TO CHANGE YOUR LUCK

Leafy green plants aligned at the roadside, pleasing to the eye and also hinders anyone from stepping onto the grass.

A band of young car thieves thought they'd found the perfect plan. They set to work stealing cars in a mall parking lot on one of the busiest days of the year. Unfortunately, their first choice was their worst choice. They spotted a nice-looking van and began picking the locks. In no time at all the door opened, and inside they found … police officers, who were using the vehicle as an undercover surveillance van!

One might say that they ran into some bad luck. (Or maybe stealing cars was a bad decision to begin with and luck had nothing to do with it.)

Many people DO try to manage their luck, however. So they believe in rituals and talismans to aid in their success. According to Jeanne Ralston ("What's Luck Go To Do With It?" Ladies Home Journal, Jan., 1999), athletes, as a group, are often superstitious. Home-run king Hank Aaron wore the same shower shoes for twenty years because he thought they brought him luck, and basketball great Michael Jordan felt more confident with his University of North Carolina basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform.

Some of us go for four leaf clovers, a superstition from the Druids of medieval Europe who believed that the plant imparted to those who found them special powers to see invisible witches and evil spirits. Others may carry a rabbit's foot. It was because of the great
bunny-making capabilities of rabbits that ancient Celts believed they should be associated with luck and prosperity. Still other people speak of knocking on wood, a custom that seems to have grown from a belief that the noise may prevent evil spirits from hearing you mention your good luck.

I understand that basketball player George Underwood once said this about luck: "I have just two superstitions. One, don't call someone a bad name if they have a loaded pistol. Two, don't call your girl friend Tina if her name is Vivian."

Robert Collier instructs that all of us have bad luck and good luck. But the one who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the one who is there when the good luck comes. This person, says Collier, is the one who is ready to receive that opportunity when it is presented.

In other words, luck really does favor the prepared. And those who persist and work hard. "The more I practice," said golf pro Arnold Palmer, "the luckier I seem to get."

To change your luck, change your attitude from pessimism to optimism. Something good really IS around the corner. Then work hard and be ready. When that next opportunity comes, you'll be the one to seize it a MAKE something happen. It can be your next lucky break!


From Lifesupport.