Am I Lucky?
This was a random Google search only because I was curious about what would come up first and be interesting. “Am I lucky?” of course, is an appropriate theme to consider in March.
So, taken from my Google search:
“Whether you believe you’re lucky or unlucky is a subjective perception of how you see the world around you and interpret the events that happen to you…..One way to identify luck in your life is to appreciate the things that you DO have and be grateful for the experiences that you’ve encountered.”
This one paragraph leaves a lot of room for thoughtful consideration. It’s a habit for some to begin each day “counting blessings,” or things we are grateful for. By doing this, we start out the day “winning.” The opposite would be to just start the day by first listing all the “to-dos” for home or work and to immediately feel the burden of them all.
Following this pattern of thought, it would seem reasonable to think that “feeling lucky” could be synonymous with “being grateful” or feeling “blessed.” The two ideas coincide.
If you sometimes find it difficult to begin your day feeling “blessed,” here is a suggested read that was recommended to me a long time ago. Although I currently don’t have a lot of time for reading, I did read this one and was better off for it.
Each day WILL have its mountains to climb and hills to hurdle. No matter if you are in Disneyworld at the beach or in your own home … you are pretty much guaranteed to come across something that is somewhat aversive in your day. How better to prepare for these adversities than to start off the day feeling that you are lucky … or blessed?
I am a negative person by nature. This is just not easy for me. Hence the importance of a daily list of things to feel lucky about. Sometimes … and often … these “blessings” are NOT what has been given to me, but more often than not, it seems to be all the things that could have BUT did not happen (to me): the car on the road that I DID NOT hit while trying to discipline a child, the dinner that DID NOT burn while I was distracted on the phone (or at least did not burn the house down), the forgotten homework that WAS NOT due the next day, those teenager tears that turned out to be not so tragically caused. The list could go on really as I think of all the unlucky things that could have happened in a day … that did not.
Call it lucky, call it blessed … some days, I just call it good, true, beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that when you wake up, all of these things are so obvious. We have to be reminded, or sometimes even “startled,” out of the bad and the negative. So going to work from my dirty house, the pile of laundry which could easily set me off for an unlucky, unblessed day … I am reminded right away as I turn onto Perkins Road into the rising, almost piercing sun, that outside of the mess I just left…there is something good, beautiful…and greater. It seems like a small thing, really. But honestly, the warmth of that piercing sun (if any of you have driven down Perkins at 7:30 in the morning towards Highland) is enough to grab your attention, even if it is just to grab your sunglasses….and think of something greater….greater than the mess that was left and the worries and concerns that mess represents.
You might not be someone who needs something so concrete and visual to pull you out of a downhill day. For some, it might be a day that starts off with affection from a child, a “thank you” from a teenager, or words of affirmation from a spouse or friend. And on other days, it might just be that first cup of coffee. Whatever it is…the most challenging thing to do is to Notice it!
So, am I lucky or blessed? Yes … Do I need to work on gratitude? YES … that is a fact. Is it necessary to fight off negativity? For sure!
The color green is associated with growth and renewal. It also represents the hope for what is to come. The green grass of spring reminds us that those buds are not far from blooming. It is the same with each of us when it comes to luck and blessing and gratitude. When we daily strive to identify our “luck” or “blessings,” we are not far from blooming.
