My daughter thinks I have a lot of superstitions. I like to think of them more as magical thinking because I buy into it (or not) if and when it suits me.
For example, I never miss an opportunity to pick up a lucky penny. If I am feeling really in need of luck (like right now when I’m waiting to hear from agents and publishers), I look for those pennies as if my life depended on it.
I try not to step on cracks when I’m walking, and if I’m feeling particularly concerned about something that day then I avoid them like the plague. When my mom was sick in the hospital, I was a serious no crack stepper oner.
If I spill salt, I usually throw some over my shoulder. Well, unless I just mopped; then I figure the magic energy fairies understand. See what I mean; I pick and chose my magic?
I also have a lucky black first-date skirt. I’ve been known to post-pone or even cancel dates if it was at the drycleaners.
Numbers are important to me too. I like even numbers. I especially like multiples of eight because it’s my favorite number. So date #64, 144, 188, and so on were (I thought) significant; until they turned out to be not so significant. Date # 208, if I recall, was an ex-convict, but you just can’t judge an entire system of numerical possibilities based on one (or two or three) bad experiences.
Sometimes I think maybe things I do will create the luck. If I help the schizophrenic couple who live in my building with their groceries, I’m creating good life karma. Let someone go in front of me at the store; good things are coming my way. I don’t like to think of it the other way though. If I accidentally cut someone off in traffic, it’s not like I’ll never get another date again.
All of this is magical thinking. My editor keeps wanting to change the wording in my manuscript to “superstitious thinking” but it’s not at all the same thing. If I were superstitious, when we had a skunk infestation in our neighborhood, I might have thought it meant something bad (as skunks are stinky and generally considered unpleasant). Instead, because of where I was at emotionally, I searched online until I found a reference that said it meant that I have a growing awareness of self respect and that I needed to "walk the talk."
Of course, that was probably what I already wanted to believe anyway, and it worked with my goals so…what the heck. It’s lucky to me, this luck thing, because it works when I want it to. If it gets unlucky, I’m definitely chucking it.
Unless Vin Diesel shows up with a skunk and some salt. Then I’m putting on my black skirt and we’re going out; even if it’s at the drycleaners.
copyright © 2009 Tiia Jones
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