The Chinese Mystic's Last Surprise by Osho

Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Actors change but the drama continues. Waves change but the ocean continues. You laugh, you change--and somebody else laughs--but laughter continues. You celebrate, somebody else celebrates, but celebration continues.

Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. There is not a single moment's gap in it. No death is death, because every death opens a new door--it is a beginning. There is no end to life, there is always a new beginning, a resurrection.

If you change your sadness to celebration, then you will also be capable of changing your death into resurrection. So learn the art while there is still time.

I have heard about three Chinese mystics. Nobody knows their names now, and nobody ever knew their names. They were known only as the "Three Laughing Saints" because they never did anything else; they simply laughed.

These three people were really beautiful--laughing, and their bellies shaking. And then it would become an infection and others would start laughing. The whole marketplace would laugh. When just a few moments before, it was an ugly place where people were thinking only of money, suddenly these three mad people came and changed the quality of the whole marketplace. Now they had forgotten that they had come to purchase and sell. Nobody bothered about greed. For a few seconds a new world opened.

They moved all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh. Sad people, angry people, greedy people, jealous people--they all started laughing with them. And many felt the key--you can be transformed.

Then, in one village it happened that one of the three died. Village people gathered and they said, "Now there will be trouble. Now we have to see how they laugh. Their friend has died; they must weep."

But when they came, the two were dancing, laughing and celebrating the death. The village people said, "Now this is too much. When a man is dead it is profane to laugh and dance."

They said, "The whole life we laughed with him. How can we give him the last send-off with anything else?--we have to laugh, we have to enjoy, we have to celebrate. This is the only farewell that is possible for a man who has laughed his whole life. We don't see that he is dead. How can laughter die, how can life die?"

Then the body was to be burned, and the village people said, "We will give him a bath as the ritual prescribes." But those two friends said, "No, our friend has said, 'Don't perform any ritual and don't change my clothes and don't give me a bath. You just put me as I am on the burning pyre.' So we have to follow his instructions."

And then, suddenly, there was a great happening. When the body was put on the fire, that old man had played the last trick. He had hidden many fireworks under his clothes, and suddenly there was a festival! Then the whole village started laughing. These two mad friends were dancing, then the whole village started dancing.

It was not a death, it was a new life.

Living Totally by Osho

"When Alexander the Great was coming to India, he met one strange man, Diogenes. It was a winter morning, a cool breeze was blowing, and Diogenes was lying on the riverbank, taking a sunbath, naked. He was a beautiful man--when there is a beautiful soul, a beauty arises which is not of this world.

He had nothing, not even a begging-bowl, because one day when he was going toward the river with his begging bowl to get some water to drink, he saw a dog rushing to the river. The dog jumped in the river and drank--Diogenes laughed and he said, "This dog has taught me a lesson. If he can live without a begging bowl, then why can't I?" He threw the begging-bowl, he also jumped like the dog in the river and drank. Since then he had had nothing.

Alexander had never seen such a graceful man, such utter beauty, something from the unknown.... He was in awe and he said, "Sir..." He had never said "Sir" to anybody in his life. He said, "Sir, I am immensely impressed by your being, and I would like to do something for you. Is there something that I can do for you?

Diogenes said, "Just stand to the side because you are blocking the sun--that's all. Nothing else do I need."

Alexander said, "If I have another chance to come to the earth I will ask God, instead of making me Alexander again, to make me Diogenes."

Diogenes laughed and he said, "Who is preventing you right now? You can become a Diogenes. Where are you going? For months I have seen armies moving and moving--where are you going? and for what?"

Alexander said, I am going to India to conquer the whole world."

"And then what are you going to do?" Diogenes asked.

And Alexander said, "Then I will rest."

Diogenes laughed again and he said, "You are mad--because I am resting now, and I have not conquered the world. I don't see the necessity of it. Who has told you that before resting, you have to conquer the world? And I tell you: if you don't rest now, then you never will. Something or other will always remain to be conquered... and time is fleeting. You will die in the middle of your journey--everybody dies in the middle of the journey."

And Alexander died in the middle. When he was moving back from India, he died on the way. And that day he remembered Diogenes. Only Diogenes was in his mind--he could never rest in his life, and that man rested."

The Woman on the Bus by Osho

I have heard that an old woman was traveling on a bus, and she was anxious, worried, and continuously asking what stop it was. The stranger sitting by her side said, "Relax, don't be worried. The conductor will go on announcing what stop it is, and if you are too worried I will call him here. You can tell him where you want to get off so he can keep a note of it. And you can relax!"

He called the conductor and the woman said, "Please remember, I don't want to miss my stop. I have to reach somewhere very urgently."

