Friday the 13^th, unlucky or not? It’s all up to you.

Happy Black Friday. I hope you have a lucky day. That may sound like an oxymoron – how can one be happy or lucky on such an unlucky day?

The truth is it’s only as unlucky as you choose to believe.

There are no exact reasons for our irrational fear of this day, but for centuries it has been thought to be the cause of much bad luck.

Fear of the day – paraskevidekatriaphobia – can be so strong in some people it is almost crippling. They make a bunch of rules for the day such as not venturing outside.

The number 13 is considered so bad that many buildings do not have a 13^th floor and in France, you can actually hire a 14^th dinner guest to avoid the unlucky number 13.

Friday has a stigma, particularly among Christians, as it was a Friday that Jesus was crucified. It was also believed to be the start day of the great flood that required Noah’s ark and the day the Original Sin was committed by Adam and Eve.

It’s no wonder that a combination of the two can reduce otherwise reasonable people into shivering wrecks.

Learn more about the history of Black Friday at International Business Times.

The reason the superstition has become so widespread it that it is so easy to make the association.

You stub your toe on any other day and it’s an inconvenience. On Black Friday, it’s bad luck.

You reverse your car into the one behind on any other day and you may curse your own lack of attention. On Friday the 13^th, you may feel the odds were stacked against you.

Often this thinking can have a snowball effect, further convincing you that the day is unlucky.

For instance; you stub your toe, curse the day and you are feeling so unfortunate that you don’t take proper care while reversing so you hit that car. If you allow that fearful and maybe angry feeling to grow you could become distracted enough to make more mistakes which you will then blame on an unlucky day and your bad luck.

(Check out how I created some bad luck with negative thinking in Can You Make Specks of Happiness Lead to the Bright Side?)

However, if you stub your toe and tell yourself you need to slow down, you will take more care while reversing and therefore maybe avoid that collision.

THE KEY TO GOOD LUCK IS IN YOUR THOUGHTS

The key is how you are thinking. It’s the same key that will allow you to make your own luck, regardless of what day it is. And this has been scientifically proven.

Studies have shown that positive people, those who are relaxed, are more likely to notice opportunities and take advantage of them – therefore creating their own good fortune.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman, who wrote a book – The Lucky Factor, did an experiment with a group of people to back this up. He asked those involved to go through a newspaper and count all the photographs. On the second page of the paper, in large lettering, was the notice, “stop counting – there are 43 photographs in this newspaper”.

The “lucky” participants noticed the statement right away whereas the other participants, those who tended to be more tense and anxious by nature, missed it and, therefore, missed the opportunity to save time.

Dr Wiseman said anxiety tended to disrupt people’s ability to notice the unexpected as they were so focused on what they expected to see, resulting in missed chances.

A study by University College London (the SerenA project) showed that the two biggest traits ”lucky” people shared were the ability to see when an opportunity was being presented and the nous to seize it.

According to an article in the Daily Mail, Australia (Feeling Lucky? The Scientific Proof that you do make your own luck – October 29, 2012), “serendipity involves an element of luck that is out of our control, but you have the wisdom to spot the opportunity and act on it”.

The bestselling 2006 self-help book The Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne, is all about the power of thought and how positive attracts positive, and negative attracts negative.

Therefore, if you are thinking positively, you are attracting positive things.

If you believe you will have something, the universe will provide it.

 You are the one who calls the law of attraction into action, and you do it through your thoughts.
― Rhonda Byrne, The Secret

There is nothing new to this thinking. James Allen wrote the book As a Man Thinketh in 1903.

The book is all about the power of thought, particularly with regards to the use of thought for happy issues.

The author described the book as “a book that will help you to help yourself” and a book on the “power and right application of thought”.

DO YOU WANT TO CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK?

HERE ARE 7 PROVEN WAYS TO MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK.

1. Be open to new opportunities and be prepared to act on them.
2. Have the determination to make things work and persistence to try different ways.
3. Be outgoing which often leads to profitable chance encounters.
4. Be prepared to deviate from your original plans in order to achieve your goals.
5. Do not be afraid to fail, but instead see failures as stepping stones to success. (Great article on why failure is good for you at The Karmic Ally Coaching Experience.)
6. Stay positive and remember thoughts are things so eliminate negative thinking.
7. Negative people will hold you back so avoid them.

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Wishing you a lucky life and a gleeful week, Tamuria.