Luck is the ability to open yourself to new opportunities (Richard Wiseman, The Luck Factor). Sounds easy, right? Sure, once you get past some hurdles. Many of them. Significant ones.
What separates the lucky from the frustrated? Is our fate in our hands, or is it just the luck of the draw?
Characteristics of “lucky” people
- They create self-fulfilling prophecies through positive expectations and goals
- Calm and positive disposition
- Listen to their intuition
- Think outside of the box
- Resilient to in the face of bad luck
- They make lemonade when life gives them lemons
Obstacles to good luck
- High anxiety
- Depression
- Negative thinking
- Self doubt
- Victim mentality
- Negative people, be they associates, companions, family members…
Therapy helps achieve good luck
Anxiety and depression are debilitating. Both slow your personal and professional functioning. When you’re highly anxious, your ability to see the unexpected is highly impaired. Therapy provides you with a safe, warm environment, which is essential to exploring the beliefs fueling your sabotaging behaviors. In therapy you will learn how to:
- Identify the causes of your discomfort: e.g., anxiety, depression, or trauma
- Heal through self-regulating techniques addressing your body and your feelings
- Listen to your body, thoughts, and feelings
- Honor your healthy needs
- Self soothe
- Develop resilience
- Bounce back from negative life experiences
- Develop a positive, achievable vision for your life
Self-help tips for creating luck
- Develop a positive support system. Renew contact with people you like who you lost touch with
- Experiment with new things regularly. E.g., volunteer, get a new hobby, take a class, play, etc.
- Track your progress in a journal
- Reward yourself when accomplishing each step in your plan
- Decide that you can proactively create your ‘luck’
- Get into therapy. It’ll help you heal and perfect your plan
The Takeaway
You have the power to improve your luck by getting more proactively involved in designing and living the life you want. There will be obstacles along the way, however, your approach to removing the barriers determines your outcome. Finding the positive in negative situations, and deciding to move forward, rather than staying stuck, will do wonders for your quality of life.