Electronic Voice Phenomena - The Dead Speak!

One of the most amazing things you can do to demonstrate the existence of the paranormal world is to record spirit voices. This article discusses the history of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) and gives some examples of spirit recordings.

The Beginning of Electronic Voice Phenomena

Recording devices have been around so long that we tend to think that they have always been around. However, that is not the case. Consumer tape recorders didn't become available until the 1950s and they were large reels. But as the new devices made it to the market, some people found they did more than they thought!

Once such person was a Swedish citizen named Friedrich Jurgenson. In 1959, he was using his tape recorder to record bird calls in a forest. Alone in a quiet forest, Jurgenson recorded a number of bird calls. It wasn't until he played back the tape that he got the shock of his life!

In addition to the bird sounds, there were human voices on the recording. Keep in mind that there was no one around. But the biggest shock to him was hearing his mother's voice call his name and then say, "Friedrich, you are being watched." Jurgenson's mother had been dead for a number of years.

Just to be sure he wasn't imagining things, Friedrich Jurgenson spent the next four years with careful experimentation and recorded several thousand voices.

EVP Goes Mainstream

In 1965, Dr. Konstantin Raudive, psychologist and author, visited Jurgenson and together, they made a number of successful recordings. Returning to his home in Germany on the edge of the Black Forest, Raudive began a research project that resulting in cataloging and analyzing over 80,000 paranormal voices with the help of fellow scientist and engineers.

When the task was completed, he wrote a book called, Breakthrough, which inspired other investigators and amateurs to attempt spirit voice recording. One well known English researcher was G. Gilbert Bonner who made many thousands of recordings, some with extended dialog up to 30 minutes.

Can Anybody Record EVPs?

I believe the answer is yes. It just takes time, patience and being in the right place. The right place is where spirits are likely to be found.

Patience means taking a lot of time and also, doing it on a consistent basis.

Another important factor is whether or not the spirits want to make an effort to say something to you. Some will ignore you, others can't get the energy necessary to affect the recording. With persistence and going places where spirits are likely to be, such as a battlefield, you increase your chances of getting an EVP.

How is it Done?

It's really very simple. Start your recording device and ask questions. Give time for an answer and then go on to the next question. Remember, it is very unlikely you will hear anything until the recording is played back.

Tape devices work but digital devices also work. Either way, you will need to put the recording into a computer with sound editing software. The old fashion way of course, was to listen to the recordings through headphones over and over hoping to find an EVP. With a computer, you can see the sounds and when you find an EVP, enhance it. This wasn't possible in the old days.

A Real Life Example

Although you can get an EVP in other places, areas where spirits are likely to be located are places where many people died such as battlefields or old, multigeneration homes where people lived and died at home. Cemeteries are other possible sites.

A few years ago, I ran an EVP expedition during the afternoon at Cheatham Hill Battlefield near Marietta, GA. This place is noted for paranormal activity. Even so, in a couple of hours time, I only got two EVPs. One EVP said Help and the other said Who are You? Hear the voices and find out the story behind these EVPs..

In about 90 minutes of taping, the length of two sides of a cassette tape, those two sounds were the only unusual ones. I went back a couple of years later and this time, I heard what sounded like artillery fire on the tape. It faded in and out and was not audible when I was recording.

Conclusion

EVPs are an easy way to study the paranormal. The equipment is economical and with persistence, you'll probably record paranormal sounds.

It's just another demonstration that there is more to reality than we consciously see or hear.

© 2010, George Hanover

Haunted Skies: Ghosts Of The Eastern 401 Disaster

My experience with the story of Eastern Flight 401 began early in 1973. I flew from Tampa, Florida, to New York City and back several times that year. Most of my close relatives lived in the New York City area. During school breaks, I took the opportunity to combine visits with them with opportunities to attend various paranormal seminars scheduled for that year.



