What is inspiration? What is luck? How and why do some people have good luck?  

It is well known that many so-called ‘lucky people’ carry lucky charms or a talisman like a lucky horseshoe, clover, ladybird or Indalo.  Millions of people (possibly billions) believe in luck. The British Museum has a complete collection of lucky charms dating back centuries. Some of the most powerful people in the world believe in good luck charms: President Roosevelt carried a rabbit’s foot in his jacket. Napoleon carried a lucky coin; and during the election campaign, Barack Obama carried an array of good luck charms in his pocket.  Why?

What exactly is good luck? And how can we get it?   

Although there is no exact definition, many people believe that luck is best explained as the faith that people have in it . . they expect good luck.

A study by two British Universities (Edinburgh and the University of Hertfordshire)  confirms this. It shows that many people who, for example, carry good luck charms not only FEEL that their luck is better because of it – but also that, in reality, they have a ‘luckier’ life . . with their good fortune improving on a daily basis and with every particular task and event. For people with a religious background, this belief can be due to their belief in an element of providence – a manifestation of God’s care and guardianship, or of a deity’s divine intervention. For others, it can simply be a question of inspiration and motivation – the power of faith.

One thing that Good Luck is NOT, is fate – which is purely a chance happening of a fortunate event. Indeed, pure chance (not good luck per se), is an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another . . like serendipity – the ability of making fortunate discoveries by accident. Nor is Good Luck destiny – which is the so-called inevitable fate to which a particular person is destined.

In truth, luck is BELIEVING – whether it is in a recognised symbol of good luck (like a 4-leafed clover or a horseshoe, for example); a ‘totem’ with supposed magical powers (like the lucky Indalo), or in a  ‘religious symbol (like the Christian Fish or Cross). This has been proved by recent research at the University of Cologne, in Germany. Good luck comes about from a belief (or faith) in a good outcome of an event that is so strong that it leads to a subsequent improvement in performance. (Hence the close tie between good luck and religious faith / providence – and so-called Gifts of Faith.)         

Improve your life – with luck

Here, as published in the UK’s Daily Mail in December 2014, Paul McKenna talks about Luck and Mindfulness: Most people don’t spend their lives fully in the here and now. Instead, they spend their lives obsessing about the past or worrying about the future. The present is like a thin band of time to them, almost incidental to the quality of their lives. And this is a tragic waste.

The truth is that the more attention you can pay to your life in the present, the richer it becomes. Indeed it really is possible to learn how to get luckier, how to optimise your sense of self, how to get more in touch with your deepest values or and how to visualise your perfect day again and again in your mind until it becomes a reality. Living more in the moment doesn’t take away your memories of the past or your ability to create a positive future or it just means that you will get more out of yourself and your life on a daily basis.

So, as published in the Daily Mail 29/12/2014, Paul discusses how to use powerful strategies for getting the most out of each and every day of your life. Paul demonstrates how to get luckier, how to optimise your sense of self, how to get more in touch with your deepest values or and how to visualise your perfect day again and again in your mind until it becomes a reality.

What is it that allows some people to survive devastating conditions or say, in wartime or in life-or-death battles with the elements or while others are defeated before the first shot is even fired? It’s an attitude of mind. ‘Attitude’ literally means ‘angle of approach’ or and when it comes to human potential, it consistently marks the difference between a top performer in any field and an also-ran. Fortunately, it’s something that can be learned, practised and ultimately developed within ourselves.

Paul McKenna says ‘Living more in the moment doesn’t take away your memories of the past or your ability to create a positive future or it just means that you will get more out of yourself and your life on a daily basis’

In my hypnosis seminars, I often do an exercise called Deep Trance Identification. Because it involves identifying with someone you’d like to learn from, you need to be familiar with your hero’s life and work. Then I relax you into a trance, and instruct your unconscious mind to ‘become’ your hero or a bit like a method actor fully immersing himself into a character. And this is what happens: First, you begin to move your body in the way your hero moves and to speak in the same way. Suddenly, there’s another shift: you begin to exhibit the same amazing quality of thought and energy as your role model. At this point, it’s usually far more than a simple impersonation. You will actually become more confident, optimistic, creative or intelligent. I’ve learned over the years that you don’t need to go into a deep trance in order to get the benefits of this exercise.

