Superstitions you've knowingly engaged in

[rickymooston]

Be honest in this thread. Any part of your life where you have done something or not done something because of a superstition.

For example, when its the play offs, I never say my team is going to win the Stanley cup.

Its "bad luck". ||666||

How about you? Any times you've been weak and done things for no logical good reason.

[jetson]

I used to think Deepak Chopra was on to something.  Sue me.

[Dante]

It's funny. The only time I've been even the least bit superstitious is for sporting events, whether it was when I was playing hockey or watching the Steelers make a playoff run. I know its all BS, but sometimes I still allow myself to go there....

Otoh, my mother, who believes in JC, is one of the most superstitious people I've ever encountered. And I can't wrap my head around belief in both. Either or? Sure, no prob. But to believe in both seems....sacrelige.

[DKaimus]

I'm very superstitious when it comes to bowling, oddly enough. 

For example, if the guy on the lane next to you is looking at a nasty split, tradition says that you should wait until he's done before throwing your first shot, otherwise you'll split too.  And I have to be wearing two pairs of socks to bowl.  For absolutely NO GOOD REASON.

I'll never step on the chalk foul lines in baseball, either.  And I really don't know why. 

[dloubet]

I spent a while in college silently thanking inanimate objects when they functioned properly.

Unfortunately, to this day I loudly insult them when they don't.

[Nick]

I use to think bread and wine could be turned into the body of a god.

[rickymooston]

I use to think bread and wine could be turned into the body of a god.

your theist days don't count, that's kind of cheating. ||wink||

[rickymooston]

I used to think Deepak Chopra was on to something.  Sue me.

He uses a bit of plausible deniability doesn't he? Shrouding b.s around quantum and EEG explanations?

Don't know the details about the guy. He just sounds so informative ...

[plethora]

I don't think I have any left... although until recently I still did the "knock on wood" thing.

[Truth OT]

If I'm walking with someone, I will not split a pole.

[Zankuu]

This still happens to me from time to time:

*I couldn't find x. Guess I wasn't meant to find x.*

It's the price of indoctrination; having fate hammered into my skull as a kid I suppose.  And it is getting more rare the older I get, but I still catch myself doing it.

[Yellowjacket]

I used to play this game:

well, I didn't get this job that I applied for, and you know what?  It would have interfered with that job I applied for, which is really a better job, so I guess I am meant to get the better job.

I really believed that.  Everyone in my business is very "it wasn't meant to be" about being rejected, (and landing a great job only lasts a few months, tops) so you are perpetually looking for work.

but GUESS WHAT?  usually I didn't book either job. 

But I was buying into the whole "grand plan for your life" BS that Deepok and Oprah love to spout.

at 52 I have finally accepted that there is no "grand plan" for my life, only chaos, random fate, and whatever I myself make of it.

but honestly, I put off having children because I thought that "plan for my life" which I had prepared for was gonna kick in any minute and take off, bringing me fortune and a dream job which would interfere with motherhood.  All that positive energy was gonna bring Gawds great plan down on me - just keep putting it  out there!!!

in my early 30s I did turn very outwardly cynical about it, yet in my secret inner dialogue I still thought something great and powerful was gonna happen to me, even tho logically I realized I was aging out of any such opportunity.

I mean, middle aged women still catch a big break sometimes, don't they? after all - that must be the PLAN.

Zero.  zippo.  nada.

and now, I am no longer middle aged. 

[Ivellios]

She smokes, I cannot handle cigarettes so I guess it wasn't meant to be. 

I used to try to do all I could to get into a graveyard at midnight on Halloween. For years I kept missing it. Either I had to work, or I was too tired, or too far to walk. One year I finally managed it, and ... n o t h i n g. "Great Pumpkin!? Where are you!?"

All that effort, year after year... frak! 

[Truth OT]

I still won't say Candyman 3 times in a row. Nor will I say Bloody Mary as I look in the bathroom mirror. And finally, I am fully convinced that I can somehow affect the outcome of a game my favorite team is playing in by watching it.

[rickymooston]

at 52 I have finally accepted that there is no "grand plan" for my life, only chaos, random fate, and whatever I myself make of it.

Bit off topic but it sounds like you've hit the mother lode, discarding the false Taoism imitations for the real thing. Oprah and Deepak put a lot of spin of the real message.

but honestly, I put off having children because I thought that "plan for my life" which I had prepared for was gonna kick in any minute and take off, bringing me fortune and a dream job which would interfere with motherhood.  All that positive energy was gonna bring Gawds great plan down on me - just keep putting it  out there!!!

Well, i guess depends what you wanted in life. If getting children was the "plan for my life", well, you may have lost that opportunity. There may still be other things you've gained in exchange.

Nothing supernatural about it. 

Back on topic, did you walk on the cracks of side walks?

[curiousgirl]

When I was a little girl, I would not put my hands or feet over the edge of my bed because I was scared that there was a monster underneath my bed. Also, as a little girl, I was afraid of the whole "step on a crack, break your mother's back" thing as I walked down a sidewalk. 

I used to think that my sister and I, who are close in age, had some sort of psychic connection because we can finish each others sentences or we both think of a song we haven't heard in months or years and one of us starts singing it. Obviously, we just think alike because we were exposed to the same environment, but it was fun to think we had that connection even though we didn't.