At sixteen, I was an experienced traveler and made most of my own airline reservations and arrangements. I hated crowds and loved red eye flights. Traveling at odd hours was no big deal for me. During the middle of Summer Break 1973, I was aboard a Sunday afternoon EAL flight that seemed almost empty. In those days there were always more flight attendants than needed on the off peak hours flights. The younger, less experienced crew members tended to hob knob with passengers. That's how I met Susan. (I am being polite: Flight Attendants were called Stewardesses if they were women and Stewards if they were men in those days)



Her attention was drawn to a book I was reading about Flying Saucers. Like most of the flight attendants that I met during the 1970s, Susan was from the South. She seemed about twenty years old and had a pleasant personality. We talked on and off as her free time allowed. I had enough time in the air to know that there were several topics that you never brought up on a plane. These included UFOs and Airline Crashes, but both subjects came up anyway.



Susan was obviously well read on the UFO subject. Like me, she had relatives in the Air Force. She also knew people that had personally seen UFOs while on commercial flights. Most were not spectacular sightings, but strange enough to cause concern. What really got her started were some of the ghost stories I told. It turned out that hers was much better than mine.



I didn't know much about the Flight 401 Air Disaster except that it involved an Eastern Airlines Passenger Jet which went down in the Florida Everglades about six months before. Personally, I was more concerned about airline hijackers in those days than crashes. Susan asked if I had heard any of the stories about ghosts from that flight appearing to people. I hadn't. Before she could utter another word, a male flight attendant walking by grabbed her by the arm. Both vanished into the First Class section.



After a few minutes the male flight attendant reappeared. Although he worked in First Class, he came up to my seat and asked how I was doing? I said I was fine and didn't need anything. He introduced himself as Bobby and asked if I wanted to move up to First Class. I accepted the invitation. While walking through the curtain that separated the sections, Susan whizzed by me with just a quick smile and stuffed some folded mimeographed papers into my hand. I shoved them into my pocket.



The five folded pages that Susan stuffed into my hand looked like some kind of insider's newsletter. Something a Flight Attendant had put together for other Flight Attendants. It made reference to the 401 crash and how that some flight crews were seeing ghosts from the 401 crash. The pages were badly worn and had obviously been passed around and handled a lot. Although names and specifics were left out, it was obvious that this was a how-to sheet for crew members that wanted to avoid being on planes known for the 401 ghost appearances.



After we landed, I told Bobby that I left something in my seat back in coach. Before he could say anything, I headed back to speak to Susan. She was putting away pillows, so I thanked her for being so nice, pulled the mimeographed sheets out of my pocket and asked her, "Did you see any of the ghosts?" She looked down and thanked me for flying Eastern. Cold! I felt as if I had been dumped by a prom date! I mean, it wasn't like I expected her to give me her telephone number. I just wanted to talk Airline spooks.



While in New York, I went to a library and looked up more information about the crash. It seems that the whole thing began when Flight 401 left Tampa for New York on December 29, 1972. The flight crew was Pilot Bob Loft, First Officer Albert Stockstill and Flight Engineer Don Repo. On the return leg to Miami, a problem developed. While on approach to Miami International at 11:30pm, a landing gear light failed to come on. As a result, the crew attempted to be sure the gear was down.



While trying to remedy the landing gear light issue, it's likely that someone bumped the aircraft control column and deactivated the auto pilot. This caused a slow decent that wasn't noticed by the flight crew until it was too late. Loft and Stockstill perished in the cockpit, although Loft hung on for a while after the crash. Stockstill was thirty-nine and Loft was fifty-five years old. Don Repo, fifty-one years old, initially survived the crash and died a day later in the hospital. In the end, ninety-six of one hundred and sixty-three passengers died.



Two weeks later I flew back to Tampa, Florida. I wondered if it had been sheer luck that caused me to learn about the 401 ghost stories on a flight from Tampa and to New York. Maybe, but I wasn't lucky enough to end up on a flight with Susan again. My off peak flight took off on a late Sunday afternoon with a completely different crew. There were maybe thirty people on board and we ended up with an experienced Flight Attendant. She was kind of bossy, so I sat and read quietly.