The conductor said, "Okay, I will make a note of it--although even without your asking I will be announcing each stop. But I will make a note of it and I will come to you particularly and tell you whenever your stop comes. But you relax, don't be so worried about it!"

She was perspiring and trembling and looked so tense. So she said, "Okay, you note it down--I have to get off at the bus terminus."

Now if it is the bus terminus, why should you worry? How can you miss it? There is no way of missing it! The moment you rest, the moment you relax, you know that existence is already going, moving, reaching towards higher peaks. And you are part of it. You need not have separate ambitions.

This is relaxation--resting, dropping all private goals, dropping the whole achieving mind, all the ego projections. And then life is a mystery. Your eyes will be full of wonder; your heart will be full of awe.

We are not to become something--we are already it. This is the whole message of all the awakened ones: that you are not to achieve something, it has already been given to you. It is God's gift. You are already where you should be, you can't be anywhere else. There is nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. Because there is nowhere to go and nothing to achieve, you can celebrate. Then there is no hurry, no worry, no anxiety, no anguish, no fear of being a failure. You can't fail. In the very nature of things it is impossible to fail, because there is no question of success at all.

A Little Dino

A little dinosaur bared her teeth at me.

She did not say, "Grr!"

Nor did she say, "Gah!"

but she smiled with her ice cream covered lips, and said sunnily, "Hullo!"

And I smiled back a shiny smile and said, "Hi!"

I asked. "How are you?"

The little dino said, fine thank you. And her other dino friends giggled.

"Why are you in a dinosaur suit?"

The little dino replied "No reason."

And I grinned, "You are amazing."

I wished I'd asked them to sing me a birthday song. It would have been so cool to have an army of little dino girls piping up a happy song on my birth day. But I was in a hurry to help the Heartbroken Fish escape.

It is/was/always will be a very happy happy day.

déjà vu

"the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously." [en.wikipedia.org]

Have you had one of those?

You walk along a street and you're suddenly enveloped with the feeling of déjà vu. You've been there. You've done that. You've seen her. But the strange fact is, you've never.

How is it you've met that girl with the beautiful hazel eyes when you've never seen her in all your life? Or walked past that tree, post box, yellow bee-striped car, when you haven't?

What if déjà vus are second chances? What if some of us had the opportunity to re-live our lives again for a second time? You know how you say things like: "I wish I could turn back time." or "If I had the chance to do it all over again..." So what if we got what we wanted but forgot we made that wish? Would we really do things any differently?

Maybe some of us have died and God in all his wisdom decided we deserved another go. Would we be happier? Would we live life fuller? Would we cry less, love more, talk less, listen more, eat less, have more fun? What are we doing with our second chances now that we have our second chances? Would we still say, 'What if'?

Would we still say, 'Could have...', 'Should have...', 'Would have...'? Because if déjà vus were second chances, it seems to me, we need triple, quadruple takes in order to get things right-er, better, more accurately significantly happier.
Which means humankind are pretty much blardy slow learners.

Aloneless

Somedays can be a little confusing. A mix muddle of information that channels into your life and become clutter. So on days like that all you want to do is to be alone. You can call it running away. Some may call it hiding. But whatever the words, being alone can be healing. It heals the soul, coats it with comfort, blankets your mind and soothes it to rest. There are times in life we must rest. Rest from tiresome thoughts, tiresome people, tiresome activities and just be ... quiet.

We are our very own best company. I've told my friends many times that we've come in this world alone and we'll leave this world alone. There are books written, articles published, talk show hosted on the importance of alone-ness. You know it and I know it. But many don't follow it. Quiet moments should be used on reflecting and looking deep into our hearts and listen what we don't usually listen. Who better but us to listen to our hearts?

And people become often lost, listless and disconnected because they've forgotten to reconnect to their very hearts. The one thing they should listen to but don't because there are always someone out there that have a better idea what they should be doing with their lives. But really, who better than you to know? Who better to tell you to dance, when your heart feels like dancing? Who better to tell you to sing, when your heart feels the music? Who better to tell you to love, when your heart is soaring to love?

Your Self.

Give yourself the gift of your company this Christmas. Look into the window of soul and see. Look carefully and say with all honesty, are you happy? Ask you that simple three-worded question: Am I happy? And if you can respond with a sharp resounding confident Yes, then you truly are. But if you hesitate within just a breath of a second, you are... faking it.

Don't fake it darlings. Don't fall for your own lies. If you aren't happy, don't be afraid to say you're not. Because the moment you know you aren't, all that there is now, is to go up; grow up. You deserve better.

