I didn’t think I was, until I met a remarkable woman. We’ll call her “H”.
When I met H she was 86 years old. Not only did she have a magnetic charisma, she was full of life and energy. I can’t say I’ve met many people over the age of 50 who are brimming with vigor. I have enjoyed delving into the philosophies of life with people older than myself since childhood. I’m both curious and fascinated by the knowledge and beliefs of others. The wisdom I find in those who have lived decades longer than me, often leaves me speechless in contemplation. I ask many questions to quench my thirst to learn and understand. With the inspiring energy that H had, I just needed to understand why she’s so different.
H grew up with an interesting and impressive mother. Her mom had a passion for life that seemed insatiable. When H would arrive home after a date, her mom would be waiting in her bedroom to make sure she could hear all the details before the night escaped them. She not only enjoyed listening to the specifics of her daughter’s escapades, but she also loved imparting her wisdom of life. One of the many lessons that H learned from her mom was to appreciate all she was, and all that she had.
H told me that she developed an interesting habit that she has continued for 30+ years. As soon as she wakes up, she walks out to her living room, looks out her window and says out loud, “lucky girl”. Her practice is done with great enthusiasm while directing appreciation to her mother and other relatives as if they were in the room with her. Her habit was riveting to me, and the next day I started saying the same thing to myself. I already had the ritual of writing 10 gratitude statements each morning before starting my day, so this addition was right up my alley.
I always say, “what we give energy to, grows”. We all have bad things happen to us or experiences that are not to our liking. We can choose to groan about it or view it as a learning tool. How we react to bad news is a choice. I inadvertently started saying “I’m lucky” because “H” made it sound like fun. Over a week or two, my previous belief ‘that I didn’t have luck’ seemed to change.
I started to realize that I say, “we’re so lucky”, and “I can’t believe how lucky I am” often. In fact, I really think I am lucky. Adding H’s positive enthusiasm seems to subvert and lessen negative encounters naturally. Sometimes the words fly out of my mouth for others. I’ll say, “wow, you are so lucky” and really mean it. This potent practice seemed to penetrate my soul and permeate my belief system. Saying it even uplifts my mood higher than it already is. (You’ll rarely catch me in a bad mood).
When we expect good luck we often skew our perspective naturally and see something as a lucky break, such as, “it could have been worse”. With a health situation, keeping a positive state of mind keeps us moving forward because we see the small changes indicating improvement. There are countless patients that are surprised when I get excited that they just got a detox headache or a bout of diarrhea from something we did to trigger it. In fact, as a practitioner, I believe every time I have a new health issue come up for me, that it helps me learn how to better resolve the issue for someone else.
I believe we must develop methods to impact our subconscious mind into believing we are fortunate by each experience that comes to us. Believing we caught a lucky break helps maintain a positive spin. In the end, being lucky is a state of mind.
If you think you’re unlucky, its even more crucial to break that old pattern and hunker down on sweeping out that bad habit, while ushering in a new one. If you need to, consider chanting the “Shani Mantra” a few times to stimulate good luck. And you might just discover, your luck has changed.