Lucky?

As a child, did you ever sit for hours with your friends in your front yard on a nice sunny day, picking through a clump of errant clover in an endless hunt for a “four leaf clover”? We did. I was always “lucky”. From childhood, I have felt lucky and repeat to my friends to this day, “what a lucky girl I am”.

Luck refers to that which happens to a person beyond that person’s control. Chance happenings divided into three different types of luck:

1. Constitutional luck, that is, luck with factors that cannot be changed. Place of birth and genetic constitution are typical examples.
2. Circumstantial luck—with factors that are haphazardly brought on. Accidents and epidemics are typical examples.
3. Ignorance luck, that is, luck with factors one does not know about. Examples can be identified only in hindsight.

Some people dismiss luck and call it wishful thinking or logical fallacy, based on “if this happened, then that happened, then this caused that”. Speaking of that, I had a person tell me “tongue in cheek” that I should name this boat I dream of “Wishful Thinking”. I actually looked up boat names and had a nice exchange with a happy fellow who had a boat with this name in Hawaii. It was not so far fetched and I learned something new by exploring the idea. I would call it a ‘lucky find’.

http://www.newt.com/wohler/events/2003/hawaii/

More contemporary authors writing on the subject believe being lucky is defined as having good destiny is: one who enjoys good health, has the physical and mental capabilities of achieving his goals in life, has good appearance, has happiness in mind and is not prone to accidents ( Sirkar, 2010).

Luck can also be a belief in an organization of fortunate and unfortunate events or a form of superstition which is interpreted differently by different individuals. Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as “a meaningful coincidence”.

The concepts of “Divine Grace” or “Blessing” as they are described by believers closely resemble what is referred to as “luck” by others. I know of a church that sold T-Shirts with ” If you are lucky enough to be in Naples, you are lucky enough.”

In personality psychology, people reliably differ from each other depending on four key aspects: beliefs in luck, rejection of luck, being lucky, and being unlucky.^“ People who believe in good luck are more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, and have better moods (Maltby, et al. ,2008) If “good” and “bad” events occur at random to everyone, believers in good luck will experience a net gain in their fortunes, and vice versa for believers in bad luck. This is clearly likely to be self-reinforcing. Thus, a belief in good luck may actually be an adaptive meme.

Meme: defined as an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.

Most cultures consider some numbers to be lucky. I have had a lucky number forever. It’s seven. I use it, I like it, I enjoy the idea that its “lucky for me” and I have not been disappointed in it. Numerolgy is folkloric, started when humans first learned to count and is more of an art than science, based on converting virtually anything material into a pure number used in an attempt to detect something meaningful about reality, and trying to predict or calculate the future based on lucky numbers.

When kept as a talisman, a horseshoe is said to bring good luck. Many believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by

Yes, I have a smaller one of these with a delicate floral touch hanging upside down over my front door and it makes me happy to see it when I return home! I didn’t put it there, the original owner did and I made a wish when she accepted my offer, that it remain. It did and all the lovely colors, good energy and happy feelings imbued through her musical talents and the natural setting she cultivated have remained as well.

We owe to an eighteenth century Persian poet the marvelous concept of “serendipity.” It is a word born in the delightful Persian tale entitled “The Three Princes of Serendip.” Webster’s Dictionary defines “serendipity” as the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable things not sought for.” It represense a type of “accidental sagacity; the faculty of making fortunate discoveries of things you were not looking for.”

Serendipity means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise“; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it.

Based on experience & knowledge, luck is the creative exploitation of the unforeseen. Journeys are the mark of confidence of those who embrace life. Life does not allow itself to be reduced to serial explanation made of inferences, but comes to light through our intuitions and, sometimes, for the most sensitive and subtle of us, in an act of serendipity. I define serendipity as the art of making an unsought finding. ( Pek van Andel quoted from 1994 by Began, et al. 2007))

Various thinkers discuss the role that luck can play in science.  One aspect of Walpole’s original definition of serendipity, often missed in modern discussions of the word, is the need for an individual to be “sagacious” enough to link together apparently innocuous facts in order to come to a valuable conclusion. Indeed, the scientific method, and the scientists themselves, can be prepared in many other ways to harness luck and make discoveries.

In the field of observation, chance favours only the prepared mind-( Louis Pasteur, 1854).

In “Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It“, a one man show on tour by the man we came to love as Captain Kirk in Star Trek stated his whole show was about taking chances.

