Creating Your Own Luck
Have you ever noticed how some people just seem lucky? Opportunities fall into their laps, chance encounters turn into new adventures, and even their mistakes somehow work out for the best. The truth is, luck isn’t just random good fortune; it’s a skill we can develop.
Lucky people look for opportunities, ask questions, and act on the unexpected. Often, what seems like a setback or mistake can lead to new opportunities, if we stay open and curious. The discoveries of penicillin and Post-it Notes are classic examples: both began as accidents that creative people reframed and turned into successes.
In The Serendipity Mindset, Christian Busch identifies 3 steps for cultivating this kind of intentional luck:
1. Notice unexpected events – Slow down, stay curious, and keep an open-mind. When something unexpected happens, don’t dismiss it. Instead, pause and ask what opportunity it might present. Sometimes we get lucky because we are paying attention.
One day, I was seated next to a woman I didn’t know at a luncheon. During our conversation, she mentioned that her daughter had just gotten married. I told her that our son was engaged, and she immediately began talking about how wonderful their wedding planner had been. I hadn’t even started thinking about wedding planning yet, but I asked if she would mind sharing the planner’s contact information. My son and his fiancée ended up hiring her, and she made the entire process so much smoother. The wedding turned out beautifully!
2. Connect the dots – Look for ways the unexpected might relate to your goals or interests. Share your ideas and intentions with others; new connections and insights often emerge in conversation.
Years ago, while waiting to have my car serviced, I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. When I mentioned I was writing a book on well-being, she told me she had recently published a book herself. She offered to introduce me to her publisher, which turned out to be an incredible stroke of luck. That chance encounter led me one step closer to becoming a published author.
3. Act on possibilities – Serendipity favors those who take action. When something sparks your interest, don’t let the moment pass. Follow up, explore, and see where the unexpected might take you.
Soon after we moved to Virginia, I ran into a neighbor at the grocery store. She told me she’d just finished a barre class. I had no idea what that was, but when she invited me to join her the next week, I decided to give it a try. I was hooked! The classes not only became a fun new routine but also made a real difference in my fitness level.
Serendipity often starts as something small, a fleeting comment or random invitation. We get lucky based on how we respond. When we stay open, connect our experiences, and take action, we begin to notice opportunities everywhere.
Why Plants Win
Study after study confirms that eating more plants leads to better health. A meta-analysis of over 2 million people found that those who ate a healthy plant-based diet had
- 16% lower risk of death from any cause
- 18% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes
- 12% lower risk of cancer
- 10% lower risk of cardiovascular disease
Another study showed that a vegetarian diet lowered the risk of several types of cancer. And in a groundbreaking Harvard study, researchers tracked the diets of nearly 203,000 adults over 30 years. They discovered that people who ate more plant protein and less animal protein, specifically a plant-to-animal protein ratio of 1:1.3, were 27% less likely to develop heart disease than those with a ratio of 1:4.2.
Plant proteins win because they offer benefits that animal proteins lack:
- Fiber – Essential for gut health and cholesterol control, fiber lowers LDL cholesterol and helps regulate blood sugar levels by improving insulin sensitivity. It also feeds beneficial gut bacteria, which produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate that reduce inflammation, enhance metabolism, and support immune function.
- Polyphenols – These powerful chemicals have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that protect the cells lining your arteries from oxidative damage and reduce inflammation, a root cause of most chronic diseases.
- Essential nutrients and healthy fats – Some examples include magnesium for regulating blood pressure, potassium to support heart rhythm, and folate, which is crucial for red blood cell formation. Healthy fats improve cholesterol profiles and enhance blood flow to reduce clotting risk.
The good news is you don’t need to become a vegetarian to reap these benefits. Simply swap red and processed meats, which are carcinogens, for plant proteins more often. And see how many additional plants you can incorporate into your meals. Add beans to your salads or soups. Snack on nuts or edamame. Sprinkle seeds on everything. I have a chia/flax/hemp seed mix that I put on avocado toast and a pumpkin/sunflower seed mix that I eat with berries. Spices count, too!
I love to see how many different plants I can add to a dish. Each one brings its own unique blend of nutrients and polyphenols to support my health.
Become the CEO of Your Health
Modern medicine is amazing at treating acute problems. Thanks to advances in emergency care, survival rates after major trauma have increased by more than 50% since the 1970s. Heart attack mortality has dropped significantly over the past several decades due to interventions like clot-busting drugs, angioplasty, and stents.
