I have a small, bronze-coloured stone. It’s really a pebble, and it is the size and shape of a thimble that I have kept in my pocket for years. I can’t remember when I first found it and vowed to keep it.

I once lost it for a couple of years and then found it again in the pocket of a well-worn corduroy jacket I had misplaced for a while.

The same stone helped me turn around a job interview that was going particularly badly. I pulled the stone and a paper clip (that I was also keeping at the time) from my pocket and placed it on the desk. My interviewers looked up at me with renewed interest.

I once showed the pebble to my wife. And she left me soon after. I don’t think it had anything to do with the pebble, but I’m not sure.

(First appeared on Medium 26 Oct 2014)