Luck, Coincidences & Synchronicity

[winston]

5 States of Mind That Improve Your Luck

Are some people really luckier than others, or is it all in their heads? Both

By Michael Shermer/ Source: Scientific American

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular disease that attacks motor neurons until muscle weakness, atrophy and paralysis lead inexorably to death. Victims of this monstrous malady could be forgiven for feeling unlucky.

How, then, can we explain the attitude of the disease's namesake, baseball great Lou Gehrig? He told a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium: "For the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." The Iron Horse then recounted his many blessings and fortunes, a list twice punctuated with "I'm lucky" and "That's something."

Clearly, luck is a state of mind. Is it more than that? To explore this question scientifically, experimental psychologist Richard Wiseman created a "luck lab" at the University of Hertfordshire in England.

Wiseman began by testing whether those who believe they are lucky are actually more likely to win the lottery. He recruited 700 subjects who had intended to purchase lottery tickets to complete his luck questionnaire, which is a self-report scale that measures whether people consider themselves to be lucky or unlucky.

Although lucky people were twice as confident as the unlucky ones that they would win the lottery, there was no difference in winnings.

Wiseman then gave subjects a standardized "life satisfaction" scale, which asks individuals to rank themselves on how satisfied they are with their family life, personal life, financial situation, health and career.

The results were striking. "Lucky people are far more satisfied with all areas of their lives than unlucky or neutral people," Wiseman reveals in his charming and insightful book, The Luck Factor (Miramax Books, 2003). Does this satisfied state of mind translate into actual life outcomes that someone might call lucky? It does. Here's how.

Lucky people expect good things to happen.

Wiseman gave subjects the "big five" personality scale, which measures "agreeableness,"
"conscientiousness," "extroversion," "neuroticism" and "openness." Although there were no differences between lucky and unlucky people on agreeableness and conscientiousness, Wiseman found significant differences for extroversion, neuroticism and openness.

Lucky people score significantly higher than unlucky people on extroversion. "There are three ways in which lucky people's extroversion significantly increases the likelihood of their having a lucky chance encounter," Wiseman explains: "meeting a large number of people, being a 'social magnet' and keeping in contact with people."

Lucky people, for example, smile twice as often and engage in more eye contact than unlucky people do, which leads to more social encounters, which generates more opportunities.

The neuroticism dimension measures how anxious or relaxed someone is, and Wiseman found that the lucky ones were half as anxious as the unlucky ones--that is, "because lucky people tend to be more relaxed than most, they are more likely to notice chance opportunities, even when they are not expecting them."

In one experiment, Wiseman had volunteers count the number of photographs in a newspaper. Lucky subjects were more likely to notice on page two the half-page ad with the message in large bold type: STOP COUNTING--THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER.

Wiseman discovered that lucky people also score significantly higher in openness than unlucky people do. "Lucky people are open to new experiences in their lives... They don't tend to be bound by convention and they like the notion of unpredictability," he notes. As such, lucky people travel more, encounter novel prospects and welcome unique opportunities.

Expectation also plays a role in luck. Lucky people expect good things to happen, and when they do they embrace them. But even in the face of adversity, lucky people turn bad breaks into good fortune.

Consider the example set by one of the longest ALS sufferers in history, Stephen W. Hawking, who writes: "I was lucky to have chosen to work in theoretical physics, because that was one of the few areas in which my condition would not be a serious handicap."

Unable to move and confined to a wheelchair, Hawking has capitalized on his fate by using it as a chance to transform our understanding of the universe, which he has. That's something.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/AsLuckWouldHaveIt.htm

[winston]

Your Energy Level Determines Your Luck

By Enoch Tan
Creator of Secrets of Mind and Reality

Many people think that luck is something that is purely random, unpredictable and difficult to control. That is because they do not know what luck really is. When you are able to know the true definition of luck, you can learn the whole science behind this phenomena and gain control over it.

Luck is another aspect of your reality and perhaps the most powerful and important one. The more conscious and aware you become of the elements of your reality, the more of a conscious and powerful creator you will be.

Your luck is your psychokinetic resonance with the environment you are in. Like everything else, luck is an energy. It is something that is quantifiable not in physical but in nonphysical ways. You can quantify it physically only in terms of its physical manifestations in your life. Luck is dependent on time, place and consciousness.

When you are lucky, you are in mental and emotional resonance with your surroundings.

When you are unlucky, it is the opposite. The level of resonance is the level of your luck.