But when it comes to preventing chronic illness, modern medicine falls short. Chronic diseases, like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many cancers, are now the leading causes of death worldwide. The CDC estimates that 6 in 10 U.S. adults have at least one chronic disease. Most of these conditions are the result of lifestyle factors, not genetics or bad luck.
That’s why you must take control of your own health. Your daily habits are the most powerful tool you have to prevent disease and promote long-term well-being. One way to approach this is to become the CEO of your own health. Here’s what that means:
- You’re the expert on you. Just like a CEO knows their company inside and out, you know your body better than anyone else. You may see your doctor a few times each year, but you live in your body 24/7. You’re the one who notices how you feel, what energizes you, and what stresses you out. That makes you the most qualified person to lead your health journey.
- Prevention beats crisis management. CEOs don’t just react to problems, they anticipate them, setting strategy, tracking progress, and making adjustments when necessary. The same applies to your health. Taking ownership means proactively investing in sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress management before problems arise. It also means staying curious and informed so you can make smart decisions.
- Build your health team. No CEO succeeds alone. They surround themselves with a team of advisors, and so should you. Your team might include doctors, fitness trainers, nutritionists, or friends and family. Some of them might be experts online who inspire and educate you. These people can offer guidance and accountability, but ultimately, you are responsible for your choices.
In a world where chronic illness is on the rise, healthcare systems are overwhelmed, and modern life often works against our well-being, it’s more important than ever to take the lead. Becoming the CEO of your health means making intentional lifestyle choices and surrounding yourself with the right support. Don’t wait for a crisis to take action. Start now. Because at the end of the day, you are the only person truly responsible for your well-being.
Using Strengths to Build Well-Being
I’m a big believer in the power of strengths. Over the years, I’ve written many blog posts and a book chapter on the topic, and I’ve taught classes focused on the benefits of discovering and applying our natural talents. Using your strengths to pursue goals makes the process both easier and more enjoyable.
There are many tools available to help you identify your strengths. According to the StrengthsFinder assessment, some of mine are learner, discipline, and maximizer. Here’s how I have used them to my advantage:
- Learner – My love of learning has helped me with so many things. It made earning my Ph.D., teaching, conducting research, and writing blogs and books more enjoyable. It’s also helped me improve my well-being. I’m constantly reading or listening to podcasts about the latest findings regarding exercise, nutrition, sleep, and stress management. Taking an online cooking class was a fun way to discover new plant-based recipes.
- Discipline – I like my world to be ordered and predictable. Routines work well for me, so I follow a weekly schedule for things like workouts and writing. There are mornings when I really don’t feel like getting on the bike, but I let my calendar, not my mood determine what I do.
- Maximizer – I love trying to improve things, so I’m always making small changes in search of better outcomes. Whether it’s trying to improve my sleep routine by going outside first thing in the morning, finding ways to add more vegetables to a meal, or incorporating more strength training into my workouts, I’m always looking for ways to do better.
We each have our own unique strengths, so I encourage you to identify yours and think about how to use them to achieve your goals.
- If curiosity is your strength, a rigid workout schedule like mine is unlikely to motivate you. You’d be better off exploring new hiking trails or trying different forms of exercise.
- Achievers are motivated by setting goals, like walking 7,500 steps a day, or by tracking their progress, such as increasing reps each week.
- If relationship building is a strength, go on walks with a friend, join a fitness class, or sign up for a cooking workshop.
- For those of you who are creative, turn your kitchen into a studio where you can experiment with healthy, new recipes. And if you’re both creative and curious, challenge yourself to cook something each week with a new ingredient, maybe jackfruit, kohlrabi, or lion’s mane.
Make getting healthier easier and more fun by identifying your strengths and putting them to work for you!
Understanding “Inflammaging”
Inflammation is the body’s natural defense mechanism, designed to help us heal from injuries or fight off infections. In these cases, it’s a good thing, like a controlled campfire that keeps you warm and safe. Ideally, once the threat is gone, the inflammation dies down. But when it doesn’t subside, even at low levels, it can cause harm. Chronic inflammation speeds up aging and contributes to many serious diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and dementia. It’s like a campfire that isn’t extinguished and becomes a destructive wildfire.