Look into your hearts this new year and every new year to be alone. To heal. To comfort. To love your self. To re-connect with your soul. Listen to what your heart tells you and follow it. Trust yourself because who better but yourself?

If anyone told you...

You couldn't do it. Ask them why.

If that anyone was to be you. Ask yourself why. Because there is no reason to why you cannot succeed in something you believe so strongly, so passionately, so vividly about.

What you imagine yourself to be. You can be.

What you think yourself to be. You will be.

What you see yourself to be. You shall be.

You must not, should not, will not give the meaning to the phrase 'I can't'. If you do, you are merely acting as your own executioner.

"You were born to win, but to be a winner you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win." – Zig Ziglar

Melbourne Underground

Brain Feed by Jim Rohn

"The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

When Andrew Carnegie died, they discovered a sheet of paper upon which he had written one of the major goals of his life: to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. And he did!

Some people are disturbed by those tough days because all they have is the days. They haven't designed or described or defined the future.

Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.

The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.

Don't set your goals too low. If you don't need much, you won't become much.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life."

Footprints Cast in Stone

Every one we meet leaves some sort of impact in our lives. It can be the size of Yamagata or a sting of a bee. But either way, they always always leave an impression. I've met some people, known them for years but can't remember anything rich from that experience. I've also had the pleasure of meeting people for a few minutes and I feel like I've been hit by lighting. Some people are a waste of time and energy, some people you just can't get enough of. But however minute their own significance are, I strongly feel that we are all interconnected and placed together at one place and one time for some reason because Nothing is a Coincidence.

Some time ago or most recently, one person left a happy mark in my life. And though it was brief, it was never short of interesting. And though he was imperfectly perfect, he was gone like the spring wind. The good things in life are fleeting because it is in their transcient existence that makes it somewhat enjoyable. It's like a fast fading beauty of a flower. We treasure what little time it has with us.

Obsession

Scarcity creates obsession.

When you have something so little of e.g. good quality friends, plenty of money, love etc. you become quite obsessed with the idea of owning it.

For example, there is story of a man who have no known best friend. He recognises this. And so he realises that the only person he can rely on is his dear wife. So his love turns into a mess of obsession. He becomes so deeply obsessed with her he begins to chain her to his insecurity. Binds her to him. Slowly but surely suffocating her.

We can relate to that obsession. All of us have something precious, a crown jewel; a deeply cherished item we do not want lost. We are all at the brink of obsession because we are all controlled by two emotions: fear and greed. When we fear that we may lose something, we hang on to it. A car. A piece of stone. A person. We hold on because we feel safe having it. We hang on to it as though it is our dear life. But all fear is, it is only mental.

Coming back to my story. The-man-with-his-deep-love-for-his-wife-because-he-has-no-one-else-in-the-world guards his wife so jealously, that she becomes to fade like a flower without sunshine. As much as she loves him, she cannot be with him. It is like a swim between yin and yang. She fights, at first, for her freedom. For her identity. But her loyalty to this man she has sworn to be with for better or for worst, eats into her heart and produces - guilt. So she ebbs away. And one day surely when she dies, he will die too. She from a broken heart and he from a broken mind.

Everyone has an obsession stemmed from scarcity.


Greed: "I want a red convertible so I can look cool every day"

Brainfark

Stimulating discussions about life has always left me engrossed. Sometimes exhausted. Mostly boggled. But nevertheless, extremely exhilirated. Socrates sat in a busy market contemplating, debating, asking the people of Roma question that left their minds buzzing and more often than not, their tongues too. Zen masters toy with their apprentices' minds: Throwing riddles and rewarding them with enlightenment, so full of promise but so laced with hope, the mind just burst into fumes, smoking in delusion, basically leaving those smart-thinking-monkeys-thinking-smart - brainfarked.

I enjoy a good healthy thought-provoking conversation with an individual any time. Pity they come so rare. I can count with my chubby ugly toes how few there are that I know of but howeversofew, that also means that they're precious.

You can never contain one of those individuals in one place. Their eyes gives out a restless glint that you so seldom find - that fire that burns a passion to live a life that is so full, that it inspires you. No matter how much I explain it here, there or every where, no one can or will understand. But maybe you do.

Look into the eyes of a child. Your child. And you will see it.


Alice in the Looking Glass

Superwomen

Acceptance is a heroic attempt. It is one of the hardest things to do next to Patience and Faith.

This is also why I'm not a superhero because I have very little of any.

I had a thought the other day... a guilty thought. The sort that makes you think 'Shit...'


So shit....

