Comments on: Are some blessed, some cursed or do you make your own luck?

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:16:14 +0000

I was thinking along the same lines as Sackerson

By: Sackerson

Sackerson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:38:02 +0000

Too much pessimism in your penultimate para. A friend once told me of a principle in driving accidents – the car will go towards what you’re looking at. He remembered it at the right moment, looked for the gap and went through. Maybe it will help improve your luck if you cultivate that habit. You speak of bringing luck to those around you; if light shines on them, light is in you.

By: James Higham

James Higham — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:38:00 +0000

Noted and thanks.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:34:18 +0000

Theres 2 sorts of luck – the sort you make yourself, by analysis of the likely problems you will encounter in a given activity, and preparation for those outcomes. Things go smoothly for you because you prepare. Others fail to do so, and a small setback snowballs into a crisis. The old adage – fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Then there’s the totally inexplicable stuff – things over which you have no control going your way, helping you along life’s path (or not as the case may be). I have always been on the receiving end of positive random luck – I have missed severe injury and possibly death through what I like to describe as my guardian angel’s oversight.

I notice my friends seem to have much worse luck than I do, and wonder why my life seems to run so smoothly, and theirs do not.

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:57:40 +0000

Maybe you are forgetting to look after yourself when keeping others safe!

I should show this post to one of my friends who would have a lot to say about it I am sure

By: Peter Mc

Peter Mc — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:47:12 +0000

MTG, can that other luckier you stop my copy of Word crashing? Ta.

By: MTG

MTG — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:25:02 +0000

I am so envious of that luckier me basking in a parallel dimension where I own Microsoft.

By: Pavlov's Cat

Pavlov's Cat — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:21:01 +0000

Our bad luck pales into insignificance then.

Well said, indeed it does and I constantly remind myself of that.

By: Lord T

Lord T — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:49:08 +0000

@Mr Cat,

It’s just life. I’m in a similar situation myself with the economy and have lost a lot.

However to put it in perspective. You go out for a walk because you want to clear your head. You get picked up by the secret police and tortured for info you don’t have. You never see your family again.

Or you find that you have advanced cancer and will die in a few weeks, no cure.

Those are bad luck. Our bad luck pales into insignificance then.

By: Pavlov's Cat

Pavlov's Cat — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:22:37 +0000

@ Lord T
Yes I agree, without risk there is no life. And I have always felt the pull of the road less travelled. So I must take some responsibilty for what has occured, the more risk perhaps the more chance of failure.

Yet what if I make a decsion that seems good at the time and leads to wonderful things, yet 5 years down the line, someone in an office 8000 miles away decides that because some people in an office even further away haven’t made as much money as they should, the people 8000 miles away should lose their jobs to make up the difference. Even though they are profitable and doing their jobs so well they all got bonuses the year before, it will cost less to get rid of them than the others.

Is that Bad Luck, Karma, Happenstance, was it my bad decision to start with? or is it just life?

And what if it happens over and over again. Sometimes you can’t help but think you’re a little bit cursed

Or It may be I’m just one of those people who just couldn’t make their own luck even if they were given a kit and a video of instructions.

By: Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:53:08 +0000

“…wherever I drive, parking spaces always appear.”

They see you coming mate, and are desperate to get away

By: Lord T

Lord T — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:34:06 +0000

Well keep your fingers crossed think positive thoughts and avoid anything dangerous like that corner by where you live, roads, chavs and yoofs, keep away from water and tall buildings and avoid things like cheese and burgers. In fact buy some cotton wool and a bodysuit and fill it as much as possible. Don’t write anything controversial, like about feminazis, homos, our government (remember David Kelly) or plod.

You should live forever then.

Personally, I think that you make your own luck. However, I also know that the ingredients are hard to find and depend on your circumstances. WHen you are at the bottom they are almost impossible to get hold of unless you stocked up before. Making luck with the wrong ingredients leads to bad luck. Best playing safe under those circumstances.

By: James Higham

James Higham — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:07:14 +0000

Yes – precisely, PC. That’s how it seems to be happening.

By: Pavlov's Cat

Pavlov's Cat — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:06:09 +0000

I have often said of myself that if it wasn’t for Bad Luck I’d have no luck at all.

Not cripplingly so, more pull the rug from under feet sort of luck or as Toby Frost put it, “the incontinent toddlers of fate have once again visited the swimming pool of my life”.

I seem to find myself ‘starting all over again’ for some reason and it’s getting a little wearing.