Forget the British stiff upper lip for a moment. Forget the crassness of blowing your own trumpet. Forget the silly-billyness of positive affirmations. Most of all, forget everything you’ve been told about polite self-restraint.

Just for today, you’re going to enter a new reality and it’s one where you are on the cover of all the magazines (in a good way) and every single talk show wants to book you for the headline slot.

Your mission… if you dare to accept it… is to spend the day believing your own hype. The rules are simple:

1) Choose your persona
2) Dress in a way that makes this persona proud
3) Eat, walk, speak and make all your decisions using the mindset of your inner persona

Yes, you can sashay all day long if you want to… so long as at night-time, before you go to bed, you think about how you lived the buzz about yourself and note what you’d like to carry through into tomorrow.

I think I’ll do this one too – let me know how you got on!

—
Photo Credit: Katagaci
—

I’ve always been a bookworm and I have thousands of books – fiction and non-fiction.

Recently my husband observed I had a lot of unfinished books lying around.

“Huh?” I said.

I hadn’t noticed this but for many months, I’ve been leaving the last chapter of every book unread. The book simply “fizzles out” when I get near to the end and I start on a new one.

I thought this was very curious but didn’t think anything of it until I suddenly remembered a two minute “event” that had happened a year ago.

I was getting on a plane holding “The Tao of Pooh” and thought to myself “I hope this plane doesn’t blow up before I finish this.” Then I started thinking about all the lovely books I had at home and promised myself that I wouldn’t die until I’d finished all my books. (as one does)

Evidently, ever since then, I’ve been subconsciously assuring an eternal life for myself by leaving every book unfinished.

The amazing thing is that I’ve been doing all this without even being aware I’m doing it. No goal setting, no deliberate intention, no effort. I superstitioned (great word) myself while getting onto an aeroplane and now am doomed to never ever know how the story ends.  (I’ve been leaving murder mysteries unfinished too).

We make an off-the-cuff promise to ourselves and our subconscious tries to carry it out for us. I wonder how many of our behaviours start so innocently and continue under the radar preventing us doing what we want to do.

It’s not always bad though- the right compliment at the right time embeds confidence. What’s the word for a helpful superstition?

A de-superstitioning has now taken place and I will definitely finish my current book (even if I have to superglue it to my hands) – “When Nietzsche Wept” – an excellent read by the way.  I’ll finish ALL my books… except for perhaps one… well, you never know…

Do you have any superstitious behaviours that you are aware of? (or aren’t aware of…)

Photo credit: Lusi