I'm guilt-ridden for not accepting my mates for who they are, when they have supported me at every turn of my life for being me. The eccentric, extremely difficult, loud and vocal me. Yeap, they'd be the one right now to say, 'Aww, you're alright... don't be too harsh on yourself and (possibly) we love you for who you are.' And that makes me sink even lower in shits.

This all, of course, started from me. Me -- for going through all these series of mind-altering, character-analysing seminars. Me -- for pushing the brand of new psycho transforming ideas down my pals' throats. Me -- for believing that my AHAs should be everyone's AHAs.

Not everyone gets the same epiphanies.

I'm not smarter than everyone else. I'm not any ounce more superior. I'm not any chance better.

Acceptance is not about scraping people out of their comfort zones. It is accepting them for who they are and supporting their ambition or maybe even the lack of it as their own unique personality. If the whole world was made out of leaders, we'd all end up killing one another. If the whole world was made out of shakers, well... I guess the whole world would bounce out of its sphere. We need the yin for the yang, the yang for the yin.

UN-acceptance is the reason why many marriages end up in divorces. Of course that opinion itself may be very off track since I've never been married or in a 'stable relationship' before but women who want to change their Ray Romanos (Everybody Loves Raymond) into stepford husbands could be in love for the wrong reason. Personally, 6 out of 10 people I know use more words to gripe about their boyfriends/ husbands than love. I'm actually quite happy to know that I indeed do know 40% sane happy women.

The top 5 things they complain about their imperfect men are:
1. 'He's not romantic enough.'
2. 'He doesn't care about his appearance enough.'
3. 'He doesn't spend time with me enough.'
4. 'He doesn't spend on me enough.'
5. 'He doesn't listen enough.'

Take note that there's repetition of the word 'enough'. (Whatever is 'enough' anyway?)

People who don't know acceptance, don't understand (enough). Let's use me for an example. I don't think I've taken the time to understand what my friends are really like. It doesn't mean I don't care, but it's just that I've didn't care enough. I've been a blardy selfish arse.

So this is to me mates. Thanks for withstanding my crap. You've done well, superheroes....

Snacks & Snippets (Random Thoughts)

Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Seeing I have an hour to kill, I should blog for the sake of blogging.
Work is at an odd hour today - 5p.m. till 9.30p.m. on a Friday night. It's late night shopping and everyone has got their pay cashed in. Ka Ching. By end of tomorrow, the weeks' pay is gone. Why? Because tomorrow, the horses are out of their dens and on to the tracks. It's Caulfied Cup time!

See the pretty ladies in stilletoes; their fancy bird-feathered hats; the champagne glasses bubbling with Moet & Chandon; their pretty painted smiles and starry white teeth.

See the men in their polished shoes, smoothed out hair, gleaming manicured fingernails; their practiced jokes; their alcohol breath; the black and blue smoke coming out from their credit cards.

Ah... spring.

And how do we measure an act of decent kindness?

Is it a smile to a stranger? A hug to a mourner? The chair to an elder? Or is it the value of generosity you put in the bowl of a beggar?

I was standing in KFC last night. We were ordering dinner. A scruffy looking guy asked us for a dollar. My companion asked, 'Why do you need a dollar? Is it for drugs?'. The toothless twenty-something man said no. But instead of giving him money, my friend bought him a meal. The act I witness, is something I read in books, made in movies, imagined in dreams. If he was trying to impress me, I was. But seeing that it wasn't a date, I view it as an act of genuine thoughtfulness and generosity.

The scruffy toothless young man wolved down his Zinger meal. Walked out of the door without saying a word of thanks. Came back in again and started where he left: asking patrons for a dollar to spare.

My parents have always taught the kids to be nice to the people you meet. It pays to be nice. You never know when fate will bite you in the rear end.

I was waiting for the doors to open. 9 a.m. shifts aren't my personal favourites. Another girl was there. She looked familiar to me. Where have I seen her before? School? She's definitely Malaysian. We exchanged niceties. I told her what I thought, found out she's three years younger than I am (rules out school, I rarely remember anyone apart from my year). Work? Hrm. Nope, never worked with magazines.

Waitaminute, did I say magazine? But of course! She was one of the finalist for the first seventeen Magazine Star Search! She did her cheer leading act on stage. Helps her mom with her batik designing business. Sister to four other siblings.

A few thousand miles away from the streets of KL. Three years later. I meet my past in front of Sportsgirl in Melbourne, Australia at (now) 9.10 a.m. on a rather warm spring morning.

Neigh

I've just been had by my friend. And to make matters even worse, she used my own technique against me. I mean, it's like having a parent being told off by their kids and you can't rebutt because it's right y'know?

Sugar.

