Think Happy!

I’ve got a couple of posts in the pipe-line on teeth-grinding (or “bruxism”, to use the medical term), but in the meantime…

Who couldn’t use a little bit more good luck?

Richard Wiseman, professor at University of Hertfordshire has made a study of lucky people. Why are some people lucky and others not? Can you learn to be lucky? These are questions that drive his research and they are the focus of his first book The Luck Factor.

In his research, Wiseman interviewed thousands of people and even ran a project called Luck School, where students could learn to be luckier. The results of this work reveal that people are not born lucky. Instead, lucky people use basic principles to create good fortune.

Mary Jaksch goes on to discuss 7 Strategies for Good Luck, taking five from Wiseman’s research and adding two of her own:

1. Notice the unexpected
2. Listen to your intuition
3. Expect Good Fortune
4. Introduce variety into your life.
5. Turn bad luck into good
6. Meet good fortune half way
7. Align goals with your aspiration

I have to admit that when I came across the title of the post, 7 Strategies for Good Luck, I was more than a little dubious. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the good advice and everyday wisdom that it contains, like this:

• Listen to your intuition

Our gut instincts are often bang-on. Maybe they are a form of innate wisdom. I emigrated from Europe to New Zealand on a hunch. People asked me why I wanted to drag my husband and toddler to the other side of the world and leave a great career as a professional musician and university lecturer. I couldn’t readily answer, because there wasn’t much to support such a decision rationally. Now, 25 years later, I recognise that it was the best thing I could have done. My hunch paid of against all odds.

Wiseman says that lucky people tend to make decisions following their intuition. He suggests sleeping on decisions because we sometimes work out problems in our dreams.

and this:

• Introduce variety into your life.

If we do the same each day and meet the same people, nothing much will change. Wiseman’s suggestion is to change your routines. Go to work by another route, and take up new activities. A beautiful friend of mine who was single for a long time took this advice. She took up pottery, went to new discussion groups, and made a conscious effort to meet new people. Three months afterwards she fell in love with a lovely man and moved in with him.

There are other examples and tips that can be applied to a number of difference scenarios.

Go and see for yourself.