Random Acts of Good Fortunes

By Chris Cochran

Opening a fortune cookie is sometimes akin to sitting down for a psychic reading. Fortune writers and psychics inhabit a world of truisms and the human experience. They both know what human beings want to hear – ultimately that everything will be all right and we’ll be just fine.

I’ve only sat for one psychic reading in my life, and it was several years ago. Although I have an audio recording of the reading, it’s on a cassette tape (yes it was that long ago) that I don’t have the technical capability to play right now. Nonetheless, at the time I remember feeling the psychic knew me and was speaking directly to me — and had learned a lot from holding my keys. There were enough specifics in the reading to seemingly support that, too.

What to make then of the randomness of the fortune I got recently in an upscale Chinese restaurant? My friend and I weren’t even supposed to be there, but our first restaurant choice had too long a wait and we were hungry. We had to wait for a table at the Chinese restaurant, too, but that just added to the opportunity to catch up. The meal was good but overpriced, and I wasn’t expecting the fortune cookie at the end, but two came with the bill. My friend grabbed one first. I didn’t get to choose a cookie or by default a fortune. He, or the universe, chose it for me.

The fortune told me I would be successful in a business of my own. That’s a great fortune to receive when you’re growing a new business! Or maybe you’re developing a new product line and new service offerings for your existing business. Everyone would want to be on the receiving end of that fortune. I felt like the fortune writer was speaking directly to me. I even wanted to look around the restaurant to see if some guardian angel was hovering with a knowing smile on her face.

But something was missing. These fortunes are meant to fit on the small slip of paper tucked inside the cookie, so they can’t be lengthy or elaborate. Kudos to the fortune writers who get right to the point. But this fortune needed something else, an asterisked addendum, along the lines of, “you will be successful in a business of your own — when you work hard, try hard, stay honest, treat people fairly, continuously learn, and act ethically. You can add to or subtract from that as you like.

The timing on that fortune was perfect. It made an otherwise dreary, wet and cold Saturday night and weekend seem a little brighter. Those kinds of fortunes are inspirational but not transactional, and they won’t happen unless we take action to make them happen. That is true of most things, but getting a nice reminder after your delicious orange chicken never hurts.

Have you encountered a similar, random source of inspiration that aligned well with your values? Share your experience in the comments section.