“Inflammaging” is the term used to describe the increase in chronic, low-grade inflammation that tends to occur as we age. But today, this isn’t just a concern for older adults. Thanks to our modern lifestyle, many people are experiencing this type of inflammation much earlier in life. Their immune systems stay activated, mistakenly sensing danger all the time, like a smoke alarm that won’t stop beeping.
Several factors contribute to this constant state of immune activation, including:
- Obesity – excess body fat releases pro-inflammatory cytokines which are chemical messengers that regulate immune responses. When produced in excess, these cytokines keep the immune system on high alert, contributing to chronic inflammation.
- Unhealthy diets – diets high in processed foods and added sugars can spike inflammation. They also disrupt the gut microbiome, allowing harmful bacteria to weaken the intestinal lining. This condition, known as “leaky gut”, lets toxins and food particles enter the bloodstream and trigger immune responses.
- Sedentary lifestyle – low physical activity has been linked to inflammation, while regular movement helps keep inflammatory markers in check.
- Poor sleep – inadequate sleep prevents the body from repairing itself, fueling low-grade, chronic inflammation.
- Chronic stress – stress elevates cortisol levels, which, over time, can impair the immune system and increase inflammation.
The good news is that you have the power to slow aging and reduce your risk of developing disease by making intentional lifestyle choices. Eating a healthy diet, regular movement, sufficient sleep, and managing stress can help keep chronic inflammation in check.
Specific foods that are anti-inflammatory include berries, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, avocados, legumes, fatty fish, nuts, olive oil, garlic, turmeric, ginger, green tea, and dark chocolate. Practicing intermittent fasting and maintaining muscle mass have also been linked to lower levels of inflammation. Aerobic exercise directly reduces inflammation, while resistance training helps by building the strength of your muscles.
What changes will you make in your daily behaviors to delay aging and prevent illness?
How to Have a Longer, Happier Summer
Summer is a wonderful time to create happy memories. There are a few simple ways we can hack our brains, so the season feels longer and we have more positive memories. Since our brains can’t store every detail, they must choose what to remember. Typically, they prioritize two things: 1) experiences that are new or unusual, and 2) the most intense and final moments of an event.
I’ve written before about how our brains tend to compress repetitive experiences into fewer memory units, while novel experiences are stored separately. This helps explain why time feels like it speeds up as we get older; our days often become more routine, giving our brains fewer new experiences to record.
This means that one way to make summer feel longer is to do more novel things. Choosing a new vacation spot is a great way to do this, but even if you return to the same place or stay home, you can still shake things up. Try dining at a different restaurant, experimenting with a new recipe, going to a concert or movie at a venue you’ve never been to, exploring unfamiliar music or book genres, visiting a museum, park, or historical site you haven’t explored, taking a dance or pottery class, introducing a new board game to family night, or engaging in a different form of exercise. Why not plan to try one new thing each week for the rest of the summer?
In addition to making more memories, you can also increase the likelihood that your memories are happy. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman discovered that when people recall an event, they tend to focus on two key moments: the most intense part and the ending. This is known as the peak-end effect. In one study, participants were more willing to repeat a session of submerging their hands in cold water if it ended with slightly warmer water, even though the session was longer. It’s not the duration of an experience that matters most, but how it ends. If the peak moment and the ending are positive, we’re more likely to remember the experience as enjoyable.
To create happy summer memories, plan one standout experience that is emotionally intense and fun, like a special getaway, a big cookout or themed dinner party, or attending a major sports event or concert. You can also build in micro-peaks throughout the summer. Think sunset picnics, a day on the lake, watching the summer’s biggest movie, or treating the kids to their favorite ice cream spot. Each one adds a joyful highlight.
Finally, try to end your experiences on a high note. If you’ve had a bad day at the office, do something enjoyable when you get home like going for a sunset stroll or relaxing by the firepit after dinner. Save one of your vacations for late summer. Wrap up a beach week with a festive dinner and sparklers for the kids.
By filling your summer with novel experiences, joyful peak moments, and positive endings, you’ll make the season feel longer and fill it with happy memories.
Why You Should Do Hard Things
I’ve written about the benefits of doing hard things before. Here I explain how doing unpleasant things can increase our happiness and here I discuss how short bursts of stress can trigger biological processes that enhance health, slow aging, and make us more resilient.
