Learning From Superstition And Jinxes

You know how people can get superstitious? It all comes from drawing arbitrary connections between things. Like tapping dice a certain way thinking it’ll improve your chances of having a good roll, or wearing a certain outfit on days when you have a big presentation at work.

There’s actually some truth to this. While the superstition seems to literally do nothing, in certain circumstances it could cause some shifts that make you feel more confident or prepared to get a good result.

The other side of superstition is worrying about “jinxing it”. You know, when you jinx it that means that you caused a negative outcome to happen, or prevented a positive outcome from happening, simply because you brought awareness to it.

Let’s highlight the underlying concept here. You believe that one random thing influenced another random thing. This is the power of perspective. Our minds are meaning making machines. We constantly want to close the loop and make sense of what’s happening around us. Sometimes we fabricate a meaning, like a superstition or a jinx, to fill in the gaps.

Imagine how powerful it would be to shape our brains to find a positive meaning in everything we do. To flip failure into a learning lesson. To find gratitude for setbacks. To see the good in people rather than the bad.

It’s all an unconscious process that is happening regardless, might as well get it working in our favor? And just as arbitrary as what you might conclude from superstition or a jinx, you can choose to shape your perception of how you want to serve the life you want to live.