So . . How can you get lucky!

Professor Richard Wiseman (see more below), has been researching luck for more than a decade. Over this period, he’s collected significant evidence which shows that lucky people really do meet their perfect partners, achieve their lifelong ambitions, find fulfilling careers and live happy and meaningful lives. Their success is not due to them working especially hard, being amazingly talented or exceptionally intelligent. Instead, they simply appear to have an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time. Indeed, Professor Wiseman’s research reveals that people are not born lucky. Instead, lucky people are or often without even realising it or guided by their belief in themselves as lucky to think and behave in ways that create good fortune in their lives. Often, they’ve been told that they’re lucky from an early age. Or they’ve experienced several positive events over a short period that have left them feeling lucky or blessed. Whatever the cause, their belief in their own luck encourages them to be open to new experiences, to seek opportunities and to rise to challenges.

So-called ‘Lucky’ people trust their intuition and gut feelings. They also look forward to the future because they assume it will be filled with good fortune or and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there’s more to it than that. Since ‘lucky’ people are optimistic about how things will turn out, they tend to be positive in their interactions with others or and therefore foster the very conditions that make a positive outcome more likely. The people who believe they are lucky have greater success because the ‘lucky’ filter in their minds alerts them to seize the opportunity in front of them. And when they hit a bad patch? Well, because they always expect things to turn out well in the end, they’re able to ride things out until the tide turns in their favour. Which, of course, makes them remarkably resilient.

In one particularly interesting experiment, Professor Wiseman asked volunteers to flip through a newspaper and count the number of photographs inside it. He didn’t tell them that, after about three pages, there was a half-page advert that said: ‘Stop counting or there are 43 photographs in this newspaper.’ In case they missed it, a few pages on there was another advert that said: ‘Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you’ve seen this and win £150!’ For the most part, people who’d identified themselves as unlucky missed both of these adverts. The lucky people laughed and said: ‘There are 43 photos. That’s what it says. Do you want me to bother counting?’ When told to carry on, they’d flip through some more pages and say: ‘Do I get my £150?’

In other words, the people who believed they were lucky had greater success because the ‘lucky’ filter in their minds alerted them to seize the opportunity in front of them.

Why lucky charms?    

Good Luck is certainly considered fortunate and lots of people carry some sort of lucky charm (or object of religious faith or inspiration) to help their life go a little bit better. Once someone recognises the positive energy of a lucky object, they allow that object to realise it’s potential to do good . . it INSPIRES them. So, to attract Good Luck, people equip themselves with so-called ‘Lucky Charms’. Indeed, at some point in their lives, most people have possessed a good luck charm, amulet or talisman. This is particularly true amongst sports people, politicians and actors.

Michael Jordan, the famous Chicago Bulls basketball star, spent his entire NBA career wearing his old University of North Carolina shorts under his team shorts – for good luck.

Many people genuinely believe that if they carry a good luck charm, it will bring them good fortune and prosperity, and that it will make their day go just that little bit better than normal. And now, with the latest study by the University of Cologne (see Dail Mail article), this has been proved to be true. It is BELIEF (in good luck charm – or a symbol of faith like a Christian fish or cross) that makes people have more luck.  Lucky ‘charms’ are often thought to have ‘magical’ powers: And there is nothing wrong with that. People have put their faith is inexplicable symbols, beliefs and religions since time began. In Japan, especially during the spring exam time, people go to shrines and temples – but not to pray. They write their wishes on a wooden tablet called an ’ema’ that has a picture of a horse on the back, and then hang the tablet in the temple. Long ago, people believed that the Gods rode horses, and so an ema was a way of asking the Gods to come and help them. And, just like many other people throughout the world today, they really believe that it works. Children in school put lucky charms on their desks, attach them to cell phones, and so on. The point is – they BELIEVE it will work.      

Luck is not just chance  

In 2004, Professor Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire in the UK, author of the research article “Why lucky charms matter” referenced above), asked: “Is there a distinction between chance and luck?” “Yes,” he said, “there’s a big distinction. Chance events are like winning the lottery. They’re events over which we have no control, other than buying a ticket.” Report on the BBC   

Luck, on the other hand, comes about by believing. In other words, luck is having faith. Tennessee Williams wrote: “Luck is believing you are lucky” And many people think that there is power in a thought made concrete by a lucky charm – being a constant reminder of purpose and desire – and an inspiration to succeed.