[HalusN8er]

I will still say "knock on wood"  on occasion, although I know it's ridiculous.

When I watch a sport, if it's "my" team(and only if it's "my" team), I have always felt that I somehow affect the way the team plays just by watching it....usually in a negative way.

[rickymooston]

I will still say "knock on wood"  on occasion, although I know it's ridiculous.

When I watch a sport, if it's "my" team(and only if it's "my" team), I have always felt that I somehow affect the way the team plays just by watching it....usually in a negative way.

Do you cheer them on, essentially hoping they will listen to you through the TV? I do this and i cant help it, even tho on a logical level, I know its dumb.

[HalusN8er]

I will still say "knock on wood"  on occasion, although I know it's ridiculous.

When I watch a sport, if it's "my" team(and only if it's "my" team), I have always felt that I somehow affect the way the team plays just by watching it....usually in a negative way.

Do you cheer them on, essentially hoping they will listen to you through the TV? I do this and i cant help it, even tho on a logical level, I know its dumb.

I do....but what I usually think, is that they start performing badly when I start watching....I even sometimes change the channel hoping they will start doing better....it's silly.

[Gnu Ordure]

I remember when I did my counselling training twenty years ago, we were given a simple exercise on the power of the spoken word. Try it yourself at home.

First we had to identify someone in our lives who was in good health and who we loved deeply.

Then we each had to stand up in front of the class and state the following lie:

I really hope that (insert name here) contracts an incurable cancer next week, and suffers a long and agonizing death.

Some of us found that easy to do; some did it with difficulty and with some distress; some point-blank refused.

IIRC, there also seemed to be a difference in difficulty according to whether the sentence was said to oneself in silence, said out loud without an audience, or said out loud with an audience.

[rickymooston]

Some of us found that easy to do; some did it with difficulty and with some distress; some point-blank refused.

That's extremely interesting. In terms of the power of magic thinking and confirmation bias, statistically speaking, there is always a chance that something bad could happen to that person for at least one member of the class. The other people may forget but the person who "cursed" his/her loved one, could be deeply affected?

That exercise sounds hard to do.

[pingnak]

As a child, I was prone to quite a lot of the most idiotic superstitions.  Step on a crack, break yo momma's back, that sort of thing.  For a time, I was even religious.  Wouldn't hold my arms straight out, for fear of insulting the jesus thing.

As an adult, yeah, I still talk to inanimate objects.  "Git in there, you little &@#&*()$@*_!!!!!"

Any lapse into superstitious behavior bothers me.  Triggers introspection. 

For example, the weather simply is.  I don't complain about it. 

Short of building some pretty impressively huge machinery, or erecting and re-arranging mountains, I'm not going to affect the weather much, and not really in any beneficial ways even then. 

Well, relatively inexpensively, with a TBM, I could probably cool off some portion of an inland desert by digging canals and boring holes through mountains to bring the sea inland, and keep circulating the water somehow to keep it from getting too saline.  Certainly with a supply of water, a micro-climate could be arranged similar to evaporative cooling for a small area by constructing a waterfall on its way to the final sea.

But anyways, since that's beyond my means, and by no means would anyone LET ME do that sort of thing, even if I had access to the kind of wealth that could move mountains, the weather is immutable. 

So complaining about it would be a bit like 'prayer'.  It's not as if some invisible hand is on a giant thermostat somewhere, ready to heed my complaints about the heat or cold or lack of rain or too much rain.

[Odin]

I use to think bread and wine could be turned into the body of a god.

Unlike this statement, I always thought this ritual was symbolic.  Then when I learned that some folks actually believe bread and wine turn into flesh and blood, I started my journey to atheism.

Now, my only ritual is to say "grace."  For example, after grilling a good ribeye, I offer up the following:

Oh, great spook in the sky, bless us now as we prepare to devour the seared flesh of our defeated enemy, the dreaded bovine.  Tut-ahnk-Amen.

Odin

PS - I receive only blank stares, and not accolades for my supplications.

[catdance62]

Throwing salt over my shoulder if I spill some
Making a wish on a rainbow, first nightly star that I see, when a necklace clasp works it's way down to the pendant....gosh, so many.
Not putting a hat on a bed
Not opening an umbrella inside the house
Spitting on a broom if my feet get swept by accident (someone else doing the sweeping)
I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of all of them. When I was a kid I was mildly OCD,
so some of my superstitions involved counting

[12 Monkeys]

As a hockey goalie I always put my gear on the same way and wear the same things under my gear......It has never helped me be a good goalie though.... lol

[pingnak]

But who knows how bad you'd have been if you didn't.... :p

[Truth OT]

I still find myself believing and convinced that if Tony Romo has the ball late in a game my Cowboys stand a great chance of losing no matter how well they've played up to that point.

[HalusN8er]

I still find myself believing and convinced that if Tony Romo has the ball late in a game my Cowboys stand a great chance of losing no matter how well they've played up to that point.

but that is based on facts.....

[bosey926]

     I definitely did the "knock on wood" routine.  Also I remember saying the "tails never fails" phrase when flipping a coin to determine who goes first in some athletic competition.  Stupid and completely irrelevant in determining the winner.