The concept of “luck” has always existed throughout humankind, told either through old legend, verbal stories, or even superstition. The Fountain of Youth summoned explorers from around the globe who sought to stay young for eternity. The Holy Grail promised to bestow an abundance of sustenance and riches upon those who drank from it. The Golden Fleece possessed the ability to heal diseases of any kind. Unfortunately, these examples remain only legends.

More reachable quests that grant different varieties of fortune include kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland to increase your wits or rubbing your forehand against the Intihuatana Stone in Machu Picchu to communicate with spirits. And if you don’t want to journey to a magical stone, there are more simpler forms of blessings, such as rubbing bronze statues, flicking a coin down a wishing well, and carrying around a rabbit’s foot. But do any of these objects or actions actually bring luck and prosperity? What if I told you I had the answer?

To establish my credibility, I will begin by sharing my extremely unique and ridiculously true icebreaker: I have found over 300 four-leaf clovers in my lifetime. So, if anyone is lucky, it would probably be me. The most common reply I hear from others is, “How? I’ve never even found one before! How have you found so many?” For this specific question, the answer is more simple.

Since my elementary days, I have acquired the ability to keenly spot these elusive shamrocks, much like how some people may be able to identify a bird species from a far distance. It started with laying in the grass with a couple of friends during recess when I found my first one. Gap-toothed and innocent, I felt ecstatic. A real four-leaf clover! I picked it from the ground and gently placed it in my pocket while telling myself, “If I pick a four-leaf clover, it will grant me luck.”

More outdoor recess time occurred throughout the school year and I found another one, then another. Soon, I was finding multiple a day, and even assisting classmates in finding them. I could scan a clover patch in seconds to determine if there were any mutated four-leafs. While walking and chatting with friends along the sidewalk, I could spot them without changing my pace. Even as I got older, I would pluck each one that I would find, because in my head I liked to retain the belief that each of those special clovers would give me a bit of luck.

The way I physically imagined my luck was by envisioning a thermometer that measured the amount of luck I had, accumulating a shimmery liquid almost breaching the top. That was how my luck was stored, and that’s how it was used. If there was a difficult history test on Friday, or a craft competition I entered, or a piano recital coming up, I would close my eyes and visualize taking a few drops from that liquid luck and applying it to the occurrences in my life as needed. And guess what? I would ace that test, place in that competition, and play flawlessly during that recital. Anything that I wanted, I would sprinkle a little imaginary luck onto it, and I would get. I even continued to use this method in my early adult years and have consistently been successful, ranging from gaining valuable social connections to winning design competitions to having my dream company reach out to me for a job interview.

So, are four-leaf clovers really lucky? Is being blessed with “luck” real? The answer is… complicated. No, being granted magical luck from an object such as a shamrock isn’t actually real. But how is it then that I have always felt lucky in many aspects of my life and have been considered a “walking luck charm”? The real magic lies in psychology, neuroscience, and the laws of the universe.

What is Manifestation?

Although my thermometer of luck may not actually be real, my complete devotion to this belief in luck granted me the effect of being lucky. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had been practicing the psychology and principles of manifestation and positive affirmations at an extremely young age, ultimately granting me my luck.

If you aren’t already familiar with the term, manifestation is the act of claiming and embodying an idea or conception. It’s in the same category as praying or wishing for something. The difference between simply wishing and practicing manifestation, though, is drastic in its effectiveness. Wishing is hoping for a specific occurrence, while manifesting is believing that it is guaranteed to occur. Complete confidence is key, especially when it comes to this psychology.

Many people manifest for various prospects in life, such as happiness, love and companionship, success, and good health. There are many different processes that are followed, but the main component to successful manifestation is through the repetition of positive affirmations. Reading an uplifting quote each morning, giving yourself a pep-talk in the mirror, or even praying at night are all different forms of positive affirmation. A common form of positive affirmation that has been trending is writing personal goals on a sticky note and placing it somewhere that is looked at multiple times a day, such as a bathroom mirror or a fridge.

The idea behind these affirmations is the more you repeat them, the more likely they are to come true. Although repetition is extremely important for the success of these affirmations, the probability of them taking hold solely depends on your belief and your mindset. Someone who tells themselves, “Today will be a good day,” every morning is not likely to be successful unless they truly believe in it. They must be confident that it will be a good day, and once they are, only then will good things begin coming their way.

But how, exactly, does this bring luck and happiness into someone’s life? The idea of manifestation may still feel like “magic,” but the scientific explanation is much simpler than you’d expect. To showcase this, I’ll give a step-by-step on exactly how and why manifestation is real and effective. The psychological principles, as previously mentioned, are required as follows: confidence/belief and repetition.

How To Manifest

To begin the practice of manifestation, you must have complete faith and confidence in its abilities to alter your life for the better. It can’t just be a process that could help; it must be a process that will inflict a positive outcome. Your belief and mindset is what determines the choices you make and the paths you come across. “Expecting positive outcomes actually makes them more likely to arise,” author and psychologist Shawn Achor states in his book The Happiness Advantage.(1) “…It turns out that there is no such thing—in a scientific sense, at least—as luck. The only difference (and it is a big one) is whether or not people think that they are lucky—in essence, whether they expect good or bad things to happen to them.”

Let’s apply what Achor said to a real-life example. Have you ever known someone with a negative outlook on life, depleting the energy of those around them, and constantly experiencing unfortunate events? These individuals typically attract negative life outcomes because of their mindsets. They believe that life could only get worse, and therefore, it does.