At some point, I took out the folded pages that Susan gave me. I tucked them into a notebook I purchased at the airport and had been trying to decode the worn mimeo sheets for days. It proved difficult and was very frustrating, but I thought I would use the flight time back to Florida to try again. While I was using a magnifying glass to try and make out the words and letters, a member of the flight crew passed by. It was the First Officer headed to the back of the aircraft.



I probably wouldn't have noticed him, but he stopped at my seat and looked at the sheets. He asked, "Pardon me, did someone on this flight or at the airport give that to you?" I told him no and made the mistake of saying that I found it in one of the magazines on board. I didn't want to get Susan in trouble. He reached over and grabbed it out of my hands saying it was a scandal sheet passed around by ill-informed employees.



I had no way of knowing that I was flying Eastern at a time when the Flight 401 ghost sightings were at their high point. The sightings began in January of 1973 and continued in earnest until the summer of 1974. These events were exposed to the world in The Ghost of Flight 401, a book written by John G. Fuller. Fuller is one of my favorite authors. His book, Interrupted Journey chronicled the famous Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Case and there were others like Incident at Exeter that I enjoyed as well.



Fuller's book came out a couple of years after the ghost sightings ended. His wife, Elizabeth, was an Eastern Flight Attendant that helped him get the goods on the 401 ghost sightings. Her book, My Search for the Ghost of Flight 401, was just as good as his and I read both with equal enthusiasm. Anyone interested the paranormal should dig up copies of these and read them cover to cover.





The film, The Ghost of Flight 401, starred Ernest Borgnine and was a part of a one-two punch delivered by Hollywood. The second was the release of Crash, another film about the 401 disaster. This one starred William Shatner. Both films were shown on Broadcast Television in the USA and released in theaters in some other Countries. All told, the films were well received and probably gave Frank Borman more sleepless nights than the ghosts themselves.



In The Ghost of Flight 401, the ghosts appear as any human would. For example, during a 1973 flight from Newark to Miami, A Flight Attendant was doing a head count when she noticed a man in an Eastern Airlines Pilot uniform seated with the passengers. He refused to acknowledge her, so she contacted the flight crew. The Captain of that flight came back to see what was going on and recognized the man as Bob Loft. He cried out, "Oh my God, that's Bob Loft!" At that point Loft vanished. Everyone present saw it happen.



During a 1974 flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Newark, NJ, the Pilot sees Don Repo sitting in the Flight Engineer's seat. Repo says, "There will never be another crash of an L-1011, we will not allow it." Repo vanishes after speaking. During another sighting, Repo appeared to a Flight Crew member and said he had completed the preflight check.



On another occasion, a Flight Attendant saw a man in a Flight Engineer uniform fixing a microwave oven. Thinking nothing of it, she went about her business. Later she asked the Flight Engineer what was wrong with the microwave. He had no idea what she was talking about. Repo also appeared several times in the Hell Hole (electronics room) beneath the cockpit after crew members heard knocking in that area and went to investigate.



While boarding a flight that would take him from JFK in New York to Miami International in 1973, a Vice President of Eastern Airlines entered the First Class Cabin and saw an Eastern Pilot sitting there. When he got close enough to see his face, it was Bob Loft. Loft vanished before his eyes. Loft was seen by a number of flight crews and spoke occasionally warning about problems or potential problems on board an aircraft.



There were some other types of appearances as well. Flight Attendant Faye Merryweather saw the face of Don Repo staring at her from an oven in the galley of Tri-Star 318. The galley was salvaged from the wreckage of 401. Merryweather summoned two other Flight Attendants. One was a friend of Repo and recognized his face. Repo spoke and said, "Watch out for fire on this airplane." The airliner ended up having engine trouble a short time later on route to Acapulco. After landing, the rest of its flight was cancelled.

