On my way up Canyon Acres to hike the “other” hill yesterday, I swooped down on a penny lying on the side of the road. It was heads. Yes! Good luck. I stuck the coin in my pocket and later dropped it into the blue, hobbit-sized covered jar in the kitchen filled with pennies. If the penny had been tails, I would’ve flipped it over for the next person to discover. Create some good luck for the next person. I haven’t a clue when or why I started this custom. All I know is that it was with a feeling of joy and anticipation.

 For the most part, I’ve abandoned all those other little rituals I grew up with, like uncrossing knives because it’s bad luck, throwing a pinch of spilled salt over my left shoulder for good luck, or expecting a windfall when my right hand itches. And I walk under ladders. Is that because I go fearlessly into the future? Not really. I worry about things. But I believe that luck is believing you’re lucky. I believe that as James Allen states in that little gem of a book he wrote in 1902, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” So today, for fun, I added a qualification to my penny ritual, if it’s shiny and new, the luck factor gets a boost. The one I found today was shiny and new.