Luck is also a feeling or emotion because emotion is energy in motion. When you are lucky, you are also feeling lucky. Your feeling is your vibration and therefore you are vibrating luck and feeling it. You feel and experience that everything is working for you when you are lucky.

You feel that everything is working against you when you aren't lucky. A state of vibrational harmony or disharmony with your environment is the whole explanation for this. You either feel that things are in a flow or things are disrupted.

Your energy level determines your luck vibration. At times when you are feeling low of energy, that is also when your luck vibration is at a low point. You are more likely to make careless mistakes, become more accident prone and flop up in some way.

When you are feeling high of energy, that is also when your luck vibration is in a high state. You are sharper, clearer and more in the zone. You seem to be able to do amazing things in ways that baffle others to the point that makes you seem very skillful or lucky.

Actually luck and skill are one. The more in energetic resonance you are with your environment, the more your skill will work and the luckier you'll seem. You can always observe that when the best are in action, they always seem to have both their skill and the situation working for them.

You can never separate luck from skill because after all, they are both part of the same thing called psychokinetic resonance with the environment. Your skill is your capability of handling the situation which depends on luck.

Once you know that luck is an energy, you can depend on it in that manner. You cannot depend on luck that is considered to be random chance occurrence. You can't depend on such things because they do not exist.

A non existent thing cannot be depended upon. Everything that exists is a part of consciousness and can be controlled by consciousness. Therefore luck exist and is fully under your control. Knowing this, you never have to fear of bad luck because you can make all things work in your favor.

Since luck is dependent on energy, you have to pay attention to your level of energy in every moment and take charge of it. When you notice that your energy level is low, be more careful with the things you do especially if they are important. You may make mistakes that usually never happen, and wonder how could you be so unlucky or stupid.

You may realize that every time you have made careless or stupid mistakes that seem to be like bad luck, it was when your energy level was indeed at a low point.

Lack of focus and lack of being adequately present minded also creates bad luck. Do you notice that when you make stupid mistakes in situations, you felt that you were not ready? What do you mean by not being ready? You mean that you weren't focusing properly or fully enough, and you weren't being adequately present minded. The first step to controlling luck is to be present minded. If you want to be lucky, you must put your focus in the activity you are doing. Or else you'd create bad luck and mistakes.

Your level of focus and placing your mind in the present determines your psychokinetic resonance with the environment. Focusing is how you channel energy towards a particular time and place. When your focus is here, your energy is channeled here and you experience luck here.

Where you focus is where you generate luck in. That is why the secret of success is focus. Successful people are lucky people because they have more focus than the unsuccessful and unlucky ones. Focus to be a lucky one.

Seek to maintain a high level of energy or vibration at all times. People who experience their luck going up and down throughout the day allow their energy to go up and down. People who experience their luck being consistently high all the time maintain their energy and vibration at a high level.

At times when your energy is low, seek to increase it to a higher level again. Do not continue doing any work at a low level of energy because you will tend to make mistakes. Recharge your energy first, then work.

Be aware of negative thoughts and feelings that will bring your level of energy or vibration lower. Positive thoughts and feelings bring your energy level and vibrations higher. Therefore choose to think positive thoughts and feel positive emotions, and you will experience more luck and success in your life.

You can also increase your luck when you are more intent of succeeding in a certain situation. Your energy of intent will energize you with the luck you need, and that is why willful intent bends the world to you.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/LuckEnergy.htm

[winston]

Lucky Charms Work, Claim Psychologists By Daniel Bates / Source: Daily Mail

They are taken to exams, job interviews and weddings in the hope they will bring good fortune.

But rather than being mere superstition, lucky charms do actually work, psychologists claim.

Researchers told half the golfers on a putting green that they were playing with a lucky ball, and the rest that they were playing with a normal one.

The research found that golfers given a 'lucky ball' managed to sink 35 per cent more putts than those who were playing with an ordinary ball.

Those with the lucky ball sank 6.4 putts out of 10, nearly two more putts on average than the others - an increase of of 35 per cent.

The results have sparked huge interest among behavioural psychologists who say they put luck in a different light.

The research from the University of Cologne was on just 28 students but the results are being considered significant. But the figures will also be an encouragement for the millions who cling to a lucky shirt or ring on special occasions to bring them fortune.

And even celebrities have often admitted relying on a lucky charm.

Cameron Diaz has a necklace given to her by a friend because she thinks it will ward off the effects of aging, while Julie Walters kept a lucky piece of coal in her bag during one Oscars ceremony.