And it wasn't just flight crews that saw the deceased crew members.



Several Marriott Food Service workers saw a Flight Engineer vanish in the galley of an airliner being stocked for the next flight and refused to continue their work. That flight was delayed for over an hour. Airline cleaners and mechanics began to find reasons to avoid working on or in Ship #318 where most of the sightings took place. Some believe that's because parts were salvaged from the aircraft involved in the 401 crash and transplanted into #318. It's as good as explanation as any.



Although the details remain sketchy and there's a great deal of disagreement about it, the end of the ghost sightings may have had something to do with a psychic intervention of sorts. It's been reported that one or more people who knew Loft and Repo managed to contact them through the help of a psychic medium who persuaded them to move on. The ghost sightings ended about a year and a half after the crash.



A haunting of this intensity and frequency reveals how woefully inadequate our attempts to understand or investigate the paranormal have been. This is especially true of those who do not care to acknowledge paranormal events in the first place. Rather than believe their own people, Eastern chose to ignore the ghost reports and recommend mental health evaluations and treatment for those who saw them. If the ghosts that appeared after the 401 crash have taught us anything, I would hope it is that simply ignoring paranormal events will not make them vanish into thin air.



Read more true stories about the Unexplained, order paranormal DVDs and experience the unexplained at http://www.UFOguy.com

Frauds in the Metaphysical Field Part 2

Another indication of the metaphysical fraud concerns the matter of apparel. Psychic cheaters normally wear robes and turbans and other fancy costumes to give the impression to people and their prospective clients that they are different, sacred or holy in some way. The moment we meet such psychics our gullible subconscious minds are influenced negatively unless we take the appropriate measures of protection among which is to rationalize the situation and to see through their deception. Let it be known that true modern saints or genuine metaphysicians, in general, do not wear apparel any different from the norm. They dress the way ordinary human beings dress taking into account environmental factors and culture. One of the most important principle to keep in mind is that true metaphysicians or saints would never direct attention to themselves. Their words, mannerism, and behavior are free from the taints of the false ego.





It is important to realize that most psychics, whether fraudulent or genuine, when given the chance will play upon the fears and worries of clients. They would strengthen a client's belief that all that they fear are true and more besides, and that the only way out of their dilemma or problem is to apply the directions of the paranormal which usually involves emptying the purse. Often they would declare how negative you are or how you are so filled with negative energies and that with their "great powers" they would purify you and help you succeed in overcoming all that is counterproductive to your welfare--but with a certain reward, of course. At times they will say that you will have a potential problem in a certain bodily organ and to prevent it from manifesting they will balance the situation for you--for a fee. Although the detection of an unbalanced situation in one's bio-energy field is a possibility, many so-called psychics dupe the public as to their ability to do this. They only cause unnecessary concern over dangers that do not exist.





Beware of those psychics that advertise the "testimonies" of their "clients," (normally celebrities) to support their claims of power, talent or the effectiveness of their services and products. These statements often appear in print in the mass media and are mostly unwarranted.





You will also find many psychic frauds on the Internet. When requesting a psychic reading, psychics in the Net will send you a stereotype profile reading that would apply to any Tom, Dick or Harry. If one would reason it out one would come to realize that it would be impossible for any human being to cater or to devote their undivided attention to hundreds of persons requesting a psychic reading in a single day. The only resort left for these psychics is to present something applicable but spiritually meaningless to all. The daily or weekly horoscopes to be found in magazines are of these sort as well. Psychic frauds or those who are under the influence of self-deception often make bombastic claims in their advertisements but offer very little of soul-worth. Here we do not comment on the reality of psychicism, of magical forces, of subtle energies. We know that they do exist and are real to those who are able to perceive them; basically, what we are opposed to are psychics and frauds taking advantage of the ignorance of their fellow men.





