St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, and for most students, the holiday entails pinching, parading, and the annual ginger run through the mods—whether you ran in the race or cheered on your red-headed friends.
The holiday invokes images of four-leaf clovers, rainbows with pots of gold, and Lucky Charms—both the cereal and the accessories. What is the common denominator here? It’s none other than luck (not leprechaun imagery, if that’s what you assumed).
As children, we always kept our eyes peeled for signs of luck. A ladybug landing on your arm. Wishing on birthday candles, fallen eyelashes, and wishbones. Tossing a penny into a fountain, and cautiously avoiding stepping on any cracks that could “break your mother’s back.”
Out of superstition, we avoid opening umbrellas indoors, disown the number 13, and even gasp at the sight of a cracked mirror.
In honor of St. Paddy’s, here are five ways to manifest good luck for yourself—without relying on folklore or spending hours in the grass hunting for a rare four-leaf clover.
Practice Gratitude
The moment you wake up, list five things you feel grateful for. Sure, the alarm may be loud, or your roommate may have woken you up to get to their 8:00 a.m. lecture, but rather than immediately checking your phone and starting the day with a dopamine buzz, start your morning with a minute of mindfulness.
When you take this approach, you remind yourself that you have a new day filled with the unknown. This reminder may encourage a more thankful outlook or invite new life developments worth your gratitude.
Repeat Affirmations
Before you hit the hay, there are a few things you can say—like mantras or recognitions—that may bring a newfound sense of peace. Some believe that positive affirmations are a gateway to tap into intuition and form realities into desired outcomes.
Less mystically, affirmations are a useful way to reduce negative thinking. Affirmations are all about perspective and changing your thought process, rather than about expecting transformation or change without action.
Thinking, saying, or writing down a present-tense mantra like “all is well and I’m at peace” can ring some bells in your brain and signal your mood to feel at ease. Once you start believing your own words, affirmations become not only a comfort but a way to use neuroplasticity to your advantage.
Compliment Others
Cosmic karma is the notion that what goes around comes around. Believe what you want about universal balance and “good karma,” it’s hard to deny that friendly compliments are a nice deed for their own sake.
Whether it’s your friends, acquaintances, or maybe strangers, brightening someone else’s day can make all the difference for them. Compliments, like “you brought up a great point in class today,” make others feel seen and appreciated.
Complimenting others boosts your self-esteem and theirs. An out-of-the-blue compliment may even encourage another to do the same, and you could unknowingly start a chain effect, which could return to you in a coincidental, “karmic” way.
Boost Your Mood as Well as Your Mindset
A few of these tips focus on shaping your internal thoughts. However, other conscious or reactionary practices can boost your mood. For example, being flexible in your actions will make you more open to new experiences and promote a lasting positive mindset.
If you planned to go for a walk but are faced with poor weather and rain, don’t throw in the towel yet—just use it to wipe off your muddy shoes afterward.
Conceding to external misfortune will contribute to learned helplessness and does not positively impact your mood. The best way to manifest good luck is to re-frame your perspective and wear it with confidence. Optimism shapes how you process events and encodes the memories in a different light.
Additionally, if you stop regarding your circumstances as ‘unlucky,’ you will be better equipped to handle the unexpected, less fazed by obstacles, and more appreciative of good fortune in your daily life.
Take Chances
If luck is all about chance, your best bet is not to sit around and wait for a ladybug to land on you. It is not always best to spend all your time saying affirmations, or worse, dwelling too long on decisions.
I don’t suggest that you become erratic or act solely on emotions and sudden urges. Rather, I encourage you to take responsible risks and prove to yourself that you can do hard things and even succeed at them.
Taking chances means taking accountability for your life and not waiting for universal signs to convince you to do something. Flip a coin, but proceed to make your decision based on how you reacted to the chance outcome. Rather than betting on luck, bet on yourself—and the luck may follow suit.
In other words, “carpe diem”: seize the day.
