Luck is an interesting concept, sometimes discarded as insubstantial, sometimes relied on excessively and often misunderstood and not well explored.
In this article, we (Pete Dalton and Stewart Blackburn) offer some musings on the topic of luck from a Huna perspective.
Stewart writes:
Oh, to be lucky!
The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.
Douglas MacArthur
Many people, from Albus Dumbledore to Douglas MacArthur, agree that the best luck is what you make yourself. That’s certainly a lovely thought, but how do you make luck? Is it as so many other people say that luck is when preparation meets opportunity?
Well, from a shamanic perspective that idea about preparation is probably true if we recognize that much, if not most, of that preparation is mental and emotional. “So, what mental and emotional preparations are involved?” you might ask. For starters, there seems to be a “lucky mindset” that anyone can adopt. A “lucky mindset” would include beliefs that it’s okay to be lucky and that we deserve to be lucky. It would include an open connection to one’s intuition and inner guidance. It would also include the ability to focus on what is desired, and a great appreciation for what brings pleasure and joy.
Good luck is what some ascribe to things inexplicitly going well. I think it’s more useful to think of good luck as the results of uniting our thoughts and our feelings in a harmonious and effective fashion. We often overlook the power of our feelings. But, when we look at how things come to be, once the thoughts have arisen, it’s the thoughts that have the most energy behind them that come to fruition first.
Another way of looking at this is that what we are most highly motivated to do, be, or have, is what we are likely to experience. We can learn to use our energy more effectively and that’s a great way not only become luckier, but also increase our effectiveness overall. To use our energy more effectively requires our attention to both what we are thinking and feeling, but also the results of our thoughts and feelings. That’s where luck and pleasure come in. They are our signals that we are either on the right track or off it.
To be “lucky” is to bring what we’re looking for into our lives most of the time. It’s a skill that will have great rewards for the rest of our lives. If we all develop this skill the world will become a much more enjoyable place to live.
Pete writes:
Most people have some notion of luck, but when asked to really explore what it is and what it means find themselves entering a strange territory full of ambiguity and uncertainty. Many people seem to want more luck in their lives, other people may consider that they already have a lot of luck.
The seven Huna principles offer an excellent lens through which we can explore luck and create more of it in our lives. Here, as an example, I provide just two simple pointers relating to two Huna principles.
Our experience of reality is malleable and based around our beliefs which can be changed. The principle of Ike posits that ‘the world is what you think it is’. It is therefore unsurprising that it has been found that people who seem to be lucky have a tendency to believe they are lucky. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy which underpins the power that our beliefs have over our life. A useful exercise is to explore your own beliefs about luck, do you tend to believe you are lucky or unlucky? If the latter, what would it be like to change that belief? If you already consider yourself lucky, could you do even more to notice examples of luck in your life and really amplify your experience of being lucky?
One of the practices relating to the principle of Aloha is appreciation. Appreciation is a most valuable skill to hone as not only does it provide us with a form of present moment pleasure, but it allows us to resonate with the qualities of whatever it is that we are appreciating. Therefore, one way to enhance our luck is to be begin to notice and appreciate things around us that we consider to have the qualities of luck. This can include anything from people, to animals to objects to circumstances. This not only encourages us to notice luck around us but can also be useful for people who personally don’t feel particularly lucky and who may find it easier to start by noticing luck outside of themselves. This is a great exercise to practice on a regular basis.
Huna teaches that there is always something you can do in any situation and the principles of Huna offer many routes to taking action to increase our luck.
Interested In Exploring This Topic Further?
If you are interested in exploring this topic in more depth then you’re in luck!
We have put together a brand new seven part online class entitled The Huna Adventurer’s Guide to Luck, Good Fortune and Success. We have a weekly class and the first one starts on 8th April and there is an early booking discount. More information is available at the link below
https://www.urbanhuna.org/event/the-huna-adventurers-guide-to-luck-good-fortune-and-success/