How To Get Lucky

We all want a little luck in our lives, right?

Check that. We want buckets of the stuff. We want luck stalking us and spamming us and kneeling at our feet.

But what is luck, really?

Some would have you believe that luck is a mythical beast, and that those who say they are lucky are just lying to make the rest of us feel better.

Some would persuade you that luck is kind of a meandering and vaguely dipsy do-good fairy, whose Wand of Fortune makes a random appearance every now and again (but is never to be relied upon for a star turn at children’s parties.)

But most of us would agree that luck is out there, somewhere. We just wish there was a way to summon it to us (heeeeeere lucky lucky lucky! Come ‘ere luck! Here boy!) and make it stay (down luck, down! gooood boy.) Ok, enough with the doggy talk already.

But yesterday, I was standing at the kitchen sink, thinking about the word luck while I stared at my boxes (did you know that moving house is supposed to be more traumatic than divorce? And I have moved so many times that I should be in permanent therapy really. Seriously. I can’t even tell you how many times I have moved because then you may think I’m a little strange or something. AND I have a nine week old baby and 2 other kids. Feel free to send me chocolate. Or red wine.)

Anyway, I was rolling the word “luck” around in my head and noting the ways that we use it in our conversation. Because very often the way we use a word gives us a powerful insight into the nature of the word itself.

So, when we use the word luck, we say things like “We’re in luck” or “I’m feeling lucky” or “Oh, that was lucky”. An object can be a lucky charm. Or we can look forward to “My Lucky Day”.

And it occurred to me that we seem to have an understanding that luck is truly a state of being. We are in it or feeling it or being it.

It is not something that “happens” to us, any more than happiness just “happens” to us, or fear just “happens” to us.

It is a state of mind, a feeling that we can choose to feel.

If my hubby buys me flowers for example, this makes me ridiculously happy (mainly because this just isn’t something he normally does.)

But he doesn’t have to buy me flowers for me to feel happy. In fact, he doesn’t have to do anything at all for me to feel happy. He could even buy me flowers and I could feel miserable because he never buys me flowers and the one time that he does buy me flowers only makes the times that he doesn’t really stand out.

So if we can choose to feel happy despite our circumstances, then equally we can choose to feel lucky. To be in luck, in the state of luck. So why wait for something to happen in order to justify the feeling? That’s like saying “I’ll just wait for something to make me happy first before I feel it.”

(And there are many, many people who do this all the time. Ironically, they are often the same people who are total ninjas at feeling fear without any justification at all.)

So why do you need evidence to appear before you can feel lucky? Perhaps feeling lucky first is the best way to get more of it?

If this post worked for you, perhaps you might like these too:

Can We Stop Talking About Stuck, Please?
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7 Powerful Reasons To Change The Rules & Start Feeling Great

Tagged as: feelings, fortune, good luck, luck, Your Beliefs