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Do you consider the luck factor in life as important? Well, may be we all do in some way or the other at times in our lives.
In spite of working hard, we sometimes wish for a stroke of luck, change of destiny, or things that may alter our fate.
Aren’t blessings too all about wishing for good fortune so that something good ‘happens’ to us or our dear ones. Most of us generally believe that luck happens, and that it is godsend.
Many feel that the luck factors in life are not in our control, and that the cause of their luck is something external.
Sometimes people just surrender themselves to the mercy of their destiny, and make no attempts to improve their life through hard work.
Such people heavily depend on luck to achieve success in their lives because either they firmly believe that nothing is in their hands, or they want things to come in easy.
However, luck can be interpreted in different ways.
One type of luck belief is associated with magical powers or a divine force, which helps to deliver opportunities and fortunes right at the door, that too without making much of an effort.
But for some, luck is all about chances. And they believe opportunities always knock at the door, whether you wish for it or not.
Those who are lucky are trained to hear the knock, have the will to make effort, open the door at the right time, and grab the opportunity.
“Everything in life is luck” ~ Donald Trump
What People Do for Luck
People label themselves as lucky or unlucky based on the nature of their experiences, depending on whether they are successful or unsuccessful.
The ones who feel they lack luck in their lives often fall for the belief in lucky charms, which they treat as the luck inducing factors.
They try to do everything else apart from making real efforts to attract good fate and increase the luck factors in their lives.
Some treasure the objects and things that they believe would bring them luck. While there are others who prefer to act at a predetermined time that is considered to be lucky.
Unbelievably, some even follow certain bizarre behaviors or ways with the hope to bring them good fortune.
It’s not only that. A few even go to the extent of calling people in their lives as their lady luck or lucky man, who they believe may help change their destiny.
In fact, sometimes when we find someone else get what we want; we call that person fortunate or lucky.
But, what exactly do you need to do to have luck in your life?
Do you think the factors that bring fortune have to be external, like events, people, and objects? Could it be that the luck factors are already within us waiting to be harnessed?
“Luck is believing you’re lucky.” ~ Tennessee Williams
What is Luck
What is luck anyway? Don’t we all mostly associate it with comfort, money, and winning?
The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines luck as a favoring chance or a force that brings good fortune.
Wikipedia defines luck as a good fortune which occurs beyond one’s control, without regard to one’s will, intention, or desired result.
Now, let’s try to understand luck from another perspective.
Both the above mentioned definitions of luck talk about it as being good fortune. Okay, so what does good fortune bring us?
It ultimately brings us happiness and satisfaction. Right?
In whatever circumstances, when we feel lucky, we feel happy and satisfied. So, we can interpret luck as:
LUCK = HAPPINESS + SATISFACTION
As feeling lucky is as good as being lucky, doesn’t it then make luck a state of mind?
If yes, then luck is the result of no outer force but the inner energy, which we can control and harness to the maximum.
If you’re positive, you’ll be happy, and therefore you’ll feel lucky. Thus, positive thinking is the luck factor that we all can attain!
“I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.” ~ Denzel Washington
How to Get Lucky
Let’s be rational. Now that we understand luck, we can find a way so that anybody can be lucky.
We cannot do anything about a force that is beyond our control. We need something real that we can control.
We can do two things to be lucky:
1) Find reasons to be happy and satisfied.
2) Increase our chance opportunities to be lucky.
First, let’s find the sources of happiness that make us happy and satisfied.
“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” ~ Stephen Leacock
Discovering the LUCK Factor
There are many sources of happiness. But there are two types of happiness – temporary happiness and permanent happiness.
We have to understand that pleasure is different from true happiness.
Pleasure gives us temporary happiness. It is dependent on objects, events, and people. It is short-lived too, and exists as far as its cause is present.
True or permanent happiness comes from within our self and it is not dependent on any external factor.
Since the sources of true happiness are within our control, we can tap them to deliver permanent happiness.
If we do that, we’ll remain forever lucky.
I’ve coined an acronym called LUCK. It describes the four factors essential for true happiness that make us lucky.
L – Love
U – Understanding
C – Compassion
K – Kindness
Love consists of sharing, caring, and liking. It includes being affectionate, passionate, devoted, respectful, and a friend.
Understanding means to be in agreement and harmony – to be accepting, supportive, appreciative, and tolerant towards one another.
Compassion includes to have sympathy, empathy, and a heartily concern.
Kindness is to be warm-hearted, forgiving, humane, thoughtful, helpful, benevolent, considerate, and gentle.
If a person imbibes and follows all these factors in life, he or she will always be truly happy at heart.
Having the LUCK factor in our life also saves us from any kind of relationship problems, like a broken friendship, heart-break, bad marriage, and other family issues.
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” ~ Louis Pasteur
Creating Luck Favoring Chance
The other logical way to be lucky is to look for and create more opportunities so that the chances of facing a favoring opportunity increase.