So, expect good fortune and you just might get it. Which is why, gifting a ‘good luck’ gift is giving a present that has real meaning and, in all liklihood, real effect. Henry Ford summed it up another way:

“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right!”

Perhaps this is why, over the centuries, belief and faith have become entangled in so-called superstition – something to which many people feel inwardly obliged to adhere. This is typically manifested by, for example, the tradition of touching wood (or ‘knocking on wood’) which dates back thousands of years, or crossing one’s fingers. Even these days, there are few people who will openly tempt their superstitions. This is because it would go against their inwardly-held beliefs . . one sure way to attract BAD luck. In fact, so many people avoid the number 13 that it is often absent from the floor of a hotel or the seat number on a plane. 

How can you change your luck?

Paul McKenna says: The technique I’m going to takes you through now is one of my all-time favourites. I’ve used it myself to change my own luck for the better, and I’ve tested it on hundreds of people with astounding results.

An actor I worked with did the exercise every day for a week and landed a hit TV show before a month had passed. A man who’d been continually unlucky in love surprised himself or and everyone who knew him or by meeting the girl of his dreams and getting married. An executive finally got a well-deserved promotion after years of being passed over for her less talented colleagues. And a bankrupted entrepreneur who also did the exercise suddenly began spotting new opportunities and ended up with a new business worth over seven figures.

In this simple visualisation technique, I’ll guide you as you reset your perceptions and re-code how you think and feel about your relationship with luck and life. Many people start to notice amazing changes in how they feel almost immediately, and their ability to spot opportunities greatly increases. Stranger still, more opportunities curiously begin to find them. So, here is Paul’s recommendation to become lucky for life:

Remember a time (or times) when you felt that ‘everything was going your way’ or you just felt lucky. Bring it vividly to mind. See what you saw, hear what you heard, and feel how good you felt . . . as though you’re back there again now.

1: Now, make the images in your mind bigger; the colours brighter, bolder, richer; the sounds louder; and the feelings stronger. Keep going through the memories again and again until you feel really, really good.

2: Notice where you feel the good feeling strongest in your body. Is it in your chest maybe, or your stomach? Imagine that the really good feeling has a colour or then spread that colour up to the top of your head and down to the tip of your toes. Take the time to do this now . . .

3: Next, double the brightness and intensity of the colour, and double the intensity of the feeling. Double it again and again or until you feel it in every fibre of your being.

4: Take the colour and the feeling to their absolute maximum. Tell yourself over and over again (not out loud): ‘I am sooo lucky!’ or until you’re bubbling over with positive energy. Then amplify this beyond 100 per cent and feel a whole new level of the power of luck.

5: While that amazing feeling is still radiating at a strong level, imagine spreading it to every area of your life. You are lucky in your health . . . your career . . . your relationships. Imagine that lucky energy overflowing into your finances and even your spiritual life.

6: Finally, send that lucky energy into every corner of humanity. Imagine the whole world becoming luckier.

So, how can we help at good-luck-gifts.com?

Almost every day, millions of us wish each other “Good Luck” for many different occasions and for all the important events of our lives. Whenever someone goes for an important appointment, we wish them the ‘best of luck’. Indeed, many believe that having good luck on their side is almost as important as trying hard. Everyone wishes to have a happy and successful life and, for that reason, a good luck wish or gift, or an inspirational gift from a friend or colleague is always appreciated. In many cases, it also has a distinctly positive result (it really WORKS!)

Here at good-luck-gifts.com, we have designed and sourced lucky and inspirational gifts that are SPECIFICALLY intended to pass on this Good Luck belief . . It helps your friends and loved-ones avoid bad luck by giving them faith and belief.

“Luck affects everything,” wrote Ovid. And, for many people, the manifestation of Good Luck is prosperity and success.

So hopefully, we can help your friends succeed and prosper with one of our little gifts of good luck or inspiration.      

*  How to say Good Luck in other languages 

*  Lucky Amulets & Talismans according to Wikipedia     

*  Charm bracelets as lucky amulets and talismans