Very few of us would choose to be a hermit living alone and not seeing anybody for years at a time. However we could all benefit from being a hermit for a few days. No social media, nothing to do apart from survive and no people to watch or talk to. This does strange things to a person’s mind but not all of them are painful. Throughout history people have searched for profound insights through isolation and very often being rewarded. I wondered whether I could be one of them? My earlier experiences were not promising.
This post is the latest in a series narrating my experiences when researching and writing my book called Get Lucky Now!.
A Trip to the Beach
I consider myself lucky but never take this for granted. I start and finish every day reminding myself just how lucky I am now, how lucky I have been in the past, and how lucky I hope to be in the future.
I like to believe that there is an endless supply of luck available for everybody. Sadly, there is also a lot of bad luck around. If we can attract more good luck than bad luck, we are ahead of the game.
One reason that I am feeling lucky right now is that I’m in a great place. A small hotel room in a small village on the wild, untamed Portuguese Atlantic coast. It is November 2014. The weather is mild, and the surf is crashing onto a deserted beach that stretches as far as the eye can see. I am lucky to be here.
This village is thought to be lucky, too. It does not look it. Some interesting old houses, but also plenty of drab apartment blocks, some of which look abandoned. A few cafés, bars, shops, and people complete the picture. So why is this village thought to be lucky, and why do I feel especially lucky today?
The name of the village is Consolação, and many people consider it lucky. For centuries they have traveled for hundreds, even thousands, of miles to visit it. More specifically, to lie on the rocks next to the sea. They say it heals their arthritis and many other things, too.
There is also a beautiful beach, and I spent hours walking and thinking about my book. If I am writing a book about luck, my readers will expect me to be lucky, too. So how can I convince them, apart from my previous story about winning enough to buy a new car? While this was a good start, I needed more than this to show for my efforts. I didn’t come up with any good ideas, and so after a few days I returned home.
Disappointed But Not for Long
I guess I was naïve and half expected to come home to some good news. So I was just a little disappointed to find that nothing had changed. No lucky breaks so far.
The next day I got lucky.
- I was awarded a lucrative voice-over contract.
- I sold my house.
- My wife received a $35,000 legacy from the estate of a man who was a total stranger.
Wow! Just in case you are wondering, these statements are all items of public record.
It suddenly occurred to me that my fascination with luck started much earlier than 2014. This thought surfaced from somewhere deep in my memory. So often light-bulb moments occur unexpectedly after periods of reflection and meditation. I recognized that my fascination with luck had been floating around in my mind for much longer. Only now were these random thoughts starting to coalesce, become more tangible, and develop a life of their own.
Is That it or is There More to Come?
There certainly is more to come. In my next post on secrets of hypnosis, I will share with you my experiences of coming round from a general anesthetic in a great deal of pain. Looking back I think I was hypnotised by the nurse!
More about hypnosis here. Little did I know that many years later this epiphany moment would be be instrumental in my journey of exploration to find the source of luck.
