Let’s take a moment to talk about omens. The bad kind.

Omens are sometimes called signs, sometimes called signals, and almost every culture in the world has some variety of what’s considered a bad omen. We know that the number thirteen is considered bad luck in some parts: Some places even skip the thirteenth floor’s label based on the premise that it’s a really, really bad floor to arrive at – but what’s it all about?

Here a few reasons why things considered to be “bad omens’ generally aren’t – and why they don’t affect your bridge play or your luck unless you let them.

Actually, Luck is More Like Confidence

There’s a reason why the expression is, “Are you feeling lucky?”

It’s not really about whether you are lucky. It’s just about whether you’re feeling it. People who have done whatever special ritual – or seen whatever special sign – they needed will automatically show a level of confidence and balls at the game that someone who thinks they have seen a bad omen might not.

It’s not luck. Never luck. It’s always confidence – although if your special ritual, ideal shade of underwear or totem makes you feel a little luckier and a little stronger for what’s about to come, go for it.

Wearing the right shoes makes you feel the same way, although people don’t usually think of their shoes as the same type of good omen that can inspire luck (but we use things like the right shoes in the same way, to boost how we feel when we have these things with us).

Omens: They’re Really, Really Individual

Just in case you might not fully believe me on the last section of paragraphs that omens don’t practically matter to your game apart from your own confidence, let’s take a further look at omens just to drive the point home.

They’re really individual things, omens.

What’s a good omen in one part of town is a terribly bad omen in another.

Thirteen is considered unlucky to a great deal of the world, but makes most horror movie fans giddy with excitement. The same way, if you try to take a rabbit’s foot through customs in most parts of the world, lucky is not what we’d call you.

If you can think of a bad omen (or a good one), there’s a counter-omen to it somewhere in the world right now that turns it right on its head.

When it comes to general bad omens, don’t pay too much attention to them when it comes to your bridge games: To another player, your bad omen is probably a good one (and the other way around).

Do what makes you feel luckier, and look at what makes you feel happier – and postpone your bridge game if you experience a bout of flu or diarrhea, but consider these the only omens you should care about.