Do you “believe” your fortune when you eat a fortune cookie?

Several years ago, I had a friend who was away on a significant professional trip that would ultimately determine the next few years of her life. She was away taking a 2-day licensing examination that required two full days of testing and then weeks of waiting for the results. The recommendations by mentors and colleagues were to do your best to relax between day 1 and day 2 with a light evening walk, a quiet dinner and NO studying or cramming between the two examination days. A quiet evening with some soup and 8 hours of sleep were the evening plan for my friend.

Well, my friend followed the suggestions and walked to a local Chinese restaurant for a light dinner of won ton soup- her favorite. After dinner, which was tasty and otherwise unremarkable, she opened her fortune cookie. She began eating and reading too. It read, “To be successful in life you must work harder.” This message was NOT the message my friend wanted to read on this evening. She called me from her hotel room soon after reading the fortune and was quite clearly distressed; the fortune “freaked her out!”

I listened to her intently about how her day flew by as she was hyper focused on the examination and immersed in each question. And she had felt good about how the day had progressed until… The unbelievable fortune from the fortune cookie! The message from the fortune cookie really stood a chance of derailing her from a strong performance on day 2 of her exam.

Inquisitively, I asked, “If the fortune cookie read- ‘Help Me, I am trapped in a fortune cookie factory! Would you call the police?” She immediately laughed and replied, “No that is silly!” I then asked, “Then why is tonight’s fortune any more significant to you?” It was then that I heard her sigh, pause for a moment, and then begin to giggle. Clint, she said, “That’s exactly what I needed to hear tonight!” I wished her a good evening and told her to get some well-deserved rest in preparation for day 2 of her examination.

Sometimes the right words at the right time from the right person can really be helpful to get us “out of our heads”. I am grateful that I was able to come up with the right comment and clear perspective that my friend needed… She was ultra-focused, tired, anxious, and vulnerable to the words in the fortune cookie. I am happy to say that the story has a happy ending. My friend slept 8 hours that night after our talk, performed well on day 2 of her exam, and learned of her successful passing of the exam 2 months later.

This story came up again in a funny manner a few nights ago while on a night out with friends over a Chinese dinner. At the end of dinner fortune cookies were opened, eaten, and we all read our fortunes aloud to each other. During this moment my friend smiled to the group and said, “I have a funny story for you!”