Perhaps the most bizarre tradition among celebrities is that Atonement star James McAvoy says 'white rabbit' on the first of every month to the first person he sees - because his grandmother taught him that it brings good luck.

Cameron Diaz and Julie Walters are among the celebrities who rely on lucky charms
In recent years office desks have seen a proliferation of teddy bears and trinkets intended to bring good luck.

Also, quiz shows such as Deal Or No Deal and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire where treasured items are brought on in the hope they will give contestants the edge in the quest to win a fortune.

Lysann Damisch, co-author of the study, set to be published in the journal Psychological Science in June, said: 'Our results suggest that the activation of a superstition can indeed yield performance-improving effects.'

Stuart Vyse, professor of psychology at Connecticut College, added: 'Simply being told this is a lucky ball is sufficient to affect performance.'

Mathematicians have demonstrated in the past the role that randomness plays in people's lives, but this has not stopped many believing the opposite.

A recent survey found that 77 per cent of people were at least a little superstitious and/or engaged in some form of superstitious behaviour.

A total of 42 per cent said that they were 'very or somewhat' superstitious.

Peter Thall, a biostatistician at the University of Texas, said: 'The idea that wearing a red shirt, saying some sort of incantation or prayer or carrying a lucky charm will bring good luck is very appealing because it gives people the illusion that they have some degree of control over future events in their lives.'

'The painful truth is that we have little or no control over the most important events in our lives.'

Sometimes, however, people overestimate how much control they have over their lives.

A team of British researchers in 2003 asked 107 traders at investment banks to play a game simulating a live stock exchange.

They were told that pressing the letters Z, X and C on the keyboard 'may have some effect on the index,' when in fact it didn't.

Traders in the study who held this false belief the strongest had lower salaries, indicating the idea they made their own luck could be harming their decisions.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/LuckyCharmsWork.htm

[iam802]

Where is our 'Ang Teh Kor' ?

[Cheng]

Luck! It's all in the mind!

I feel lucky everyday.

[winston]

Being Lucky Is A Skill You Can Learn

Those who think they're unlucky should change their outlook and discover how to generate good fortune, says Richard Wiseman

By Richard Wiseman / Source: The Telegraph

A decade ago, I set out to investigate luck. I wanted to examine the impact on people's lives of chance opportunities, lucky breaks and being in the right place at the right time. After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.

Relax and Open Yourself to Luck

Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be flashed at the edges of the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots.

The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large financial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw.

And so it is with luck - unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and as a result miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles:-
1) They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities,
2) make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition,
3) create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and
4) adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered whether these four principles could be used to increase the amount of good luck that people encounter in their lives. To find out, I created a "luck school" - a simple experiment that examined whether people's luck can be enhanced by getting them to think and behave like a lucky person.

I asked a group of lucky and unlucky volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. While lucky people became luckier, the unlucky had become lucky. Take Carolyn, whom I introduced at the start of this article. After graduating from "luck school", she has passed her driving test after three years of trying, was no longer accident-prone and became more confident.

3 Ways to Become a Luckier Person

In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:

Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell - a reason to consider a decision carefully.

Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.


Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/BeLucky.htm

[winston]

but I can tell you in life success sometime 50% depend on LUCK., of cos the rest is hard work and smart.

Yes, I have thought about Luck in the success of people.

Are they more "Positive" and therefore, able to attract more opportunities ?

Are they "Smarter" and therefore, able to see opportunities before others ?

Anyway, I still remember someone saying that "Luck is Prepareness meeting Opportunity" ...

[millionairemind]

but I can tell you in life success sometime 50% depend on LUCK., of cos the rest is hard work and smart.

Yes, I have thought about Luck in the success of people.

Are they more "Positive" and therefore, able to attract more opportunities ?

Are they "Smarter" and therefore, able to see opportunities before others ?

Anyway, I still remember someone saying that "Luck is Prepareness meeting Opportunity" ...

I think luck plays more than 70% and the other 30% is just pure hardwork.

If one is a talented employee, but if your boss is insecure, you will go no where fast.... but if you meet a boss who can lift you up... then you can really fly.

Investment is also pretty much the same. You can buy 5 well researched stocks, but none of them fly in an uptrend.. whereas your friend who uses "tikam" method makes 50% return....

I rather be lucky than good. ... of course being both lucky and good is even better.

[winston]

How Does This Woman Win Every Contest She Enters?
By Marjam Vaher / Source: The Winning Sage

Helene Hadsell doesn’t believe in luck, chance or accidents. What is it about this very normal woman from Alvarado, Texas that bridges the gap between the power of manifestation and everyday reality?

