• Question: Do you believe in luck and other superstitions?

    Asked by hmarlowe to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 25 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Michael Cook

      Michael Cook answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      I’m not a believer in luck or superstition, although as Emma said in chat I think it’s true that you can ‘make your own luck’ by taking more opportunities!

      I do like superstitions of other cultures though. For instance, in Iran it’s bad luck if you kiss someone’s hand without kissing the other.

      What about you? Any superstitions?

    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      I gave a quick answer to this in the chat session but will give a bit more detail now.

      I don’t believe in supersitions like 4 leaf clovers bringing good luck and walking under ladders being bad luck. I don’t see rationally how these things can affect what happens to you (and actually research has been done into some of these superstitions and all the results so far show that things like a black cat walking across your path have no effect on whether you will be lucky or not).

      Even though I know this rationally there are still some superstitions (like saying hello to magpies) that I have done since I was a child and now do almost automatically. It’s not that I believe anything bad will happen if I don’t do them, I just seem to do them without thinking.

      What I do believe is that thinking positively, and so thinking that you will be lucky, will help you achieve what you want to. If you think positively you are more likely to grab any opportunity that comes along giving you more chance of success 🙂

      I’d be interested to know how superstitious everyone else is…

    • Photo: Blanka Sengerova

      Blanka Sengerova answered on 25 Jun 2012:


      I’m a bit too rational to believe in superstitions most of the time (it’s interesting that in the UK seeing a black cat is a good omen but in the Czech Republic it’s a bad one) but there are some things I wouldn’t do like turn a calendar early (silly) or buy baby clothes before I was at least two thirds of the way through pregnancy (more crucial) to avoid jinxing something.

      But generally I think Emma is right, you are the maker of your own luck and you can do things you like and enjoy by being positive about your own life.

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