I'm not lucky but I am blessed.

My middle son. It began as a child. He always seemed to find change in pay phones. We'd cut off his snack allowance at ball games, and he'd find coins on the ground for extra candy. My husband gave him a dollar at a fund raiser craps table to teach him a lesson about a fool & his money -- and he won 8 bucks. He most likely would get the king cake baby. My husband lent him a dollar so he could play in the office football pool & he won (& gave DH his dollar back!).

Later, as a teen, he'd go to sports events and come home with the freebies tossed into the crowds. Out of all the people in Shea Stadium, he'd catch a t-shirt in the t-shirt shoot.

And funny you should bring this up. This morning I saw a car that had rolled over on the highway. I shuddered at the memory of our son crawling out of a similar wreck with minor cuts six years ago. Of all the places to lose control, roll the minivan & come to a stop, he happened upon the few grassy places along the parkway. There were many drop offs he could have fallen over or stone cliffs he could have smashed into. And the car rolled across three lanes before coming to a stop on the grass, but he didn't collide with another car.

I've done that with my purse too a couple of times and thought I was going to have heart failure! I always do stuff like that when I'm in a rush but never thought of it being returned as lucky! To me, it's save return just reaffirmed to me that most people are good and honest. Which when you think about it is nice to see in these crazy times. That is awesome about your blackberry though, I know that one had to be a huge relief, they're so expensive to replace.

Lets see, lucky vs. blessed. IMHO they are the same thing, either way you're grateful and happy for whatever benefit you get from it. I know, I know, someone is bound to disagree with the idea but it's my persception of it, so I really don't care! :c)

I'm not sure if it's luck or my perspective but I feel lucky. When something rotten happens I try to deal with it or fix it as best I can and let it go:)

Though come to think of it I did drop my wallet at a home show a few months ago and didn't realize it was gone until they called the next day and told me. Everything was intact!

Years ago dh won $10,000 with a scratch of lottery ticket. He was visiting his parents in AZ and they bought them for a lark. He had never bought one before in his life. That was lucky! Alas, he has never had that type of luck again.

I think I have better than average odds. I tend to win a lot of contests, and when I've lost something (cell phone is the main thing) I have it returned ok.

My stepson was the lucky one tho. He always won doorprizes, t-shirts at games (as well as the foul balls and once the over the fence homer) and always found money on the street.

Oh bummblebeez how sweet.

I've been lucky at the casino's, but I have lost more than I have won over time. I don't go anymore, but when I was winning it was pure luck.

Yes, I am incredibly lucky. Or, at least, I choose to see it that way. I pray for things and my prayers are answered...just about always. It is kind of amazing. Just happened again yesterday.

I had been putting my intentions out there for something to come through for my daughter for the summer. We have been scouring for an internship or volunteer position for months and months. Just when we were beginning to word the "thanks anyway" letters and I was starting to like the idea of having her home, the most extraordinary offer came through.

When my DH had cancer, I just kept visualizing everything going well and his full recovery, and I asked for everyone we knew to join us. The outcome of the surgery was nothing short of a miracle.

Last week, I was at a meeting for my Business Women's Association and they were about to give away a free ticket to their annual banquet. I said to the woman sitting to my left howw I would love to win that and then quickly realized the drawing was only for people who had brought in new members....not me. Well, the woman on my right was the one who invited me to join the group, she won the ticket and immediately gave it to me since she had a schedule conflict.

So, I am lucky. I am also blessed. Most of all, I am extremely grateful.

Yes. Very lucky. I see it that way. Luck. Somewhat due, probably, to being an innate optimist. Isn't that what 'The Secret' book is all about, which I didn't read.... we draw our luck to us? Power of positive thinking, and all. My belief is that seeing the glass 1/2 full is a personality type one is born with. Recently, scientists say it IS a genetic trait.
This matter of luck takes me to prayer. Yes, personal prayer has worked wonderfully for me all my life. In recent years, however, I've become hesitant to ask. I mean, how dare I? It's 'the same old- same old' :" why me/ mysterious ways" deal. How dare I holler, "Hallelujah , I am blessed", when the poor guy next door just had his whole family wiped out, AFTER specifically saying a big prayer in church for their well-being. I am not a nay-sayer, simply your garden-variety doubter, based on humbleness, more or less.
Back to luck: like most, I have friends whose lives have, seemingly , been cursed with bad luck while others, for whatever reason, have been abundantly blessed. Neither seem particularly worthy of their fates. Must be something in the universe.:>) Some would call it re-incarnation karma. As for me, I choose to shout out frequent thanks, because I do feel so blessed, but I do not use that word, for If I am blessed, that makes my poor downtrodden friend un-blessed?
This is a rudimentary doubt, as old as time. Please know I seek no answers re. religion from this forum and do not mean to argue in favor of any belief or lack thereof. Just got carried away with the subject at hand, and you all are a nice, easy audience:>).