Paranormals and low-caliber metaphysicians have the tendency in making their clients overly dependent upon them, their services and their products. Even spiritual teachers fall into this trap. They allow their disciples to lean too much upon them. The Master Jesus once said to his disciples that he had to leave them at a certain time, for if not, the "comforter" would not come. He meant by this that if he did not leave them, and that if his disciples depended too much upon him for their spiritual sustenance, they would not spiritually mature and that they would not acquire a higher awareness and understanding through personal effort and experience. True metaphysicians teach one not to be overly-dependent upon anything artificial and external for one's well-being. It is wholly vital that we resort to an internal resource or be dependent upon our inner Source, our true Self--the part of God within us for our spiritual nourishment.





The object of metaphysical service is to facilitate the spiritual growth of humanity. This principle is constantly being violated, however. Unaware of spiritual values and purposes, psychics simply deliver goods that in the long run stall the evolution of man. Their services do not promote spiritual unfoldment or the manifestation of the Christ Consciousness. In this they are no different from those who implement the practices of hedonism and materialism. For instance, one of the paranormal practices is the insertion of implants to manifest charisma, charm, power, fascination, etc. Indonesian psychics call these implants, "susuk." It is not too often realized that the power of these implants are temporary in nature notwithstanding the statements of some psychics as to the contrary. Energy by its very nature is in a constant state of flux and may be modified, changed, or transmuted. All organisms are constantly radiating energy and this influences whatever it comes into contact with, so an implant imbued with a certain force may unwittingly be transmuted or neutralized by the person who has it inserted into him. Now even-though such implants may contain and radiate power, the persons given such a force may not want to undergo the necessary character-building and metaphysical disciplines that would eventually give them what they seek and consequently, progress spiritually. For they presume that what they need already exists in them with the presence of the implant. However, it should be noted that the power derived from an artificial source is ephemeral and the total reliance upon it directs us away from the spiritual path. It makes one self-complacent and slothful. We should acquire the qualities or conditions that we seek through personal effort. Implants, talismans, and such are simply aids to help one--they are not to be totally relied upon. Their use should be rightly understood if they are to be of true worth to us. Please note here that we are not disapproving the practice of making or bearing talismans or acquiring magickal powers--in fact we present such things on our site. Our intent is to explain the right attitude to be adopted.





The Dark forces wish humanity to stagnate in its soul progression. It will not have humanity improve its spiritual status. Thus anything that stalls evolution or hinders man from treading the Spiritual Path is the work of the Fallen Ones. Psychic wares can degenerate into instruments of the Dark forces. Those who are inclined to experiment with the wares of paranormals should do so with the right understanding and perspective.





Pseudo-psychics have their confederates. They often have their minions search for gullible persons whom they may influence and manipulate. By persuasive speech henchmen of pseudo-psychics convince their prey how powerful and wise a certain paranormal (their boss) is. Various tricks are used. Information concerning a certain potential client may be acquired before hand and then conveyed to the "psychic." When the client visits the psychic, he is astonished that the so-called seer knows everything about him.





Sleight-of-hand, hidden gizmos, and gadgets are often used in the "healing" of a patient/client of a psychic malady, or to prove the existence of the psychic's innate powers. Since the belief in transferred, malicious etheric implants ("santet" in Indonesian) are taken for granted among the lower class, tricks and deceptions are frequently resorted to in order to convince the patient that an object had been taken out from the patient's body; and this is supposed to be the cause of an illness. Often a healing may well take place using such quackery since a large percentage of cases of illnesses have a psychosomatic origin or are caused by abnormal thoughts and feelings, and these respond to the shaman working within the patient's belief frame-work. Such healings are based upon the principle of suggestion.





