Good Luck Gold

Ever have a really bad, really unlucky day? You wake up and one thing after another happens. Maybe you wake up late and you brush your teeth and you dress and you run down the stairs – and you almost fall down the stairs – and you drink your orange juice, and you spill your orange juice all over your shirt. Ever have a day like that? Used to be I'd start having an unlucky day and it would make me so mad, I would stomp around ready to bite somebody's head off. And what would happen? The day would just get worse. It was like I was a magnet for bad luck.

Well, a few years ago I decided I was not handling these bad days the right way. I needed to do something different. So I came up with this: as soon as the day starts to turn bad, I stop, take a deep breath, shake out my shoulders, and think of one good, one lucky thing that has happened to me recently. And the most amazing thing happens. When I start thinking about the good things that have happened to me, I start to feel better, and I can be myself again, and say hello and smile and hold doors open. And when I'm myself again, my luck starts to change. Well, it works about 80% of the time.

Luck plays an important role in traditional Chinese culture, and when I was a baby one month old, my grandparents gave me a red egg and ginger party – and my good luck gold. Here's my poem "Good Luck Gold" from the book of the same name:

Good Luck Gold

When I was a baby
one month old,
my grandparents gave me
good luck gold:
a golden ring
so soft it bends,
a golden necklace
hooked at the ends,
a golden bracelet
with coins that say
I will be rich
and happy someday.

I wish that gold
would work
real soon.
I need my luck
this afternoon.

– from Good Luck Gold

So if you ever find yourself needing luck right now, this instant, remember: Stop. Take a deep breath, shake out your shoulders, and think of one lucky – even slightly lucky – thing that's happened to you recently. And chances are, you will change your luck.