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Four leaf clovers are considered good luck because they are relatively rare and not easy to see because they look like all the other clover. But is finding them luck, or is it a skill that can be learned?

As a child, I remember longing to find just one four leaf clover. Having never found one before, one day I decided to search the entire front lawn, one clover at a time. I spent several hours examining and counting each leaf until I found one, and then another, and another. That day I found something like 36 four leaf clovers! What I learned that day was that if you want to find something, you have to learn to look deeply. Nowadays I find them all the time!

Once you can look deeply, you don’t need to look at every single clover to find the lucky one, you just learn to discern the one thing you are looking for. To do this, you let go of thought, allow your vision to soften and take in the whole picture, letting the thing in front of you speak to you.

This skill of discernment is useful in so many ways. A good mechanic can look at an engine, and spot the one little thing that is off. Similarly a person can look at a painting and find the one little thing that makes or breaks the composition.

Often for me, the artistic process feels like more of an activity of discovery, of finding rather than of creating. When you are immersed you see things without even knowing it, and can allow your instinct to step in to do the work. Now whenever I find a four leafed clover, I am reminded of the gift of discernment.

What about you? How do you use discernment?