‘I feel lucky to have someone like you,’ said the guy I dated.
‘We are lucky to have the opportunity,’ said a business owner experiencing rapid growth.
‘No, we prepared ourselves so that we are ready when the opportunity came,’ the business partner countered.
Do you feel lucky for anything in life? Why?
The SerenA project conducted at University College London tried to find out why are some people luckier than others. While none of the people we interviewed engineered the opportunities that came their way, they all had two things in common.
’First, they realised that an opportunity was being presented to them. Then, they seized the opportunity and took action.’
There is an article on Medium saying that ‘serendipity’ is an unsought, unintended, and/or unexpected, but fortunate, discovery and/or learning experience that happens by accident.
There is a case however, that by having a prepared mind, you will be likely to find more ‘serendipitous accident’.
To me, there are 2 types of luckiness.
The first type of luckiness is ‘external luckiness’ such as winning lottery, getting twin babies, being born in a rich family, winning lucky draw; of which we have no control as they happen. We feel lucky because we gain something that we do not think we are accountable for.
The second type of luckiness does not necessarily involve gaining things. It could be loss, accident or missing opportunity.
Downward comparison
A friend’s brother got into an accident while doing rock climbing. After going through 3 major surgeries, he would not be able to run for the rest of his life.
As a young lawyer who just started his own law firm and got married, this accident halted his progression during the prime of his life.
In the mean time, an acquaintance of his was killed in the MH17 plane crash in Russia.
My friend’s brother told her ‘Hey, I am lucky that I only lost the ability to move.’
Mindset
Did you recently ‘consciously uncouple’ someone? You are so lucky! You have just got rid of someone who doesn’t love you enough and going to meet the guy or girl who will never let you down.
There was once I lost my wallet and there was $50 in it. I felt lucky that I had spent the other $50 the day before. It could have been a $100 loss!
Conscious choice
‘I feel lucky [to be able to do something]’
‘I feel lucky that [something happen]’
‘I feel so lucky that I am happy.’
Life is not a smooth ride with sweet candies. When shit happens, you can indulge in negativity, or you could train your mind to look at the flip side of things and ask yourself – what can you learn from this experience? What have you gained?
Luckiness is like a muscle that we can train.
If we recognise life event for what it is, whether good or bad, and choose to see the positive side of it and how it makes us a better person; we set our mind to feel lucky more often.
Lucky is also probability and math – the more you try, the more likely you are going to make that golden strike.
You can’t create your own luck, but you can live yourself open to the opportunities and get yourself ready when it comes. By being consciously aware that you have the power to make choices in life, you can totally make your luckiness happen.
