The dictionary says that luck is an outside force Lucky means that we receive good fortune or get hit by adversity.
Around here, we we define it differently.
When we say lucky on this blog, we mean ways we connect … Jannie said:
I feel my gurus thus far are you, Barbara Swafford, Cath Lawson and Vered … I feel awfully lucky.
people who encourage us … Vicky said:
I love Melissa and Life In Perpetual Beta too!
I am so lucky to know both of you personally. You both enrich my life and I believe God sent you both to me. To encourage me to dream big as both of you do and you know I have big plans too!
about making our own dreams … Patricia said:
Sigh. This is my dream, to live near the beach and take long walks on the sand.
So soothing. You must conjure lots of dreams for this community on those beach walks. Lucky for us!
We use lucky to talk about relationships … Writer Dad said:
My son and I wake up before anyone else. Every morning he reminds me how lucky I am.
appreciation and gratitude … Karl said:
I take a second to step back and try to appreciate the spot that I am in. It helps me gain perspective and feel lucky to do whatever it is Iâm doing. Even giving a financial literacy talk to a bunch of bored teenagers is enjoyable.
I catch myself doing the same thing.
Iâm one very lucky blogger.
Donât think I donât know that.
Around here, luck doesn’t happen to us.
We choose it for ourselves — in the people we love and the paths we walk.
Luck is an action, a choice, and a point of view.
So tell me, are you feeling lucky?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image: sxc.hu
Work with Liz!!
I’m ambivalent about the term “lucky.” I prefer the word “fortunate,” because it encourages gratitude, which — to me at least — is a cardinal virtue.
And luck, or good fortune, has a large component of being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of the opportunities presented. So luck is active, not passive!
That being said, I’m grateful every day for being so lucky, or fortunate in my life. That gratitude drives me to compassion for those less fortunate, another virtue I’m trying to live up to!
I switched from believing in luck to recognizing divine grace and mercy (in addition to guidance) years ago after gathering all sorts of evidence.
So I feel “graced” rather than “lucky” and I also know that my human agency is in the mix.
Hi Liz
Like Mike, I’m a strong believer in ‘making your own luck’ – not just being in the right place at the right time but acknowledging there is an opportunity to grasp.
Of course it takes experience – we learn by trial and error – and perhaps even being persistence, but ‘luck’ is definitely not something that just happens to one or the other miraculously.
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Hi Mike,
I have trouble taking the concept of luck seriously. It seems so disconnected and impossible to rely on. So why even consider it? I like the way we talk about here — in our control, but also a product of our gratitude and reflection on what we’ve been given.
Hi Liz – Like you, I think luck is more attitude than anything. I had a boss whose favorite saying was, “If I was any luckier, I’d have to be twins.” It’s a fortunate accident of sorts, to be sure, but we make our own luck as the saying goes, too. The element that sparks the chemical reaction is how we feel about our circumstances. The cool thing is we can infect others and make a difference in their outlook. Thanks.
Hi Meredith,
That word graced sure says it. 🙂
Yeah, Karin,
Also knowing not to frasp too tightly when we catch ahold of it.
Betsy,
We get our own brain chemistry going and the rest is a chain reaction. Yeah, exactly!
Thanks for including my comment in today’s post. 🙂
“Luck is an action, a choice, and a point of view.” so true, love that quote.
I do feel lucky, or fortunate, or blessed, or whatever you’d like to call it. There are many reasons. The main one is my family, then there are my friends and of course my health, but my blog and the community that I have found through it are not far behind.
Thank you for the link!
No! I don’t feel lucky. I just think I have work to do and I am fortunate to be able to see it, do it, understand it. I am grateful for each day as it comes and for what it offers up and how I am able to respond.
I am taking this whole month to write about what I am grateful for and saying Thank you.
Every person I can share with is the gift I receive that day.
I won a Sand design kit for children at the start of Sand in the City. They pulled my number our of a hat. I thought this is an indication that this is the way I want to celebrate my birthday with this fund raiser to help children learn about our world.
I also felt so happy, that when I discovered a child on sculpture day who loved the sand and work – I could give him something to continue that love and feel to take home.
That was not luck, those were moments of connection.
Thanks, Vicky!
It felt good to put it down that way.
Vered,
From where I sit lots of folks, including me, are feeling lucky, blessed or whatever, to have come across you. We all get so much from the communities that collect here.
Patricia,
You reject the word luck. Some replace it. Some just redefine it on their own terms.
Yet here we all are in agreement that we have to be alive, grateful, connecting, appreciating, present, and choosing to know the feeling that we’re talking about.
What you’re doing sounds wonderful. I look forward to knowing more.
I am very lucky… some of the choices I made had hazy or unforeseeable outcomes – instead of finding myself bereft, betrayed, and surrounded by those I couldn’t trust – I have found myself surrounded by smart, creative, genuine, honest, caring, loving, giving people.
I’ve had the other existence earlier in this lifetime – I choose to appreciate this one. I call it luck because I know how valuable it is to me and how grateful I am for it.
So yeah, I do feel lucky… in love, in friendship, in relationships, in opportunities – in life, I guess! 🙂
Lucretia,
It seems so obvious that you draw to you what you expect to find. You are what you describe. 🙂
I love your line, “Luck is an action, a choice, and a point of view.”
A person driving a school bus for thirty years may feel lucky because they make sure 40 kids get back and forth to school every day. While a doctor, who just can’t find the right angles, feels unlucky.
It’s up to us to make our own luck. If we wait around for good things to happen we will be wasting our time.
Hi Liz,
I feel lucky knowing I’ve been in the right place at the right time on many occasions. I look back on when and why I started blogging and realize this, too, is another blessing.
Thank you for the link love, Liz, and thank you to Jannie for the kind words.
I love Meredith’s insight about the word “graced.” For me, this year, the opportunities have been of the sort that I couldn’t ignore much less walk away from. Even when I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going, feeling graced gives me the faith and courage and confidence to keep after it. And also makes me want to “pay it forward” to help others recognize their own opportunities.
I should’ve included Christine Kane in the list of the blogger gurus I’ve found thus far, felt bad about forgetting to include her as her blog is veritibly exploding with positivity too. (if positivity even is an actual word.)
Hi Karl,
The best part of writing is when it clarifies my thoughts. That was a freeing line to write.
You say it so well. It’s up to us to make our own luck and our own life. 🙂
Barbara,
I also believe that we make our luck by choosing what place and time we’re in. What’s right for us is the place and time that our luck seems to come.
The gifts you’re feeling have been ones that go both ways. We’re grateful for you.
Christa,
You keep thinking that way and the world will continue to keep thinking that way about you. 🙂
Jannie,
I’m with you about Christine. She’s a blogger and a songwriter who’s special to me too.
Hi Liz – Thanks for publishing Jannie’s words on here. And thank you Jannie for saying such nice things.
I don’t feel like a guru – but it’s nice to be called one all the same.