In short, the book suggests that a person's "luck" fluctuates in 12 year cycle.
In 3 years of Winter, everything stays low. Winter is the season for caution and seeding for upcoming years.
In next 3 years of Spring, the seeds start growing, and you'll start seeing results. Things get easier, and you may meet people more.
In the next 3 years of Summer, you'll see the plants bear fruits, and everything goes smooth and nice.
And in the next 3 years of Autumn, the growth halts, you'll see signs of slowdown and difficulties compared with Summer, so you need to change your way of acting and be prepared for upcoming downtime (Winter). Think of "the ant and the grasshopper".
I was skeptical about the cycle at first. On the other hand, I spent much time playing Mahjong in my college years, and believe that luck and its fluctuation exist.
So I did an exercise. I wrote down my life events, and organized them following the 12 year cycle. And I reconsidered on my skepticism.
According to the cycle and based on my birthday, I'd be on the 2nd year of Spring in 2017 (so they say). If I look at my work progress as a scientist (that is easy to track), I would be beginning to see results from preparations in earlier years. And that is right.
In my personal life, I got divorced in 2013 (to be exact early 2014 in paperwork though), which was at the beginning of my predicted Winter. I did have some downtime and reduced productivity during 2013-2015.
Well, the empirical "theory" may not be completely baseless. After all, Chinese zodiac also bases on 12 year cycle. Maybe you can try it out, too. Write down your life events, and see if they fit in the 12-year cycle theory. You got nothing to lose in trying the exercise.
From what I learned from Mahjong; while you play Mahjong, you can tell the level of your luck at the time from various signs. Misjudging one's luck is a cause of disaster. If you push it believing you are on luck (but you are not), that is the time you lose badly, dealing into other player's big hand.
Trying to win all the time do not work, either. There are times you can push forward and be greedy, and there are times you lay low and be careful.
Unlike Poker, you cannot fold down in Mahjong. You stay playing the game even when luck is not on your side. Then you need to learn how to lay low and cope in the ongoing game, minimizing your loss.
In other words, knowing the state of your luck can be a major strength.
Anyhow, they say my luck is going to go up in upcoming 4-5 years. It is nice to hear.
[Mahjong tiles]
