Some people seem to be born lucky – they meet their perfect partners, achieve their ambitions, and live happy lives.
The British psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman has done a lot of research to discover why some people are luckier than others. After interviewing hundreds of people he has concluded that people who think they are lucky achieve more success and happiness than those who don’t. Without realizing it, they are creating good fortune in their lives.
Using Dr Wiseman’s techniques you too can understand, control, and increase your own good fortune.
Lucky people make the most of their opportunities. Be open to new experiences and vary your routine. For example, get off the bus a stop earlier than usual. You may see something interesting or new, or bump into an old friend.
Make a list of six new experiences you’d like to try. These could be simple, like eating at a new restaurant, or long term, for example learning a new language. Number the experiences 1–6. Then throw a dice and whatever experience is chosen, go out and do it.
Lucky people trust their instinct. When you are trying to decide what to do, first make an effort to relax. Then when your mind is clear, listen to what it is telling you and act on it.
If you are trying to decide between two options, write one of them down in the form of a letter. For example, if you are unhappy about a relationship, write to your partner explaining that it’s all over. Read the letter. Would you really like to send it, or is something telling you that it doesn’t feel right? If so, don’t do it.
Lucky people expect to be lucky. Convince yourself that your future will be bright and lucky. Set realistic but high goals. If you fail, don’t give up, and be open to the idea of trying a different way to achieve your goals.
Make a list of your goals. They must be specific, not vague, e.g. ‘I want to spend more time with my partner’, not ‘I want to be happy’. Now make a second list of all the advantages you would get if you achieved your goals, and the disadvantages. Compare the advantages with the disadvantages and you will see which goals are worth trying to achieve.
Lucky people use bad luck to their advantage. If something bad happens, imagine how things could have been worse. You will then realize that things aren’t so bad after all. Compare your situation with other people who are in an even worse situation. Take a long view of things – even if things seem bad now, expect them to get better in the end. Learn from your past mistakes and think of new ways of solving your problems.
When you experience bad luck, first cry or scream for 30 minutes. Then put your bad luck behind you. Do something to make the situation better, e.g. ask friends for advice and focus on a solution to the problem.
I’d like to ask you some questions about your personal life, signora.’
‘Our personal life?’ she repeated, as though she had never heard of such a thing. When he didn’t answer this, she nodded, signalling him to begin.
‘Could you tell me how long you and your husband were married?’
‘Nineteen years.’
‘How many children do you have, signora?’
‘Two. Claudio is seventeen and Francesca is fifteen.’
‘Are they in school in Venice, signora?’
She looked up at him sharply when he asked this.
‘Why do you want to know that?’
‘My own daughter, Chiara, is fourteen, so perhaps they know each other,’ he answered and smiled to show what an innocent question it had been.
‘Claudio is in school in Switzerland, but Francesca is here. With us. I mean,’ she corrected, rubbing a hand across her forehead, ‘with me.’
‘Would you say yours was a happy marriage, signora?’
‘Yes,’ she answered immediately, far faster than Brunetti would have answered the same question, though he would have given the same response. She did not, however, elaborate.
‘Could you tell me if your husband had any particularly close friends or business associates?’
She looked up at this question, then as quickly down again at her hands. ‘Our closest friends are the Nogares, Mirto and Graziella. He’s an architect who lives in Campo Sant’Angelo. They’re Francesca’s godparents. I don’t know about business associates: you’ll have to ask Ubaldo.’
‘Other friends, signora?’
‘Why do you need to know all this?’ she said, voice rising sharply.
‘I’d like to learn more about your husband, signora.’
‘Why?’ The question leaped from her, almost as if beyond her volition.
‘Until I understand what sort of man he was, I can’t understand why this has happened.’
‘A robbery?’ she asked, voice just short of sarcasm.
‘It wasn’t robbery. Whoever killed him intended to do it.’
An elderly couple are going to swap candles for light bulbs after 37 years without electricity at their Suffolk home. Pat Payne, 74, and his wife Margaret, 72, brought up their large family in their farmhouse in Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds, without any modern appliances.
Their children left home years ago but now one of them has moved back and is paying £19,000 to have electricity put in the 200-year-old house next month. Mrs Payne said that she was looking forward to ‘being modernized’ but does not feel that she has missed much by not having electricity.
‘It would have been nice to have been able to do the ironing or to have a vacuum cleaner instead of having to sweep the floor, but we got by,’ she said. ‘I think our children are more excited about us getting electricity than we are.’
The couple have mostly lived off the land. Mr Payne, a former farm labourer, grows vegetables in the garden. Without a fridge or freezer in the three-bedroom house, milk is delivered every other day and fresh meat is bought as needed. Water comes from a well.
Mrs Payne used to wash clothes by hand, and with nine children that was a lot of clothes, but she believes that not having electricity may have been a good thing for her children while they were growing up. ‘Instead of watching television, they played together and used to make up games or read books,’ she said.
The life also suited her and her husband. ‘Neither of us has ever been seriously ill and we rarely get a cough or cold,’ Mrs Payne said. ‘With our fresh vegetables and not having central heating it’s been a very healthy way to live.’ The couple have 24 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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