Is being lucky just a matter of, well, luck. Or is it fate? Destiny? Providence?
Thomas Jefferson is credited as saying ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get.’ But that’s far too simplistic. Men work hard hours in mines and women in paddy fields without ever being lucky once.
The philosopher Seneca coined the phrase ‘Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.’ But, then, there must have been a few galley slaves whose only luck was a day without feeling the lash of the whip.
The Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was working in his lab in 1928, when he noticed mould developing on a sandwich he’d left beside a culture dish being used to grow the staphylococci germ. The mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. With further experiments, Fleming created the bacteria-killer he called penicillin, the antibiotic that has saved countless millions of lives.
Salvatore ‘Lucky’ Luciano (1897 – 1962) was a Sicilian-born American mobster who controlled the Genovese crime family. As a young man, Luciano refused to work for another mob boss and earned his nickname Lucky from being fortunate enough to survive numerous beatings as well as having his throat slashed in the 1920s. He was arrested 25 times on charges including illegal gambling, blackmail and robbery. He was never sent to prison.
His last stroke of luck was on 26 January 1962. He flew to Naples to meet American movie producer Martin Gosch, who planned to make a film on his life. What Lucky Luciano didn’t know was that after years of investigation, the authorities had the evidence to bring him down on drug smuggling charges. After a good dinner and a bottle of Sicilian wine with the producer, as the FBI agents moved in with drawn pistols, Lucky keeled over with a heart attack and died.
Being lucky is something you have to work on. Lucky people develop a way of seeing, creating and acting on opportunities. They nurture their instinct for making decisions that bring about lucky breaks and know when to persevere and when it’s time to stop. Gamblers say ride your luck and cut your losses.
Feng shui is a Chinese system of orientating buildings, tombs and interiors to harmonise the energy forces and let in good luck. Feng shui in English means ‘wind-water’ and specialists show how by placing windows in ways that catch the wind and through the use of running water in tanks and ponds, the individual feels more at ease in his environment and more likely to be lucky. Of course, you do need to be fortunate enough to own a house where such changes can be made.
He met actress Carol White in Hollywood and wrote her memoirs, Carol Comes Home. It was the first of a dozen books as a ghostwriter, including the Sunday Times bestseller Today I’m Alice – the story of multiple personality disorder survivor Alice Jamieson. His lates book, How to Rob the Bank of England, will be published in September 2024.
www.cliffordthurlow.com