Get Lucky This St. Patricks Day!

The Four-Leaf Clover

To find a rare four-leaf clover is a very lucky thing indeed! The lucky charm of a four-leaf clover comes from Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick, who brought Catholicism to what was a predominantly pagan populace. It was said that he used the native three-leaf clover or shamrock to explain to the pagans about the Holy Trinity and the Christian tenants of Faith, Hope and Charity. When a four-leaf clover was found, “Luck” was tacked on, making it represent Faith, Hope, Charity and Luck.

The Rabbit’s Foot

The lucky rabbit’s foot is actually of African origin. Legend has it if you carry the left hind foot of a rabbit, enemies will never catch you. African slaves brought this legend to America and it was eventually amended to mean that bad luck would never catch up with the owner of the lucky rabbit’s foot.

The Lucky Penny

We all know the nursery rhyme: “See a penny, pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck!” This is actually a corruption of a lucky pin, which comes from southern American folklore.

Mystic Runes

Vikings believed that knowledge was power and that the letters of their alphabet carried certain elements of luck and protection. They used them everywhere, carving them into stone all over the known world.

Jade

The Chinese believe that the beautiful stone jade brings good financial fortune, along with health and happiness.

Make Your Own Luck

There are thousands more talismans. But perhaps it isn’t the talisman that’s lucky. Perhaps it is we who make them lucky - by believing. Belief is a very powerful thing. Imagine waking up in the morning and instead of believing we have to endure our stressful job, we believed we could bring calm to that chaos? Believe that we will have a good day. Believe that we can attract to us the love and abundance we desire. The challenge is to banish that inner voice of self-doubt with positive self-affirming thoughts! Here are a few tricks I have used:

Think Positive!

Stop negative self-talk. Instead of thinking “I can’t,” turn it into “I can do this” instead. Write a positive affirmation on your bathroom or bedroom mirror. Make it so it is the first thing you read in the morning and the last thing you read at night.

Cut out the Negative

Stop listening to negative people. This can be difficult because that negative person may be much loved by you. It’s easy to spot a negative person because everything they talk about is how awful this is and how terrible that is and what a so and so that person is.

Listen to Wise Women

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. This is a tough one, but believing this one self-truth helps more than anything.

Start With Yourself

Remember that you cannot change things for others. You can only change things for yourself.

Have Faith

Believe there is a solution to every problem and you're going to find it. This can be difficult because it means discarding the idea that life is something that happens to you instead of you being a full-fledged participant and creator of your world. I wish you all the best of luck in becoming a better you!