Psychic healers may boast that a patient of theirs may have been to every kind of healer, undergone every form of therapeutics, and yet no healing took place until the individual came to them to be "healed." Not only is their boast self-promotional in nature but their belief is a fallacy. Firstly, healing is a process conducted by Nature--no single individual does the healing. A person may have been to one doctor or healer after another without being apparently cured; however, the healing process may already have begun without the person's knowledge and awareness. Thus, at a certain point of the healing process the person finds himself completely cured and he ignorantly attributes this to the last healer that attempted to cure him. And this "healer" arrogantly considers the healing to be the result of his or her own personal powers and prowess. Secondly, a person is not curable unless he subconsciously and consciously wants to be cured--when he is psychologically ready to release the malady. When this is released through self-determination and faith he finds himself cured, and this often occurs no matter to what healer he goes to or the form of therapy that he undergoes at that time. Thirdly, some illnesses are karmic in nature, and only when the karmic lesson is learnt or the karmic force spent and compensated will the inharmonious bodily or psychological condition disappear. Again, this may occur spontaneously at a time when the person visits a healer and without the healer actually having anything directly to do with the healing process, nor ever having acted as a catalyst of bodily harmony.





One of the negative traits of the so-called spiritual Masters who present themselves as teachers of meditation and metaphysics is that they do not offer constant guidance or availability to their students. They are here one day, and in the next they are off somewhere where it is almost impossible for one to contact or communicate with them. If one encounters a problem in one's metaphysical practices the Guru is not available to offer assistance. This is an irresponsible act of omission on the part of the so-called Guru. In many cases this can be construed as the incompetence or inability of the Guru to provide true beneficial guidance. It can also be assumed that their motive for teaching metaphysics or branches of it in the first place was simply for its monetary returns. The true metaphysical Guru knows that spiritual teachings cannot be given in one gulp, but morsels at a time. Spiritual growth is a process and the Guru has to be constantly around to nurture the unfoldment of his students. Frauds normally take off and break communication after a few sessions with their victimized students.





Genuine Masters and Adepts as a rule, also do not offer any services of instant metaphysical development. A true Master does not perform the work that the disciple ought to be doing for himself. Self-involvement in spiritual work unfolds a divine character, and this is what the Guru wishes of his students. There is also more merit and is more honorable doing metaphysical work and exercises for oneself instead of having others do them for us. For instance, which do you think is more praiseworthy, running in a race and reaching the finish line by one's own efforts, or to be carried there by the Master on his shoulders?





Concerning the instant transference of power, or the raising of the kundalini by the Master, there are many points that the true Master would consider. Such transference is a blessing and is given only after the disciple had applied the disciplines for some time--often years, and not given by the genuine Master at the very inception of a student's metaphysical career--especially not on a massive scale. This is an irresponsible act on the part of the Guru for not everyone is physically or etherically prepared for such an empowerment.





Many Spiritual Masters (so-called) are a disappointment. Oft times they declare, whether implicitly or explicitly, that their kundalini have been permanently raised, or that they have attained enlightenment or are in constant contact with the Ascended Masters. Should this be true one awaits glorious things coming from them--from their minds and hearts. One would expect them to be divine in their everyday expressions; original and creative in their literary works, and selfless in fulfilling their missions. Their works would be of an unsurpassed quality even surpassing the state of genius, however, as it is, their products lack originality and they produce no novel concepts or precepts that reveal heretofore hidden facets of Truth, or strive to uplift humanity even higher on the scale of evolution in a balanced manner. Most of their written works are too simplistic, they merely scratch the surface of metaphysical thought and often than not, are plagiarized versions of other authors' works. What is pitiful is that their ego can still be clearly seen--and they are blind to this. They are so keen in criticizing others but fail to look into their own soul and correct innate faults. Those with a little knowledge are so quick in attacking others and in speaking the loudest. These undeveloped "Gurus" give all sorts of "plausible" excuses for their short-comings, for their extravagant way of life, for their creature-comfort-which only shows that they are self-centered and focused upon the personality level. Hopefully this condition would change in this new millenium.