Helene’s uncanny ability to win anything she desires has been covered by newspapers and magazines, and today we’re going to share some of these astonishing stories with you.

At 83-years-old, all Helene wants is to share her knowledge with the world and support you in achieving all that you desire. She wants you to believe.

A family of winners

Helene Hadsell’s family doesn’t pay for vacations, cars, furniture, bicycles or even houses. They just win them. What is the secret behind all this winning? It started with a book that Helene read 50 years ago.

Back in 1958 Helene was a 33-year-old housewife with three bright children and an engineer husband. They lived in a modest home in Grand Prairie, Texas. They existed comfortably, but not much was leftover for luxuries or extras. Sound familiar?

One day Helene started reading the book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. She got one simple message from this book: you can have anything you want, provided you know what you want! This straightforward idea changed her life.

Helene’s son Chris wins a family trip to Disneyland

Helene wasn’t the only one interested in contesting - her whole family got involved by participating in most of the contests. They worked as a team and each of them contributed their positive energy, creative ideas and active visioning. Her three children learned very quickly how to manifest and win whatever they wanted. They were soon on their way to achieving their own dreams.

For Helene, manifesting isn’t something ‘magical’ - it’s a skill that anyone can learn, something you practice and become better and better at. And there is NO failure, there is only a delay in results.

Helene’s son Chris was so excited about the fact that he could manifest his desires that he started to enter contests for teenagers or students. Here is Chris with his family after winning a family trip to Disneyland.

Winning the house of her dreams

Over the years, Helene has won so many prizes in contests, from refrigerators to trips to Europe. But one of the most incredible wins, according to Helene, was the brand new dream home she won at the World’s Fair. She was randomly picked from 2 million entries.

Helene’s story is amazing. Actually, it’s pretty darn unbelievable. BUT IT’S TRUE. The Law of Attraction is on everyone’s lips these days. Does it work? Is it real? Well, I think Helene’s story proves there is definitely something to it.

She’s even come up with her own four-step ‘winning’ formula called SPEC:
1) Select It;
2) Project It;
3) Expect It; and
4) Collect It.


http://www.mindpowernews.com/WinningSage.htm

[winston]

Superstitions Bring Good Luck, Study Finds
By Amber Angelle / Source: Life's Little Mysteries

The next time you cross your fingers or tell someone to break a leg, you may actually be bringing some luck.

Superstitious ways of bringing good luck are found in cultures around the world, and it turns out they may be ubiquitous for a very good reason: To some extent, superstitions work.

New research shows that believing in, say, the power of a good luck charm can actually help improve performance in certain situations, even though the charm and event aren't logically linked.

This is what a team of psychologists at the University of Cologne in Germany report in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science. In a series of experiments employing tasks involving memory and motor skills, the scientists studied the effect of behavior and "object superstitions" -- which rely on good luck charms -- in college students.

Cross your fingers

The first experiment looked at the influence of the concept of good luck in a test of putting a golf ball. Experimenters handed participants a ball, and those who were told the ball was lucky tended to outperform those who weren't.

In another experiment, participants were given a cube containing tiny balls and a slab with holes. The goal was to get as many balls in the holes as quickly as possible. Again, participants who were told, "I'll cross my fingers for you," by the experimenter performed better.

The final two experiments involved a lucky charm brought by each participant. In a memory test and an anagram test, the participants who were permitted to keep their lucky charms with them performed better.

Boosted confidence

To find out if superstitious beliefs were truly giving students an edge, the scientists surveyed them before the final two experiments to gauge their confidence levels. The participants who kept their good luck charms set higher goals for what they wanted to achieve on the tasks, and said they felt more confident in their abilities.

"Engaging in superstitious thoughts and behaviors may be one way to reach one's top level of performance," the researchers write in the journal article.

People often become superstitious when faced with unknown and stressful situations, possibly explaining why athletes and students are often superstitious, the researchers say. Engaging in a superstition could reduce tension related to a high-stakes competition or an exam.

As the study showed, superstitious beliefs may also increase a person's belief in his or her own abilities and talents.

"Superstitious behavior won't help you win the lottery," said Barbara Stoberock, a psychologist and co-author of the study. "But it could help you win a sporting event or pass a test," she told Life's Little Mysteries.

And what may seem like a "lucky break" when the underdog team wins may really be the result of team-wide, superstition-induced confidence.

The researchers plan to next look at the effects of negative superstitions, such as believing that crossing the path of a black cat will bring bad luck.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/Superstitions.htm