Since most of us don’t like doing hard things, I wanted to write more about why discomfort is so beneficial for our minds and bodies. In The Comfort Crisis, Michael Easter reminds of us that our ancestors regularly faced hardships such as constant movement, bursts of intense exercise when hunting, fasting when food was scarce, eating plants that contained low levels of toxins, and exposure to extreme temperatures. While modern conveniences have made life far more comfortable, they’ve distanced us from the challenging conditions our bodies evolved to handle. This mismatch between our evolutionary design and our current lifestyle is contributing to rising levels of disease and unhappiness.
Our bodies are equipped with natural defense systems called cellular stress responses that help repair damage and protect us. These responses are triggered by certain types of stress. By adding some good stress back into our lives, we can activate these responses and tap into our bodies’ natural capacity to heal, regenerate, and build resilience.
The science behind this is both fascinating and complex. Dr. Sharon Bergquist explains it well in her book, The Stress Paradox. Basically, stress disrupts our internal balance, prompting the body to activate its natural defense systems to restore equilibrium.
Dr. Bergquist identifies five stressors that can make a meaningful impact on our health:
- Eat a variety of plant toxins. Phytochemicals in plants act like natural pesticides. They are mild toxins intended to discourage us from eating them. However, when we ingest them in small amounts, they activate numerous pathways that help protect against disease. Eat more plants!
- Practice intermittent bursts of movement. Exercise is one of the best forms of good stress, enhancing our cells’ ability to produce energy efficiently. When we exercise, chemicals are released that reduce inflammation, help repair DNA, and protect against cancer. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week.
- Experience extremes of heat and cold. Cold exposure activates brown fat, which burns energy to warm you up, supporting better metabolic and cardiovascular health. Heat exposure has similar effects as exercise, helping to lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Both cold and heat exposure activate the body’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses. Embrace saunas, hot tubs, cold showers, and cold plunges!
- Endure periods of food scarcity. Fasting improves metabolic flexibility, which is the body’s ability to switch from using glucose to burning stored fat for energy. Limiting your eating window to around 10 hours a day can help prevent insulin resistance, a key contributor to many chronic diseases. Fasting also reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, supports DNA repair, clears out cellular waste, and boosts energy.
- Engage in deliberate psychological challenges. The right amount of psychological stress changes our brain chemistry and nervous system, enhancing cognitive abilities and helping us better handle future challenges. When stress is short term and manageable, rather than chronic, it can lead to personal growth and a sense of accomplishment. Seek out challenges and pursue creative activities that require critical thinking.
Learning to Shift Your Emotions
In his book, Shift, Ethan Kross addresses what he considers “one of the greatest challenges we face as a species: how to manage our emotional lives.” While this is a bold claim, I agree that improving our ability to control our emotions could lead to greater happiness.
Emotions offer valuable insights that guide our responses to different situations. Experiencing a range of emotions, both positive and negative, is essential for a full life. While we can’t control our initial emotional reaction to an event, we can learn to influence its trajectory.
Kross explains that we can use both internal and external tools to regulate our emotions.
Three internal tools include:
- Sensory Shifters – While many of us know that listening to music can alter our mood, we often don’t use it intentionally to shift our emotions. Sensory experiences such as sounds, sights, smells, or touch are among the quickest and easiest strategies for emotion regulation. Keep a playlist or a favorite candle handy for when you need a mood change.
- Attention Shifters – The ability to flexibly deploy your attention is a strong indicator of resilience. Temporarily distracting yourself from a stressful or traumatic event can provide relief until time helps the emotions fade. However, complete avoidance can exacerbate the issue, so spending some time processing your emotions can foster grow and help you move beyond the experience.
- Perspective Shifters – Gaining distance allows us to address a problem without becoming overwhelmed. One effective method for shifting your perspective is distanced self-talk, where using “you” or referring to yourself in the third person can quickly reduce negative emotions. Another technique is to reflect on past challenges you’ve overcome or envision how things will be different in the future, reminding yourself of the impermanence of all situations.
Three external tools are:
- Space Shifters – Our surroundings influence our emotions. You can alter your emotional state by modifying or switching your environment. Curate your space by removing things that trigger unwanted emotions, like cookies in your kitchen that may lead to regret, or adding positive elements, like a photo of a loved one, to enhance your emotional experience. Identify special places that being your joy, like a favorite vacation spot, coffee shop, or reading nook. Green spaces, in particular, have been found to boost everyone’s mood.
- Relationship Shifters – People can help us shift our emotions in two ways: 1) by listening, empathizing, and validating our feelings and 2) by helping us to see things from a different perspective. While venting allows us to express our emotions, it can make things worse. We also need people who can provide insight and help us move forward.
