Looking to the Dragon for prosperity

IF you are wondering why the Water Dragon has not knocked on your front door and inundating you with a flood of prosperity yet, don't worry.

Someone on the Internet told me that the Year of the Dragon would only arrive 12 days from today, on Feb 4.

Don't ask me how come; I don't know.

I have yet to learn to read the Chinese calendar, let alone figure out how Chinese geomancy works.

But I am sure you already know what the Year of the Dragon holds for you.

This time of the year, there is plenty of information that will keep you positively charged to face the year with glowing promises of prosperity and success, or get you worried sick about the impending troubles coming your way. Don't buy your talismans yet.

During the last Dragon Year, many people I know had good fortune.

One chap had a windfall at the gaming outlet. He invested his winnings in stocks and made even more.

Another, a lady who was then single, met the love of her life and settled down. She will be happily celebrating the 12th anniversary of her marriage sometime in April.

One childless couple was blessed with a Dragon son that year. The 12-year-old is today a brilliant fellow as all dragon sons can be, but let's hope that when he is successful in later life, he will also be a filial child.

Not everyone is fortunate, however. One fellow was so worried about the dark predictions he read in the papers that he religiously carried out the soothsayers' recommendations to dispel his impending bad luck.

When I visited him at the end of that year, he was busy clearing his home of the collection of feng shui paraphernalia for that year.

I asked if they worked and he admitted that he didn't know. He was relieved that none of the ill winds the fortunetellers had forecast blew his way, but the good things they predicted also did not materialise.

I then asked if he was a hard-core believer in the stars. He replied that he was not -- he was only playing it safe, just in case.

And if prosperity were indicated in his stars, he said, he would not mind spending a little more to usher in some good luck.

I am sure we have at one time or the other let our guard down during festive times like this.

A fondness for reading into the future is healthy fun but we are courting unnecessary distress if we let it influence our lives.

There are as many experts these days as there are conflicting views on how the year will turn out. Magic stones are in plenty too.

A wise man once said that if a man takes no heed of the future, he would find distress near at hand.

Believe me, living the present sensibly and productively is just as important.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!