took a few seconds to give thanks for the happenstance meeting.
Paying attention to gifts and giving thanks, even for the smallest ones, invites more. I know that when I give a gift to someone that goes unacknowledged, I am disinclined to give another to that person. And if I give them a second and third unacknowledged gift, I stop giving gifts. The universe may work the same way. - Energy: Our mental state—our emotions and feelings—influence everyone around us. Elaine Hatfield, a social psychologist, named this phenomenon “emotional contagion.” It is “the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally.”
Even our heart rates can synchronize. According to researchers, strangers’ heartbeats can synch up when the people are absorbed in the same story or when strangers trust one another.
If I feel lucky, can the people around me pick up on and synchronize with my feelings, making us all feel better? And won’t this positive state give us the best chance of triggering good luck and serendipitous events?
Take These Ideas with a Grain of Salt
I hope you take my ideas on increasing your luck with a grain of salt. Or perhaps you’ll toss some salt over your left shoulder. Some believe that will keep misfortune away.
I am not a psychologist, spiritual leader, or famous person who’s led an exemplary life. My comments are those of someone who’s experienced the highs and lows of human existence yet notices an ongoing pattern of good luck.
Is Good Luck Providence, Karma, Superstition, or Synchronicity?
If an authority on the subject would reassure you, let me quote Nicolas Chamfort, an 18th-century French writer and conversationalist. He comments on luck, “Providence was the baptismal name of Chance; some pious person will say Chance is a nickname of Providence.”
Some Christians today would no doubt say that good luck is simply miracles performed by God, who prefers to remain anonymous. Or that luck does not exist; it is simply God’s will that events occur as they do.
Buddhists and Hindus might believe karma results from one’s good or bad behavior. A Jewish person might consider a belief in good luck to be nothing more than superstition.
Carl Jung, the Swiss founder of analytical psychology, introduced a term for the kind of luck that happens when external world events are linked to meaningful coincidences. He called it synchronicity.
An example is finding floor mats on the road on my way home when I badly needed them. Because Jung’s theory can’t be proven scientifically, it remains only a possible explanation for events that we cannot otherwise explain.
Whatever you conclude on this topic, I wish you good luck. Or, as they say where I live now in France, “Bonne chance.”
All photos courtesy of Canva