“When it comes to luck, you make your own.” - Bruce Springsteen

On the contrary, my habit of discovering four-leaf clovers was my first step in the manifestation process. When you’re a child, it is much easier to retain total faith in an idea, like believing in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. Therefore, partaking in an affirmation methodology at a young age was a piece of cake. I believed in the idea of the lucky clover and was confident that each one I plucked would give me luck. I would vividly envision this and picture it as clear as the physical objects around me. When believing in your own idea, be confident and accepting of it, and picture it as if it were real and is already occurring.

Luck is a Placebo Effect

Let’s demonstrate how extraordinary the mind is. The placebo effect, which is a very well-known term in the medical field and general psychology, is a prime representation of how believing in something can alter different life outcomes. Doctors will experiment with groups of patients during medical trials by giving them fake medication, also known as “placebo interventions,” to see if it would instill the same positive health effects as the real medication. Many times, these fake pills/injections will genuinely dissipate many negative symptoms and have a healing effect, simply because the patients receiving the placebos believe that this medication will cure their pain or illness. Their mind was so confident in the treatment that they, in a sense, tricked themselves into believing it was the cure they needed to become healthy again. If the human race can essentially heal ourselves through faith and confidence from a mere idea, then there’s no reason that this same principle can’t be applied towards other aspects of life.

This effect doesn't just happen with physical interventions. For example, in one study on sleep, participants were randomly told whether they had poor or good quality sleep that night.(2) They were also asked to rate their quality of sleep themselves. After both ranking their own sleep and being told the “actual” quality of sleep they received, each participant took a series of cognitive tests. Their resulting scores on these assessments matched the quality of sleep they were told closer than their self-report, affecting their overall performance. The mind truly is amazing!

Repetition is Key

The second step, after accepting that manifestation is real and will benefit you, is to be repetitive with it. Repetition is what allows an idea or action to become more concrete, and, if you are experiencing difficulties with faith, trick yourself into believing in something. The more we hear a phrase or see a theory, the more likely we are to subconsciously—and then consciously—believe in it. In my case, repeatedly stating the fact, “Picking a clover will give me luck,” every time I found one allowed the idea to solidify and become fact in my mind. It was as true as the sky being blue.

In my opinion, the best time of day to implant a positive ideology in your brain is right when you wake up in the morning and before you fall asleep at night. Starting your day off by thinking about positive outcomes and goals strengthens the validity of your idea. Repeatedly cycling affirmations through your head, or even vocalizing it aloud before falling asleep, allows this idea to be the last thought lingering in your mind before your body turns over to your subconscious. Your subconscious virtually enforces your beliefs, which is why the use of steady repetition during these time periods can be pivotal to the manifestation process.

Once you have thoughtfully followed these two steps, you can expect good things to come your way. Executing the process of manifestation is a much less roundabout way to believe you’re a lucky person as opposed to finding lucky shamrocks, especially if you have a hard time locating them. The more you believe, the more you become.

What you put out into the world is what you will receive in return. In a more scientific manner, manifestation is a mindset that allows you to rewire your brain to pick up patterns and follow pathways that will lead you to your ultimate goals. In a more spiritual or religious manner, it is a meditation procedure that diligently guides your subconscious through the shared consciousness of the universe, bestowing you with the best life routes. Manifestation is many different things through varied perspectives, but the powers of it are undoubtedly real.

Whether you believe in the science of human psychology, the laws of the universe, a God up in the heavens, or the ideology of clovers granting luckiness, becoming a “lucky” person isn’t just a magical state of being, but can be realistically accomplished through strong-willed belief and mindset. Superstitions and religious rituals are simply the conduits of belief that lead to manifestation, hence it’s not the objects and performances themselves that grant fortune and happiness. Practicing manifestation techniques using positive affirmation will grant you the ability to become more financially successful, attract desirable romantic partners, become a money magnet, restore a peaceful mind, develop a healthy physique, and, like me, to get lucky. Who needs a clover when the power of your mind can do the same thing?

Exercises

Don’t know what to manifest for or what phrases to repeat? Here are some affirmation examples below that you can take and apply yourself, depending on your goals and needs:

• “I am a lucky person. I attract success, wealth, love, and good health each and every day. Everything always works out for me. I am lucky.”

• “I am successful. Wealth comes easily to me and is ever free flowing in my life. My job is fulfilling and meaningful. I accomplish my goals with ease.”

• “I am loved. I am a magnet for love, and receive an abundance of love from those I meet. I deserve the most authentic and real love in friendship/a partner.”

• “Inner peace is my natural state. My mind is calm and my heart is at ease. I release any and all stress and embrace tranquility. Everything is going to be okay.”

• “I am balanced. My body is a temple of wellness and is surrounded by healing energy. I am continuously healing, and my body does it with ease.”

• “I believe in myself. I accept who I am and love myself completely. I am capable of anything and am all deserving of everything good. I am enough.”

Works Cited

1. Achor S. The happiness advantage: how a positive brain fuels success in work and life. First paperback edition. New York: Currency; 2013. 239 p.

2. Draganich C, Erdal K. Placebo sleep affects cognitive functioning. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2014 May;40(3):857–64. doi:10.1037/a0035546 PubMed PMID: 24417326.

Credit

Editor: Piper Ruth

Research Consultant: Emmerson Borthwick

Illustrator: Aiden Lawton

**The Beamish Club does not offer professional medical advice, treatments, nor diagnosis. Anything written and published by The Beamish Club is not a direct replacement for medical treatment. If you have health concerns, please seek advice from your local health and mental health professionals for treatment plans.**