There’s this whole philosophy, this approach I’ve had with life and with the show, where I do want the show to be considered highly funny and I do go for laughs, but there’s a lot more to it. Life is about taking risks. The show is about me taking chances. And, in the end, if you don’t go the safe route and you’re not afraid to put it all on the line and say yes to being risky, your life will end up being richer as a result of that. Shatner had Paisley write a song for hisalbum Has Been which he performs during his one man show, called, Real.

http://wgna.com/brad-paisleys-broadway-debut-with-william-shatner/

Bruce Springsteen, Lucky Day

In the room where fortune falls -On a day when chance is all-In the dark of fierce exile-I felt the grace of your smile- Honey, you’re my lucky day-Baby,  you’re my lucky day-Well I lost all  the other bets I made-Honey, you’re  my lucky day- When I see strong  hearts give way-To the burdens of  the day-To the weary hands of  time-Where fortune is not kind- Honey, you’re my lucky day-Baby, you’re my lucky day-Well I lost all the other bets I made-Honey, you’re my lucky day- Whoa! – I’ve waited at your side-I’ve carried the tears you’ve cried-But to win, darlin’- we must play-So don’t hide your heart away- Honey, you’re my lucky day-Baby, you’re my lucky day-Well I lost all  the other bets I made-Honey,  you’re my lucky day Whoa!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEslxDJBgiU

Its a simple concept really………….

Who plans to see “The Lucky One”, a new movie being released today on a novel by Nicholas Sparks?

Ordinarily, I do not read his work or watch movies based on his novels because I find it all too disturbing and bittersweet. I could rewrite some much nicer endings and have on Message in a Bottle. All that beautiful scenery, the sailboat he loved and the woman waiting…  That’s another story.

I am going to see this movie because it lines up with my thoughts for today- timely and synchronous. I admire all military service members and have empathy and affinity for the things they have to adapt to while maintaining their strong sense of purpose. I want to believe that a returning veteran from 3 Iraqi tours of duty could be protected by a photo he found by happenstance and he could fall in love with a woman who he found by accidental purpose. A true romantic, yes, but not one who wants to have unrequited love as a main diet or loss of loved ones or sad missed opportunities or the usual stuff that makes for romantic best sellers. I sincerely hope I am surprised when I see “The Lucky One” at the movies. I am a little concerned since the foreward in his book states he is blessed and the most fortunate author, to have the same producer as Message in a Botttle…… If I need to rewrite the ending, I will add it as a postscript!!! But, I am greatly encouraged by the last lines of the preview of the book on Amazon, “…good and bad, strengths and faults, he was hers forever….she was his forever too, imperfect as she was. Take it or leave it she thought, she was who she was. As Logan walked toward her, he smiled as if reading her mind and opened his arms.” I think Mr. Sparks has had an inner awakening and change of slant. How refreshing!!!!

http://theluckyonemovie.warnerbros.com/index.html

You really do have one life and how you live it, really is your decision. Being lucky is the art of finding things we did not know we were looking for and recognizing how they are just what we needed, right when we needed it and saying YES to your lucky moment, your lucky opportunity, your luckiness. When fate smiles on you and the luck knocks at your door, do not ask anyone else, ” can you get that?” or ” could that be for me?” Trust that it is or could be and “carpe diem”- seize that moment before it slips away. Sometimes we are so caught up in our linear way of living- ie: this happens first and then this happens next and then …..that we get bumfuddled when that happens first and we aren’t ready to see how lucky we are and even if it doesn’t look like what we were looking for or expecting, it might be even better. Its a matter of perspective and belief, experience and viewpoint.

Personally, I view myself as lucky and expect happenstance and unseen forces to line up in ways that benefit me that I may never have dreamed of. Serendipity and synchronicity show up in the most surprising places. I embrace them and see how meaningful they are, express gratitude to my lucky stars, my guardian angels and all of creation for the beauty of this life and the effortlessness of living in the moment.

Be the lucky ones. Be blessed with good fortune, have or bring good fortune, blessings and good luck to others. That’s lucky you!!! Choose this as your lucky day!!!

Maltby, J., Day, L., Gill, P., Colley, A., Wood, A.M. (2008). Beliefs around luck: Confirming the empirical conceptualization of beliefs around luck and the development of the Darke and Freedman beliefs around luck scale Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 655–660.

Pek van Andel, in a 1994 statement, as quoted in Constructal Theory of Social Dynamics (2007) by Adrian Bejan and Gilbert W. Merkx, p. 315

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck

How to be Lucky and Successful in Life” by Sumit Kumar Sirkar, Pothi, 2010. p. 5 http://pothi.com/pothi/book/sumit-kumar-sirkar-how-be-lucky-and-successful-life