Does luck really exist? Is there such thing as "being lucky"?
To help me to pack the art into my van, my husband backed the large van for me, out of our driveway, and into..... a wall.
An ugly dent and scratch marks, were left on the back and on one of the sides of the shining new black van.
My husband felt terrible.
We only owned the van for a short period of time before this.
We bought it new, and it was fitted for me, to ensure maximum space for safely packing and transporting the art inside it.
The estimate for the repair of the van, came so high, that I casually mentioned that since it is just a ‘cosmetic thing’, and since we will probably get many more scratches driving across the USA, we might as well accumulate some more scratches, before we spend so much on repairing it.
Time went by and soon I forgot all about the scratches.
We did not accumulate more dents and scratches, but I got so used to seeing it there, that I did not actually see it any longer.
A few years later, I have stopped doing my rigorous art shows schedule across the USA, and our van mostly stayed parked in the driveway.
We used it very infrequently for transporting art or on Kayaking and cycling trips.
To put some milage on it, we drove the van one day to Denver where we stayed at the Ritz Carlton hotel.
The Ritz was a newly opened hotel in LoDo (Lower Downtown Denver) and it is very lovely and it offered great introductory rates.
We gave the van keys to the valet parking, and went to our room.
The next day, we waited for the Valet to bring our van over.
Instead of the van, a very apologetic manager came over, jittery and very anxious.
Apparently, the valet parking guy, drove our van into a wall.... and a new dent and huge scratches now appeared at the EXACT same spaces we bumped the van before.
Imagine this.....
The Ritz Carlton INSISTED on fixing our van, even though we honestly and openly let them know, that some of the scratches and one big dent, were already there before. (we decided that honesty is the BEST POLICY, and to just come out and speak the truth)
They would not have it any other way... They said it does not change the fact that their valet damaged our van, and that it must be fixed and paid for by their insurance.
The body shop mechanic said that the whole side and the back, have to be fixed together, because they do not do spot fixing of individual dents and scratches..... they have to fix the whole panel anyway.
They gave us a rental car for the duration that it took for the body shop to fix our van.
The van came back to us, fixed, buffed and painted to perfection, as if it came out of the factory’s assembly line.
Jules and I kept on wondering to ourselves how “lucky” we were, that this happened, right at the exact same spot that we damaged the van before and exactly where it already needed to be repaired.
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It was a large ballroom, filled with hundreds of people.
You bought a ticket at the door and the funds went to a good cause-non profit organization.
There was a table full of ‘Thank You’ gifts you could win, if your ticket number was called.
I surveyed the gifts a bit disinterested.
There was only one prize I really liked, and would have wanted to win.
It had a collection of gourmet items like truffle oils, hemp-seeds oils, and a variety of gourmet delicious vegan condiments, as well as a high tech Japanese knife set.
The rest of the gifts were a bit boring, and I thought to myself, that even if I'll win one of them, I would give it to somebody else, make someone else happy.
I bought the ticket to help the fund raising, and did not really care for the winning the gifts, but they were offering them and everybody likes to win....
They called the numbers and all the gifts went to people who were happy to win them, all but the very best one...... the one I thought that I would be happy to win.
Sure enough when it came time to give the number one prize, my numbers were called.
People tell me that I am very lucky.
That my great health, my prosperity and happiness are a result of being very lucky.
I agree that things seem to work well for me..... very often.
But I am here to challenge the notion of "luck".
Does luck really exist?
Does anything happen to us by “good fortune”, or do we attract experiences and things to us?
I am not even going to mention winning awards for my art, because you can argue that talent and a product, is a matter of the judges taste, and that it has nothing to do with being lucky.
But cases of winning door prizes, or the lottery, do seem arbitrarily to most people.
People on the earth believed in luck for generations.
People believe in lucky years, lucky numbers, lucky days of the month, lucky dates.
The belief in 'unlucky' years, dates and numbers, is just as strong, and it is very different from place to place.
In ancient China, people used to kill new born baby girls, who were born on the year of the dragon, believing that they will be unlucky, too powerful and willful, and that men will not want to marry them. (I was born in the year of the dragon).
The number 13 is considered unlucky in many places around the western world, and to my stunned amazement, many office buildings in New York City, do not have a 13th floor button in the elevators.
For years I looked at this superstitious with disappointment in my heart. (I was born on the 13th of September.)
When I traveled in Asia, people told me again and again how lucky I am to be born on the auspices day of the 13th.
The month of September (number 9), is also very lucky in some Asian countries, since it is considered to be a royal lucky number.
Luck, is defined in the dictionary as "Success or failure APPARENTLY brought about by chance, and not by the person's action.
Being “fortunate,” implies that some people are unlucky or unfortunate in comparison with others, who are the “lucky one”.
But we are all equally lucky, and we actually do attract to ourselves, positive or negative experiences, based on our state of minds and willingness to bring into our lives blessings.
You may have heard the very true saying that: "Luck is the residue of design..."
If we look at sport, it may help to demonstrate this point.
Winning sport competitions, is not usually viewed as lucky, but as a result of much training and effort.
First you must create the state of mind of readiness for good to come into your life.
In this state of readiness, you become a magnet to the things you want... And yes, they do seem to come to you effortlessly.... people notice your craft or art... people invite you to participate in events that promote your art... etc.
I often got upgraded on airplanes for no charge, to first class.
It may seem that the airline picked my name arbitrary, out of the passengers list, but it is not so.
The airlines usually upgrade people who are in their frequent flyers programs in the categories that fly most often. (gold class)
To an outsider, it may look as if I was “lucky”, but it had really nothing to do with luck, it was just the way the “system works”.
You could argue, that winning the door prize is indeed a “lucky” incident.
But many did not even buy the tickets, thinking that “they never win anything anyway”....
Others may NOT have told themselves, like I did, that it would be nice if I won the first prize, thinking they may create a high expectation and a disappointment if they did not win...
I would not have been disappointed if I did not win.
I really did not care that much, I just indicated to the Universe that if it wants to give me something, it would be nice to win something that I really wanted.
Good health is also not an arbitrary lucky thing.
It goes into your belief system of what controls good health and healing, as well as embracing good healthy living habits.
Prosperity is definitely NOT a matter of luck.
It got nothing to do with luck at all.
You may have heard stories about people who made or won fortunes, only to lose it all to bad spending and investing habits or greed.
Abundance can only be maintained by a person with abundance principals in place.... and it has MUCH to do with your gratitude, contentment, healthy work habits, good ethics and level of entitlement. (notice here that I am talking of abundance and NOT about the accumulation of money that could be acquired through criminal means. I am talking about lasting abundance)
I am just reflecting out loud here... in this piece of writing....
I have not met many “lucky” people myself.
I have met supremely talented people who internally got ready to claim their share of life’s blessings.
I have met talented people who got tired of struggling and decided to give themselves an opportunity to succeed and let life bless them.
I have also met people who constantly bemoan their lot in life and believe that they always fuck things up for themselves...
And indeed they do...
By their beliefs and words, they push many blessings away from themselves... and back into the draw... which goes on to people who actually claims them and welcome them into their lives.