- Culture Shifters – Culture shapes our environments, influencing the norms and behaviors considered acceptable. Engaging in rituals can positively shift our moods by giving us a sense of control. Find rituals that help you, such as going for a walk, reading, journaling, or meditating.
Learning to amplify the feelings you want and minimize those that cause you to suffer can improve your emotional well-being. Different tools work for different people. Practice engaging your senses, redirecting your attention, using distanced self-talk, and altering your environment to identify the strategies that work best for you.
Let Them, Let Me
I’ve written several blog posts about how important acceptance and focusing on what you can control are for your psychological well-being. In her latest book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins explains how to improve your happiness and relationships by no longer wasting energy on things you can’t control. We can stop giving power to other people by using two words, Let Them.
Instead of attempting to change someone else’s behavior, opinions, or mood, just Let Them. You can’t control another person; the only person you have control over is you. Allowing someone else’s behavior to stress you out gives them power over your life. Reclaim your power by controlling your own response, Let Me. It’s not your responsibility to manage other people’s emotions. You can choose to be the loving, mature adult.
Here are some areas of your life where you can apply the principles of Let Them and Let Me.
- Co-workers – Stop fixating on the problems. Instead of letting others stress you out, Let Me focus on what I can do through my actions and my attitude to improve the situation.
- Other people’s opinions – Let Them think what they want and Let Me start living my life in a way that makes me proud of myself.
- Family – Let Them be who they are. Let Me change the dynamic and create the relationship I want by choosing how I show up. Acceptance and understanding can help me view them with compassion.
- Comparison – Don’t obsess over the cards in someone else’s hand. Let Them live their life and Let Me live mine. Instead of seeing comparison as a threat, let it be an inspiration, showing you what is possible.
- Adult friendships – Friendships come and go with changing life circumstances, so you need to be flexible. Let Them go and Let Me take responsibility for creating new relationships and maintaining connections with old friends.
- Partners – People only change when they choose to. Pressuring them creates resistance, so Let Them. Let Me model the behaviors I’d like to see and celebrate if they do change. Relationships are about loving someone for who they are. You get to decide whether to accept their behavior or move on.
You are in charge of your own happiness. You can’t control what others do, think, or feel, so stop trying. Instead, focus on what you can control: your response. Your power lies in letting them be who they are and choosing the attitudes and behaviors that bring you happiness and fulfillment. It won’t always be easy, but it’s incredibly freeing when you learn to just Let Them!
What Can You Do?
The unprecedented amount of change and uncertainty we are facing today can be extremely stressful. With so many things out of our control, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. Yet this is precisely when initiative, service, and advocacy are most needed.
So what can you do? In times like these, it’s crucial to focus on what you can control. Worrying about the potential impact of all the changes won’t help. Instead, direct your energy where you have the power to effect change. This will give you a sense of agency, which will motivate you to take steps to improve your life and the lives of those around you.
Consider the areas of your life where you do have influence. What can you do to help your family stay healthy and happy? How can you assist your clients or co-workers in navigating these turbulent times? There may be specific actions you can take to protect your people and your company. What could you do to boost the well-being of those you interact with?
Our communities are also suffering. Volunteering not only helps those in need but also gives you a sense of making a positive difference. If you live in Atlanta, Hands On Atlanta offers hundreds of volunteer opportunities. For example, you could help feed children who no longer receive free school lunches or support families affected by job losses.
To accomplish any of these tasks, you must first take care of your own well-being. Self-care is not selfish; it’s essential. You can only help others if you are physically and mentally healthy. Research shows that happier people are more likely to take action to improve society. While some may think happiness causes us to worry less about the world, one study found that happiness is actually linked to greater concern and action regarding societal issues.
Fortunately, you have significant control over your well-being. You can choose to eat more real, whole foods. While stress might tempt you to reach for comfort foods like chips or ice cream, take a moment to consider how much better you’ll feel if you make a healthy food choice. It will give you more energy, boost your mood, and make you feel proud of yourself.
Try to be more active throughout the day. Prioritize getting enough sleep, practice breathing exercises, and spend less time on your phone by silencing it or leaving it in another room. Focusing on these things that you can control will give you a sense of personal agency, putting you in a better physical and mental state to help others.
Every day, you have the power to make choices and take actions that positively impact your life and the lives of those around you. Approach each day with intention and purpose by focusing on what you can do.