Good grief! I see I got carried away into deeper territory than Golddust intended :>o
Back to luck, and this is kind of eerie: A few times when I won something, I felt this prescience, the certainty that I was about to win, that I had just chosen the winning number. Anyone else have this happen?

leahcate, I love your post and the way you think! My DH & I totally believe in optimisum, the idea of positive thinking and the law of attraction. I agree with you 100% except I didn't know that being an optimist was genetic...really? Learn something new every day! Anyway, great response. :c)

Me too, Leahcat! I feel the same way. My best friend, Sandy, has had way more than her share of challenges while I have always believed things were going to work out for me. When I've needed a new house, it's been presented, for instance. I have an uncanny history of finding a new home the first day I realized I needed one. First time I looked in the paper, first phone call type of thing. Over and over.

My house now, my forever house and I developed a relationship many years before I bought it. I passed it every day going back and forth to work. I was totally attracted. DH and I had one discussion about needing a bigger house before I looked in the paper. There was an open house being held that day. "I know that house. I know exactly where it is. I have always loved it. I used to pass by it everyday. Let's just go see it!" It was way over our budget but we went for fun. Besides, our small house wasn't even on the market. The day before, we weren't even considering buying another house.

Long story short, we ended up with this house, whose electricity bill was more than our old monthly mortgage and we were very concerned about affording it, even though we lowballed then and got it (after a full price offer fell through). Well, the first day our telephone was hooked up, we landed a new business account, large enough to cover our mortgage. Buying this house was a total leap of faith.

Lucky, blessed, whatever. I am. And I have no plans of borrowing trouble now.

It does seem to me that most things in my life work out to my good. Maybe I'm in the right place at the right time. Maybe genetics play a part. I know my family and friends play a huge part, as well as faith.

Sometimes I think that simply making good decisions makes such a huge difference in the way things work out for people, but there is no getting away from the fact that many good and careful people have horrible things come their way. I will be very glad when bad things stop happening and all people will be able to enjoy life to the full.

Red

Yes, my dear Goldie, you are lucky, but even if no one had turned in your backpack, purse, or blackberry, you'd still be lucky! Our thoughts really dictate how we see our lives, not our circumstances. You are a person who would find the good in whatever situation you found yourself in, & perceive yourself as "lucky."

If you lost $300.00, well someone needed it more than you, how nice. If your blackberry went poof, well, maybe you were spending too much time on that thing anyway. If we trust that we live in a benevolent universe, we can trust that all is put in our way for the best. God, the universe, life, will give us what we need. But, Can we trust that reality is really unfolding in our best interest? If we can, we see ourselves as "lucky." We love life, ourselves & others however that shows up.

Someone in my life pointed out the other day how a mutual friend just had a baby (lucky!) & how my sister had just been diagnosed with cancer (unlucky!) She put it in those terms pretty directly. Well, that's not how I see it.

When my sister was found to have a malignant brain tumor 3 yrs. ago, she quit smoking. I never, ever thought that would happen! Never! She recovered from the cancer, & has never smoked again. Was it lucky that the cancer came afterall? In a sense, I believe it was. As you know, she now has lung cancer & breast cancer. Well, I believe that there are gifts here too, some that I already see, others that we have yet to find. God is present in this too. Already, I have felt the uplifting prayers of those here at GW. What a blessing.

No matter how "unlucky" a circumstance may seem, there are gifts of gold to be mined from it. We always have the choice to see how lucky we are if we question the thoughts that tell us we are not.

My dh shared this ancient Chinese proverb with me years ago. I love of its wisdom & it speaks beautifully to your query.

Here is a link that might be useful: Are you lucky?

I am very blessed, and there is a big difference between (the idea of)lucky and the promise of being blessed.
Thanks for asking!

I'd say quite the opposite for me (lucky that is). I say this just having had my final IVF (#4) which who knows, might not work, but might....but it won't be due to luck...I like bumble feel blessed.

Lots of bad has entered my life. If I wanted to dwell, probably more than my fair share, but here I sit, healthy, DH snoring next to me, in a wonderful home, DS sleeping quietly in his bed. He's grown a full size since we moved here...while he's still in the 0 percentile for weight, he hit the height charts :) (ten percent LOL) and his cheeks are actually almost (for him) chubby :) Nothing else matters....that makes me feel more blessed than I can possibly share, and makes all the other crap seem pretty insignificant really.

OK it could be the hormones talking LOL And bedrest making me nuts, but still....I am blessed, very blessed.

Just celebrated 13 years of being cancer free- and our 30 year wedding anniversary all in the same week! Well I have the flu or something so not much celebrating. so yeah. In the way that counts. fingers crossed Ig.