Sunday, March 25, 2018

Do You Feel Lucky?!

Do You Feel Lucky?!
By Allen Merritt © 2018

Recently, I noticed several green shamrocks cut out of construction paper decorating a glass pane at a coffee house I visited while tooling around L.A. Each one started off with the words, “I am lucky…” followed by someone’s thoughts on what they were lucky to have, experience or be.

It seemed to me these little notes were ones of gratitude offered up for passerby’s to see and possibly glean something from; an opportunity to reflect on ones own luckiness.

If one is paying close attention, they will read a couple of the “lucky” notes and begin to consider something they might feel lucky for or about.

As it was getting close to St. Patrick’s day I began thinking of Shamrock shakes and four leaf clovers, which I remember from childhood. I recall picking through clover patches and literally looking for that lucky four leaf clover. Once in a blue moon I would find one and feel extra lucky. (They are not easy to find). Once you find one, you gently place it in wax paper and between the pages of a favorite book to flatten and preserve it for future good luck. (I’m willing to bet most people forget they put it there until they stumble upon it years later flipping through that same book).

Sometimes kids will fake a four leaf clover by trying to add the extra fourth leaf to a three leaf clover. Funny the things we do to convince ourselves we are special. Guess we are all hungry for a little bit of luck even if we have to fake it a little to get some. Sound familiar?

Anyway, I am not sure any good luck ever comes around in the way we think it will by possessing the magic clover! When I think of luck and feeling lucky, the following things come to mind: a) finding a lucky penny (heads up) on the street; b) a lucky rabbit’s foot; c) lucky ducks; d) fortune cookies; and, e) Lucky Charms.

Superstitions and myths are the things history is made of. As I think of it, I clearly have a certain amount of luck running throughout the course of my life. It’s beyond my control. Even though there are times when we create our own luck by simply stepping up and taking action toward our goals, much of it really has nothing to do with us or our lucky charms.

Lucky is quite possibly another word for blessing, don’t you think? And what is a blessing but a favor presented to us! Since luck is something out of our hands and brought about by chance, then it only makes sense that the idea of luck is something brought about by our imagination more than anything.

Luck seems to be associated with winning often unexpectedly. Some people have it and some don’t. But is that really the case?

I would bet most people have heard the line made famous by Clint Eastwood, “Do you feel lucky?” Even with those words we understand luck wasn’t really the question. The way I see it, luck is recognizing the beautiful things around you and accepting the little blessings that come our way and seeing them for what they are.

I think everyone has a little bit of luck in their DNA. Good things can happen all the time. We simply have to recognize and embrace that part of ourselves. Some folks might even say we make our own luck and we are the masters of our own fate. What do you think? Do you believe in luck? Do you feel lucky today? If so, what are you lucky for?

It’s something to think about this week as we get started living life on a positive note.

If you need a little jump start, here’s an old song to get you start pondering that for which you are grateful for. It’s called I’m Looking over a Four Leaf Clover.



I wish everyone a load of good luck. 

Enjoy and Cheers!

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