Write your own fortune

You don't need a cookie to tell you that your future is full of delights

Anyone who’s gone to a Chinese restaurant or ordered take-out knows that one of the highlights is the end-of-meal fortune cookie. I’m not sure anyone actually likes the cookies themselves — my thought is always sweet cardboard when I eat them — but we all love opening the cookies and seeing how we can tie the cryptic fortune to our lives. We imbue these random typed words with meaning — and like to convince ourselves that they mean our wishes will come true.

Indeed, I know people who, upon finding a fortune that seems particularly relevant, tape this auspicious fortune to their mirrors, or tuck it in their wallets. These little slips of paper reassure of us good things ahead. The universe is smiling.

Don’t wait for a cookie

But given that most of us don’t actually believe that the fates placed that crumpled paper in our stale cookie, this suggests an obvious activity for getting the same reassurance. You can write your own fortune — rather than waiting for a cookie to offer up what you want.

Contemplate what you’re hoping will be true for you in the future. Maybe you’d like to land a great new job, live in your dream house, have a close-knit family, get in shape, meet a new love interest. Life is full of possibilities! What would make you feel like you hit the jack pot, even if you never actually use the lucky numbers on those little fortune slips?

Then write a fortune foretelling that good thing. You know the writing style — a little ambiguity, some mystery, a mesmerizing cadence. For instance, “Your home will be a place of beauty and comfort,” or “At your table, food and love abound,” or, “You will meet a charming, attractive stranger.” Or even just “Your future is golden and full of delights.” You know the sound. If you’re looking for inspiration, search online for “fortune cookie fortunes,” and you’ll find examples. Take these, and make them your own. Type them, print the fortunes, cut them out in little slips of paper, and then put them wherever you’d put a fortune you got at a restaurant.

Get others in on the fun

If you want, you could even turn this into a group activity. I know that part of the fun of a fortune cookie fortune is that it seems serendipitous, like the universe is giving you a gift of something. So you and your friends or family can do this for each other. Talk about what you dream about — or maybe you know. That’s even better. Write fortunes for each other that promise this wonderful thing. Give them to each other, in person if that’s an option, or by mail if you can’t. If you and a group of friends have a recurring Zoom call, this can be a Zoom gathering activity. Everyone writes a fortune for the others, somewhat like you’d do a Secret Santa gift. Then you’ve got some of the magic of having it not come from you…even if it really did, because your friend knows that you want to find your dream house … because you keep telling her that.

Let’s just not second guess the magic. It’s fun to have a bit of mystery to cheer us on.