It went like this:

Her parents made her go to a lantern festival. She didn't want to go. She kicked up a fuss. Her parents fussed at her kicks.

I'm stricken with envy here because I've been pining to go for a lantern party. My other friends have been sending me invites from home and I tell ya, it's sure isn't nice to feel so welcomed. What's the point of it when you can't be there?

But that's besides the point, I love mid-autumn festivals. It's that one time in the year you're allowed to play with fire. You get to see beautiful floating luminescent bubbles on one end and a big kid at the other.

The year before, when the monkees were away, I'd accumulate a mass of lanterns and lit them up in the garden singlehandedly anyway. Last year, I had to slave over a story due the next day, my friends called at my gate with lanterns. This time the monkees were only too delighted and since I'd burnt the lanterns the previous year (Note: private bonfire), we used an indecent battery-operated Ultraman lantern and walked into the dark night with a bunch of rowdy teenagers. One other year, we had the Argentinian neighbours put up lanterns in their mango trees while we sipped Chinese tea, munched on mooncakes, and swapped local legends till late. At college, my mates and I decided to throw it at an Indian classmate's house and while we ordered pizza, we vandalized her driveway with rows of candles.

There are many other sentimental moments I can think of about mid-autumn festival. I can still smell the freshly baked mooncakes and the evening sun streaming through the windows. I can see my mom making a fresh batch with the delicately carved wooden mold. I can taste the spices, nuts, egg yolks, sweet pastries in my mind. It rules over Chinese New Year, Chap Go Meh, Hanukkah and even Christmas.

So you see, it has a very very very special place in my heart.

But I digress.

So since I'd openly expressed my dissatisfaction to my friends on msn chat, they suggested why don't I just throw one?

And before I knew it, I came up with those sugary stuff that you'd know is bad for you but it still comes out of your mouth anyway... I gave all sorts of excuses: no time, no money, no friends, no this, no that... And you know what? You nag your friends enough, they'd throw the same s*** back. So I had an earful from my friends. No time? Make time. No money? Make money. No friends. Make friends. Call it karma right? Man... it sucked.

So folks, I thank you for your straight-face kick-ass honesty. You know when to call a bucket a bucket. You know when to call a hose a hose. You know when to call a spade a spade.

I'm coming down my high horse.

High horses don't agree with me anyway.


[NOTE: Planning & discussion for Mid-Autumn party is currently in progress]

Something Out of Nothing II

When it comes to meeting and conquering the negativity in your life, here is a key question: what can you do, starting today, that will make a difference? What can you do during economic chaos? What can you do when everything has gone wrong? What can you do when you've run out of money, when you don't feel well and it's all gone sour? What can you do?

Let me give you the broad answer first. You can do the most remarkable things, no matter what happens. People can do incredible things, unbelievable things, despite the most impossible or disastrous circumstances.

Here is why humans can do remarkable things: because they are remarkable. Humans are different than any other creation. When a dog starts with weeds, he winds up with weeds. And the reason is because he's a dog. But that's not true with human beings. Humans can turn weeds into gardens.

Humans can turn nothing into something, pennies into fortune, and disaster into success. And the reason they can do such remarkable things is because they are remarkable. Try reaching down inside of yourself; you'll come up with some more of those remarkable human gifts. They're there, waiting to be discovered and employed.

With those gifts, you can change anything for yourself that you wish to change. And I challenge you to do that because you can change. If you don't like how something is going for you, change it. If something isn't enough, change it. If something doesn't suit you; change it. If something doesn't please you, change it. You don't ever have to be the same after today. If you don't like your present address change it — you're not a tree!

If there is one thing to get excited about, it's your ability to make yourself do the necessary things, to get a desired result, to turn the negative into success. That's true excitement.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Soldier On

I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.

An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to think ahead. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun.

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-that-you-possibly-can" philosophy.

Wow, what a great philosophy to have - the ant philosophy. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

[By: Jim Rohn]

Pride & Joy

Why Some People Have All The Luck

[Warning: May cause dizziness, nausea and possible mental irritation due to disbelief]

By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire-

Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.

The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50."

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.

Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor".

Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.


"The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect."

Trippy Tulips

I had a trippy Saturday. It's spring so the flowers are popping out like zits on a greasy teenager's face. Seeing rows of colours in a go was blinding. But like all trippy journeys, this well-trodden path was a pretty happy one. The flowers were ok. After half an hour, you don't know what you're looking at anymore. It was the Dutch folks that made it spectacular. I have something about people. I have a natural fondness for them. I actually like them. Which may not always be such a safe thing to do but in general, I view people as great objects of observation and interest. This was a good weekend. How did it go for yourself?