Some people are more likely to be lucky, while troubles literally fall on the heads of others. Meanwhile, each of us would like to attract good luck. It turns out that many scientists are racking their brains about how to do this.
Project "Luck"
The number of studies, the authors of which seek to derive a formula for success, is growing every year. One of the most famous researchers of the phenomenon of success and failure is Richard Weisman. In 2003, he published The Luck Factor, an account of eight years of research work carried out by Project Luck and continues to this day to scientifically examine the psychological differences between people who consider themselves lucky. Hundreds of volunteers were recruited for the study, and the scientist used a variety of research methods: laboratory experiments, psychometric questionnaires and extensive interviews.
Here is one of the tests that Weissman proposed to the participants in the experiments. He gave them a newspaper, and when they looked through it, they had to tell them how many photographs there were. But the point was not at all in the number of photographs, but in the fact that half of one of the pages of the newspaper was occupied by a large print message: "Tell the experimenter that you saw this, and you will get 250 pounds." The lucky ones read this message and turned to the scientist, while the people who considered themselves losers didn't notice the text for some reason. The researcher explained this by saying that losers are more stressed than successful people, and this prevents them from noticing the unexpected, as a result of which they miss many opportunities to succeed.
Recipes - darkness
Richard Weissman came to the conclusion that successful people know how to take advantage of random opportunities, make the right decisions, obeying intuition, can self-actualize, hoping for the best and maintaining a cheerful attitude towards life that turns bad into good. The lucky ones, without realizing it, use four basic principles, which, according to the scientist, are the key to well-being. Therefore, he advises: obey your instincts; be open to everything new; try to remember the good for a few minutes every day; imagine yourself lucky before an important meeting or phone call. In short, live according to the American proverb: behave like a happy person - and you will become happy.
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The participants in the Russian Project-96, who conducted research on the phenomenon of success and failure, came to similar conclusions. In the course of their research, a large amount of historical data and facts concerning not only outstanding personalities, but also entire nations were analyzed. Researchers conducted experiments, large-scale interviews and testing, which resulted in the relevant documents.
According to researchers, luck does not depend on intelligence, education or training. It is not associated with the character, temperament, moral qualities and moral guidelines of a person. Luck, they believe, is the ability of individuals to see all the options for solving a problem and be able to choose the best one. In this case, not intellect is used, but superconsciousness - the highest layers of the human psyche, which people often perceive as an inner voice that must be listened to. Practice shows …
The theoretical postulates and recipes of most researchers of the phenomenon of success and failure look approximately the same and seem quite convincing. Moreover, if you follow their simple recommendations, you can certainly slightly improve the "quality of life". But will they turn a loser into a lucky one? Hardly, because in practice everything turns out to be far from being as simple as in theory.
One of the most famous losers, whose bad luck was so phenomenal that he was entered into the Guinness Book of Records, is Bernard Ascheriot, the owner of a hairdresser in the city of Le Puy-en-Veleux (Central France).
Fate struck the first blow to Bernard when he was only one and a half years old. As soon as he started walking, he fell and broke his hip. Then, while learning to ride a bike, he fell and badly broke his head. Bernard broke his arms and legs, fell under the wheels of cars, drowned, burned, in general, attracted almost all possible troubles. In the end, he began to record his misfortunes and made a list from which it follows that in 52 years about 160 troubles and misfortunes befell him.
Here is a list of events from one of the worst months of 1996. Lightning struck Bernard's house, knocking out electrical wiring. The next day, the central heating radiator burst and the house was flooded. Then several cylinders of acetylene fell from the truck in front of Bernard's car. As soon as he had time to repair the car, another car crashed into him. The culmination of everything was a completely incomprehensible and terrible case - an unknown person committed suicide in the cellar of Mr. Asherio's house.
Because of the troubles that fell on him, Bernard became the hero of several television programs in different countries of the world and even wrote an autobiography "Mr. Accident". In it, by the way, he claims that he does not at all consider himself an unhappy person. On the contrary, this is a cheerful man who believes in God - that is, exactly the kind whom, according to the above postulates, misfortunes and troubles should be avoided. But for some reason they do not bypass it.
Some scientists believe that Bernard plays the role of a catalyst for various incidents, or is a kind of lightning rod for his family and friends, taking their troubles and misfortunes upon himself. This assumption sounds beautiful, but, alas, it does not explain anything, but, on the contrary, itself needs lengthy explanations.
Above our understanding
The Phenomenon Commission, which has worked for the Trud newspaper for several years, has collected many unexplained stories about the successful and the losers, some of which concern not only individuals but also families. For example, a family lived in Kurgan, which was pursued by a strange fate: in 1993, the mother of the family died in a car accident, a year later the father died in the same way, and then their son, who survived by a miracle, also fell under the wheels of the car. Someone will say that this is a coincidence. Maybe. But there are examples of incredible luck that cannot be called random.
In 1803, a certain Joseph Samuels was sentenced to death by hanging in Sydney. He dangled in a loop for several moments, after which the rope broke. A new one was brought, but at the moment of re-hanging it began to unravel strand by strand in front of the amazed crowd until the unfortunate's feet touched the ground. The chief of police, not wishing to confuse divine craft with the oversight of the executioner, ordered to bring the third rope, which … burst over the head of Samuels. The sentenced person was pardoned.
A certain Isaac Simmonds was subsequently convicted of the murder. The ropes on which they tried to hang Samuels were carefully checked and made sure that all three were of excellent quality, but they did not hold up. There are quite a few such cases, but they, alas, do not shed light on the phenomenon of success and failure. However, it can be assumed that the advice of psychologists is clearly not enough to make fortune turn to face itself. This requires something else, mysterious and incomprehensible.