Prof. Richard Wiseman who has authored the book “The Luck Factor” talks about four principles that can bring luck to anybody, which are mentioned as follows:
1) Maximize your chance opportunities.
2) Listen to your lucky hunches.
3) Expect good fortune.
4) Turn bad luck into good luck.
Here is a video that might interest you.
[youtube id=”Qxal-UbCMGI” width=”620″ height=”360″]
How lucky are you? ~ Aimhigher and Prof. Richard Wiseman ~ YouTube Video
What Lucky People Do
The people who are lucky actually take the reins in their own hands, and create their own luck.
Analysis of all successful and lucky people reveals certain common characteristics and qualities that are part of their personality.
These people are very optimistic and always have a positive outlook. They have increased self-esteem, good self perception, and high confidence.
The lucky people are go-getters, engaged, prompt decision makers, and have good habits. They are focused, full of hope, and have a strong self belief.
One thing that greatly distinguishes the lucky people from others is that they are always open to new things and opportunities.
They break daily routines, embrace change, and create new opportunities. They also have the ability to spot new opportunities, and always are in the moment or are mindful.
Being proactive and believing that everything will work out if they make efforts or try their best and never give up, gives them the edge over others.
Even if they fail, they adopt a resilient attitude, learn from their mistakes, and bounce right back. Since they regard themselves as lucky, they expect to do well in any circumstances.
Successful people effectively use coping mechanisms to their benefit and compare themselves with the worst, accept things could’ve been worse, and move on.
Luck requires efforts. Lucky people are achievers. They plan long-term and set high realistic expectations. They even use the power of visualization, imagination, and positive affirmations.
What enables the people who are lucky to carry on is their relaxed attitude, and they find ways to be quiet and calm through meditation etc.
Lucky people also expect good things to happen. Spending time with their own self helps them develop their intuition and make smart decisions.
“Men and women who call themselves unlucky are often notably passive people” ~ Max Gunther
It is said that to be successful, you should copy the habits and ways of successful people. Similarly, to be lucky, just do what lucky people do!
Eventually you’ll find that there isn’t any difference between successful and lucky people, because most lucky people are successful.
It is indeed your thoughts and behavior that create luck in your life.
Creating luck is a skill that one must learn, and should not be bogged down by negative events, results, or circumstances, or end up acting as a victim.
Instead, lucky people seize the moment, increase their chances of success by noticing opportunities that aren’t expected and create self-fulfilling prophecies.
“Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have.” ~ Ed Bradley
We All Have the Luck Factor
Almost everybody has the right and ability to be lucky. We need to adopt the right attitude, learn the luck skills, implement them, and feel lucky.
Luck is a good fortune that we can control with our own thoughts, words, and actions.
The ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca once said, “Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity,” and Benjamin Franklin stated, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
We’re lucky enough to be alive, and these great personalities teach us that we can be luckier if we prepare ourselves and work smart.
Those who are aware of the Law of Attraction (LOA) would find themselves acquainted with most of the things mentioned in this post.
No lucky charm can substitute positive thinking and willful efforts as the basic luck factors in life.
“I think luck gets you on to the stage. But it has nothing to do with keeping you there.” ~ Eric Bana
At times we do feel there is something more than luck. Something that may be we don’t understand and control fully.
Some of you might question that if all of us have the equal right to be lucky, why only few of us are born lucky?
Why are some people poor and some rich? Why some of us are healthy and some are challenged or have disabilities? There could be many other related questions.
Here I’d say the Karma theory comes into play, which is based on the cause and effect principle. It is not luck; however it does accommodate luck in someway.
A good karma might give us some good head start and put us on the stage, but we have to make efforts ourselves and work to become lucky and successful.
We might discuss this aspect may be in some other post.
As for the lucky charms, I might treat them as mere decorative pieces or as placebos that can at the most offer a temporary good feeling or a false happiness in us.
“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Is My Blog Lucky
Do I feel my blog is lucky in some way or the other? Yes!
I feel I am lucky indeed and so is my blog for me because it has given me many good friends and relationships.
My blog community has such wonderful readers and commentators who share their views about what I write.
I feel happy to take this blog to the next level and introduce guest blogging starting from next week. Yes, there will be posts every Tuesday and Friday (if everything works well!).
Every third Tuesday of the month there will be a guest post from a wonderful blogger. And all the other Tuesdays I would be sharing “short and sweet” posts, polls, thoughts, and many more things that I’m sure all of you would like.
The Friday posts would stay as they are – a little longer than usual, but I’m sure you don’t mind the length – do you?
So, you see I am increasing my chance opportunities, how is that about getting lucky!
What are you doing to get lucky or luckier?
“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” ~ Brian Tracy
Here’s wishing you best of LUCK!
Over to You –
Do you believe in luck or consider it as being superstitious? Have you also got any lucky charm talismans? Do you agree that we can create our own luck? Can you think of more luck factors? Share your views or story of the luck factors in your life in the comments below.
Photo Credit: SweetOnVeg, FreeDigitalPhotos