FEMI TAIWO ON MONDAY: Enhancing Serendipity (ii)

Michael Oluwafemi Taiwo, Ph.D

There are principles by which people live that make them turn out to be lucky or unlucky. The first one I introduced last time was the principle of maximizing chance opportunities. To do this, you need to be able to create, notice and respond to chance events. Another principle is to listen to your gut feelings.

Like the tip of an iceberg, our conscious knowledge is only a small part of our mental arsenal. Our subconscious is teeming with loads of information submerged within a sea of awareness. When you are confronted with a new challenge, you quickly summon the weapons you recognize you have to overcome it. Many times this will be enough – we are blessed with a dizzying array of battle resources to fight and win life’s battles. Examples of these combat resources are friends, families, recollected previous experiences, education and money. Usually, you are aware of these methods and you don’t fail to call upon them if you think they are needed to accomplish the task at hand. What I have described so far applies to both lucky and unlucky folks alike.

Where the difference emerges is in how they treat their subconscious. People who appear to be lucky take active steps in boosting their intuition. They engage in practices that allow their minds to pick up on weak signals. They constantly sharpen their minds by cleaning. For instance, meditation is a common practice among successful (lucky) people. There are various forms of meditation but they all essentially serve the same purpose: to transport the soul to meet with itself. When the soul meets with itself, the miraculous happens. Perception deepens and solutions bubble to the surface. The reason is because at that metaphysical depth, awareness heightens and the subconscious is easily tapped for answers. Prayer is also a practice that boosts intuition. Prayer is a soul’s conversation with its Maker. When you pray true prayers, you are real. You drop all pretenses and you speak from your heart. By speaking to a God you believe can answer, you begin to feel the answer. Your mind begins to work – without your cognitive input – on the problem at hand. It was Einstein that said problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that produced them. Prayer elevates your level of thinking to resolve problems. I will also add that fasting is another practice that fine tunes your instincts. When you eliminate food from your system for a while, your spirit becomes amazingly sharp and you will be able to perform feats that you couldn’t dare before.

This trinity of meditation, prayer and fasting is a time-honored practiced used from the dawn of civilization to boost the mental powers of man. This is why every major religion strongly advocates them. This is also why it appears that religious people are more successful, overall, than undisciplined irreligious folks.

Lucky people also take active steps to safeguard their minds. They know they need their gut feelings and for their gut feelings to be accurate their minds need to be clear. They do their best to allow no corrupting thought to linger in their minds. Corruption is a virus that destroys its host. They think on whatever is pure and noble. They are not saints or perfect by any means but this is what they strive to become.

If you think about the remarkable progress mankind has made over thousands of years, you will agree there is little that our minds cannot achieve. The trick to unlocking the mind’s powers is to unclutter it. Meditation, prayer, fasting and thinking noble thoughts are tried and true ways to clear the mind so that it can be receptive to the answers out there. Your gut feelings will be accurate when your mind is free of dirt. And when you listen to these gut feelings, you will make better choices. It is the secret to a lucky life.

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