Dogmas, false religious teachings and revelations are often taught and spread by false mystics, bigoted priests, channels and paranormals. They do this for fame and to instill fear in the masses so that the masses would turn to them for assistance--and this, of course, is designed to fill their personal bank account. Some psychics foolishly predict the future revealing dire cataclysms and catastrophes that would occur sometime in the near future. Although most are deceivers and malicious in their intent, there are a few who are sincere but mistaken as to the source of their psychic impressions. They regard the visions that they receive as coming from God or the Ascended Masters. They do not realize that most of what they psychically see are mere thoughtforms created and radiated by those who are psychologically unbalanced or who are mentally disturbed. Substantially, these thoughtforms have no real power to manifest on the physical plane or affect it unless we give them power through our constant attention and fear. Even if visions did flow from the Divine Cosmic Mind, they are often distorted by the unpurified subconscious minds of psychics so that a clear understanding of the picture is not acquired and presented. Again, even if a vision of a catastrophe from God was correctly received there is always a possibility of preventing its occurrence or decreasing the magnitude of its effects through the proper metaphysical procedures. However, those who are self-deceived are often adamant that what they "see" must occur. Below we would like to quote a few scriptural verses for your consideration. They are related to this paragraph.





For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:11)





I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. (Jeremiah 23:21)





Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16)





Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! (Ezekial 13:3)





Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)





Copyright © 2006 Luxamore

Four Good Luck Tips

You can call it good luck, or cause and effect, or whatever you want. But you know that some people have more good things happen in their lives, and more happy surprises. What you may not know is that there are things you can do to be more like them and so be luckier yourself. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Don't Take Advice From Your Fears

Letting fear make decisions is a bad habit that is sure to get in the way of having more luck in your life. Acting from fear also sabotages your self-growth. Did you know that Johnny Carson had stage-fright every night before he went on the air? He stepped out there anyhow, and enjoyed doing the Tonight Show for decades. Fear is just a feeling. Move forward despite it.

Relaxed Goal Setting

Committing yourself to specific goals too soon can backfire. This is because a goal has to be seen in context of all our other goals and values. For example, when I used to write down specific financial targets, I accomplished them, but I made myself miserable doing so. Many people find that they are happier if they take a clear direction, and then let the goals formulate themselves in time. Setting goals and writing them down is a powerful way to make progress, but it's up to you to decide when specific goals are appropriate.

Breath Deep

Take several deep breaths through your nose from time to time. Close your eyes, pay attention to your breathing, and let the tension drain from your muscles while doing this. This is like a mini-meditation.

Mouth-breathing expands your chest, but if you breath through your nose you'll notice how your abdomen extends. You see, nose-breathing causes the diaphragm to pull air to the bottom of your lungs. This delivers a good dose of oxygen into your bloodstream and brain. It also tends to relax you. Relaxed and thinking better - that's a recipe for good luck.

Forget The Paranormal Explanations

Many people are looking for paranormal explanations for luck, and for related phenomena like intuition and creativity. But why? There are good psychological explanations for why some people are luckier than others that have nothing to do with psychic abilities. There are exercises that have been shown to improve one's luck whether or not we have a decent explanation yet.

Why do people need an appeal to the paranormal? Perhaps part of the reason is that if psychic powers could bring you luck, it would be easier than making changes in how you think and act. There is nothing wrong with looking for an easier way - as long as the search does not become an excuse for not taking the steps that are proven to work.

In Richard Wiseman's ten-year study of lucky people, he found definite differences between lucky and unlucky people. What he didn't find, however, was any indication of anything paranormal. He says, "I've found plenty of evidence of unscientific approaches to data, but have never come across a paranormal experiment that can be replicated."

For example, he found that people described by themselves and others as lucky were not any more likely to win the lottery. No surprise there - a lottery is random chance. On the other hand, people who are considered lucky can win more often in business or love or even artistic endeavors, and without paranormal powers. They simply think and act in ways that promote a better outcome - they apply principles of good luck.