LUCKY DAY or LUCKY WAY
Friday, Dec. 13, 2019
This is neither a day of luck – good luck or back luck- nor a day of no luck at all.
Superstition, chance, and mysteries of life are woven in our literature and our history, flowing in and out of our lives like the random chance of the slot machine or lottery odds: never even the slimmest of odds, yet we buy our ticket just the same.
I have had my share of ‘luck’ in life if you can call it that.
I don’t.
But have I had good fortune?
Absolutely.
How can anyone not look at their children and grandchildren and not consider oneself lucky?
Relationships of personal and business kinds – lots of forgotten ones, some treasured, some indelibly etched on my past, some of my present; good luck, good management, good fortune?
Most of my relationships which count as ‘above average,’ probably deserve more credit to the other parties.
Why would I say that?
Because, only in the last handful of years, I’ve come to appreciate fully how significant my investment in those situations has been. Which is not to say I was on auto-pilot for decades, but I was more focused on the ME than the WE for a very long time. Giving was neither in my DNA nor my upbringing. To lay blame for a ‘scarcity culture’ on my parents, their generation, or the times is unfair and yet recognizable. I am sure many boomer-era folks can relate to their families of origin – having come through the great depression and World War II, that expectations of a life abundant with the joy of giving was not in the cards…
Each time I have a surprise of good fortune arrive, I realize it is one part random chance, one part being awake and alert to see more goodness in things, and more often than used to be the case – one part the product of something I’ve done for someone else. I’ve learned that giving isn’t about getting anything in return. Giving is for giving, for forgiving, and giving what you can because you can. This is the antithesis of my upbringing in a family and society of seeing go-getter-think, seeing scrappy and gritty surviving rather than thriving. That has changed for me. I’ve never been afraid of the black cat crossing my path or Friday the 13th, never been fearful of superstitions. But having said that, I think there has been a large part of my life where I was not awake to see my potential, and as a byproduct of that, not awake to appreciating potential in others to the degree I could have been.
That’s different now.
Happy Friday, everyone!
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