(from Psychology Today)

Putting faith in luck can be seen as ceding control of destiny to the universe. But luck is not the same as chance. People who believe luck works in their favour are motivated to try challenging tasks and persist at them, according to new research by Maia Young at UCLA. "The more you think of luck as a stable personal trait, the more you feel personal agency," Young says. And feeling in control breeds confidence.

You can also practice specific strategies to make luck work for you. By studying lucky people, Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in the UK has distilled four steps to good fortune.

• BREAK ROUTINE: Meet new people; walk a different route to work. New experiences offer fresh opportunities.

• TURN BAD INTO GOOD: If something upsetting happens, consider how it could have been worse, and try to draw something positive from it.

• TRUST YOUR GUT: Decisions informed by intuition often produce happier outcomes. Meditation can quiet the noise around your hunches.

• LOOK UP: Positive expectations are often self-fulfilling because they increase motivation and persistence.

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Related Links

The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman, The Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2003 - "A ten-year scientific study into the nature of luck has revealed that, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune. The results also show that it is possible to enhance the amount of luck that people encounter in their lives.

Born lucky? The relationship between feeling lucky and month of birth, Personality and Individual Differences, 39 (2005), 1451-1460: "Research suggests that season of birth is associated with several psychiatric and neurological disorders, and also with adult monoamine neurotransmitter turnover."

More on the Psychology of Luck by Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire, UK

Theory and Practice

• RC Ward ATC - Evening Programming Incorporates Art Therapy as an Adjunct Treatment by Patricia Quinn, Patricia Quinn, M.S., ATR-BC, LCAT, CASAC, January 2008
• Stealing Fire - A Metaphor For Men In Recovery by Thomas Rue, M.A., LMHC, CASAC, December 2007
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Addiction by Thomas Rue, M.A., LMHC, CASAC, April 2001

Viejo companero del misionario sent this, calling it a rare inspirational tale. "Don't know about it's authenticity," he added as a caveat, "but I like it."

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Pasted below is a recent item from The New York Times.

Here's a brief summary of an interesting paper entitled Attitudes Toward Sexual Relationships: Comparisons of LDS and Never-LDS Churchgoers by Michael Nielsen, professor of psychology and religion at Georgia Southern University, on PsyRel. At the bottom of the entry, Dr. Nielsen kindly notes, "There are more details, of course, so if you are dying with curiosity send me an email for a copy of the paper" -- which of course I did. The results are not surprising, but still interesting.

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[Note: This is something unfinished that I started a couple of years ago. I recently came across it on my hard drive in a file dated May 28, 2004. I don't know when I'll get back to it, so I'm placing it here for the moment.] See hererelated abstracts.

I first heard the name of John Money as an undergraduate 25 years ago in Psychology of Women and Human Sexuality classes. His obituary in today's edition of The New York Times caught my attention.