One my favourite old sayings is Tuar an t-ádh agus tiocfaidh sé – Predict good fortune and it will come.
Irish optimism at its best. This seanfhocail says fortune/fate is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Envisage it as good and it will come good. Start as you mean to go on. Intent can manifest destiny, intent can summon good fortune.
If you wake up thinking this is going to be a terrible day, you are setting your brain to scan for all the negative things, you collate the information to make the day appear terrible. Because you are still dwelling on the burnt toast you fail to hear the birdsong, fail to register the smile of a passer-by, fail to notice the sun is shining, fail to put your hand out for the bus – now your late – it’s a terrible day.
Well you enabled it. Had you been mindful and not mind full of burnt toast, the bird song might have lifted the mood, the smile may cause you to smile back (breaking self-pity even for a few seconds) and you would have seen your bus approaching. Now you are at school or work and you have switched off your interest in the rest of the day, you have justified it, programmed yourself to believe it. Don’t beat your self up over it, change your mind set about – enable better things, brighter tomorrows.
If you wake up thinking this is a great day, the toast may still burn but it is a very minor setback not an arrow through the heart and maybe it’s an opportunity to leave early and grab a bagel on the way to your destination or if you’re not under pressure to be anywhere fast then a nice stroll to a nice café for a breakfast treat – soak up a little warmth from the sun and share a smile or two – already the day is getting better.
Fortune can be about choices. It is how you see the world, how you choose to react or respond to it. By predicting good fortune, you are putting some skin in the game, you are honing optimism to intent and intent to actuality, you are creating a positivity bias and suddenly that good fortune is one step closer.
head afire 