از تو حركت، از خدا بركت
Go and wake up your luck, says the old Persian Proverb.
Isn't luck and good fortune totally random?
Mega rich Cal (Billy Zane) in Titanic tells the homeless Jack (Leo Dicap) "A real man makes his own luck." Since we've all seen the movie, we know Jack gets the bittersweet taste of dying in the arms of his beloved, while Cal survives yet puts a pistol in his mouth during the stock market crash of the 20's. Who really made their luck in this scenario? I'm pretty sure the Persians have something about money can't make happiness, but I'm sick of trying to translate Farsi.
Is it just that lucky people find opportunities that flash by others because they are aware of what is going on around them? Listening and being an attentive observer might help hone in on available opportunities even moments before others, making you the lucky one.
If you believe you're favored does it mean you will be? I do believe in the power of positive thinking. All through college, even if I hadn't studied for a test if I ran over the few things I knew in mind for certain and thought the, "You can do this" happy thoughts, I feel I fared better than if I had just scribbled my name down, barely read the questions and jetted out the door. Isn't that common sense though? Reading the questions with a positive demeanor, thinking analytically about each question, and answering them with a good attitude and upbeat tone... doesn't that sound like a better attitude won over being favored?
Is there a high correlation between people who say they're lucky and upbeat people?
It seems to me those upbeat people rejoice after hearing anything by casting it in a positive light.
Did you hear one million people were killed in an accident?
My goodness, at least it wasn't one million and one.
Did you not hear what the hell I said? ONE MILLION people were killed. Jesus. These types of optimists kill me, literally. The severity and graveness of the situation would not ever let me utter the words, "at least it wasn't a million and one". This is the extreme side of course... These people do not live in reality or the real world.
I know there has been an abrupt death to common sense, but I am still a huge fan. I'd take common sense and someone who is moderately intelligent over a genius prodigy who can't carry on a conversation unless its with a beetle. The people on both ends of the extreme seem to scream out that they do not have common sense and/or live in the real world.
I had an ex who would get increasingly frustrated with my pleas of asking him to live in the real world with me. He couldn't deny the cold hard facts that the literary truths of the world held, yet he still remained to live some where between a made up world of kitties and butterflies in some far away fairy-tale place where only his realities mattered. It all seemed like a life was built on these false set of lies or non realities just to escape from the reality of everyday normal life.
This type of person is the prime example of a person who creates his own luck. It could mean changing the price tag to give yourself a better deal, rummaging through a locker room for a few dollars you just "stumble" upon, or surprising an unknowing family you know well and tranquilizing them to steal from them. Yes all of these are outrageous, but someone who believes they are creating their own luck or sees unrealistic optimism in things (I know I stole from everyone in the locker room, but my optimism and fairy-tale land ways allow me to see I just stumbled upon it...) as a righteous way of life.
So to the old Persian Proverb of waking up your own luck, I'm not quite sure how I am taking it just yet.
I think it can be as simple as wearing a smile on your face everyday and determining what type of demeanor you choose to carry with you daily, anything else just seems fake. I don't need to look down on my wrist and see a plastic band telling me to WAKE UP to know that I need to face the world with a sense of hope... (again that common sense kicks in).
Paraphrasing just a bit, most successful people will make the claim LUCK comes from a combination of hard work, patience & perseverance, and one's attitude towards life's problems (i.e. opportunities for success). Yet the bell curve accomodates everyone when it comes to luck and its alter-ego, bad luck. Powerball winners likely range from the deranged to having grace before God. Real losers can be the most giving of all spirits or might be "I'll spit on your mother's grave" bad eggs. The multitude of people who find themselves in the middle seem most affected by your words, LoveJoy.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics of a song "Smiling Faces", made famous by The Temptations, suggest we must all be wary of smiling faces... as they often are pretending to be confidantes. "A smile is just a frown turned upside down, my friend" gives creedence to the theory of waking up your luck.... as if to say stay cognizant of who brings a smile.
My feeling is there is a propensity of well-intentioned folk out there who 'work' from sun up to sun down on keeping a sunny disposition. And I'd wager more positive elements of life, love, wealth and health find the smile carries magnetism.... drawing them in.
In the end, my choice will always be to see the glass half full, take more pleasure in the sun rising than setting, breathe in the sustinence offered by the changing seasons, and relish the thought of a world filled with people giving some small part of their day thinking about how they might pay-it-forward, however tiny the gesture might seem or be to most.
Wake up the luck? Sure, why not. And while you're at it.... slip bad luck a 'mickey".