Lucky 13

In light of it being Friday the 13^th, the day of darkness where some believe it’s the day of “bad luck”, I wanted to explore what this luck concept actually is. If you’re an American like me, you’re taught that we can make our own luck through hard work and perseverance.  A boss reflected back to me just that when she complimented me on my project completion. I sheepishly replied, “I’m lucky.” To that she said, “I believe we make our own luck.” That took me back a bit. After reflection, I agreed. I had to ask myself first why it took my boss pointing out to me that I deserved credit rather than me assuming my good results had to do with some magical agent outside of myself. That being said, I do believe in manifesting, the power of the universe to make things happen. So is that what luck is? Is it the benevolence of the universe? Add to that, if we make good luck, can we make bad luck? What is the root of this all? The clearest answer I can give is that it starts with Belief.  And I do mean Belief with a capital b because that’s how powerful it is.

Who started this superstition that the # 13 is bad and even worse on a Friday? I’ll let you do that Google search. Whoever started it and why isn’t really the answer I’m after. My interest lies in the battalion of people who believed in it, and feared it. It’s the fear that interests me.

Let’s get back to the benevolence of the universe, superstition, and fear-based thinking. If we agree that it’s the job of the universe to bestow luck upon us, then we have to create a reason why it’s bestowed or not bestowed on us. Do we have to create ourselves worthy somehow? Nothing says worthiness like hard work right? So in that scenario, all our industriousness should pay off right? But what about the good for nothings that seems to get things so easily? Oh well, maybe it’s not so simple as that. Or maybe it is as simple as that.

Why do we have superstitions at all? I believe it comes from our need to believe. Belief is part of creation and we are part of a bigger creative power.  I also believe that superstition is rooted in fear while true belief is rooted in faith. What’s the difference? It’s a good versus evil, punishment versus reward scenario.

Our thoughts are powerful and they are creating all the time. I can say for myself for all that I think I know about manifesting, there’s that little creeping doubt in there. It’s the fear of, “what if I’m wrong?” Yet, in the end, I more often than not find myself saying, “things worked out and I have my faith restored.”

Or even if things didn’t work out, in time and perspective I saw why. And there’s the harder part of understanding that my fears had gotten in the way of seeing the bigger picture at the time and I could have saved myself some heartache if I could have gotten my head out of the way.

I’m careful to not take on anyone else’s superstitions too readily and will challenge them if I’m feeling cheeky. A French girl I met recently told me it is bad luck to put your purse on the ground because as she said it, it’s bad for money. I smelled superstition and I asked her where she got that. She acted startled. She couldn’t answer. “Maybe you started it,” joked another person. Maybe. I’m sure someone told her and she passed it along. And maybe that’s how Friday the 13^th became unlucky, that kind of blindly passing along of info without question; Much like those heinous chain emails  from the 90's that threatened bad luck if we didn’t forward them. I can hear my spirit guides chuckling about those.

Oh yes our spirit guides. They listen to our thoughts and pay attention to what we believe. And if we constantly put out negative thoughts, we create negative scenarios. We live our nightmares and at the end of the day became the "Chicken Littles" of our own creation. Well that sounds gloomy. And it can be if you choose to live that way.

The good news is we can question beliefs because they are thought patterns of our own creation. My mind can be a dark place if I allow my fears to encapsulate it. It takes discipline not to cater to my shadow self. If I bought into all my fears, I wouldn’t be living in a new place, with a mountain view, and seeing my healing business starting to take off. It took faith and patience to bring me here.  So I’m going to enjoy this beautiful Friday because it's FRIDAY.