By LABYRINTHOS
Updated: Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:56:42 UTC

I always take the first step on a stairway with my left foot. I avoid stepping on manholes. If I bang heads with someone, I make sure to do it again, to keep the total number of head bangs even. There's a dark tile in my building that I avoid stepping on. When writing, I always make sure that zeroes are closed curves, not open curves. I avoid clipping my fingernails the day before a big exam. Not doing any of these feels intuitively wrong and bad luck and despite my efforts, I haven’t been able to change this type of thinking.

I try my best to be rational in all aspects of my life. Every time I make one of the actions above, I know it's silly and pointless. Deliberately doing the opposite or forcing myself to do nothing when the urge comes haven’t felt like improvements, as I'm still spending time and energy thinking about something ultimately stupid and illogical.

I hope I'm not alone in this respect so I wanted to ask the community:

Is there a connection between this type of superstitious thinking and fully fledged religiosity?

What can be done to educate intuition out of these weird and repetitive thoughts, and into being a more meaningful and more truthful guide in everyday life?

TAGGED: IRRATIONALITY