Week 8
Lucky
February 24, 2011
One day last week (well, the week before last now), I came across this barbed-wire enclosed field of horses grazing lazily as the sun began to set behind them. I liked the way the ranch-owner (presumably) had inserted some horseshoes into the the twisted barbed wire, almost as a decoration. Now I have no idea if this is common, or if this is in some what traditional, or actually has some usefulness, but the image intrigued me, and got me thinking about luck. (Horseshoe - Luck... come on, it's not that far of a leap.)
Then I thought, "why do we say 'good luck?'" Maybe it's easier than saying "may the events and forces of the universe coincide with what you want to happen." I can see that being cumbersome to say every time you wish someone well. It's also less stiff than "may you perform at your best to ensure victory", and less gloomy than "despite that fact that odds are pretty slim, I hope you succeed anyway."
What is luck, anyway? The idea that things will occur that aren't lined up to occur is somewhat... well, foolish. Whether you believe in an intentional grand plan or some sort of chaos theory, things are going to happen the way they are tee-ed up to happen, right? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose we won't solve that riddle this week. But isn't perceived fortune more about how we process events, rather than the shape of events themselves anyway?
Maybe luck is serendipity, maybe it's providence, but luck is really a subjective thing. Lucky to one is unlucky to another. It all depends on how you choose to view things, right? And how we view our experiences is a decision, not something that happens to us. So maybe the phrase "making your own luck" isn't so oxymoronic. After all, if you control how you perceive experiences, then every experience can be lucky in some way or another. Ok, that's a stretch. But we do have the opportunity to shift how we view and process events such that something positive is gleaned. It's a choice we make dozens if not hundreds of times every day. Try it sometime. Maybe for a whole day. Force yourself to think about the potential positives that have or could come out of what you're experiencing, and be thankful. Joyful even.
image taken with Canon 5KMII, 24-105 4L lens, 1/1600 sec @ f4, ISO 400
February 24, 2011
One day last week (well, the week before last now), I came across this barbed-wire enclosed field of horses grazing lazily as the sun began to set behind them. I liked the way the ranch-owner (presumably) had inserted some horseshoes into the the twisted barbed wire, almost as a decoration. Now I have no idea if this is common, or if this is in some what traditional, or actually has some usefulness, but the image intrigued me, and got me thinking about luck. (Horseshoe - Luck... come on, it's not that far of a leap.)
Then I thought, "why do we say 'good luck?'" Maybe it's easier than saying "may the events and forces of the universe coincide with what you want to happen." I can see that being cumbersome to say every time you wish someone well. It's also less stiff than "may you perform at your best to ensure victory", and less gloomy than "despite that fact that odds are pretty slim, I hope you succeed anyway."
What is luck, anyway? The idea that things will occur that aren't lined up to occur is somewhat... well, foolish. Whether you believe in an intentional grand plan or some sort of chaos theory, things are going to happen the way they are tee-ed up to happen, right? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose we won't solve that riddle this week. But isn't perceived fortune more about how we process events, rather than the shape of events themselves anyway?
Maybe luck is serendipity, maybe it's providence, but luck is really a subjective thing. Lucky to one is unlucky to another. It all depends on how you choose to view things, right? And how we view our experiences is a decision, not something that happens to us. So maybe the phrase "making your own luck" isn't so oxymoronic. After all, if you control how you perceive experiences, then every experience can be lucky in some way or another. Ok, that's a stretch. But we do have the opportunity to shift how we view and process events such that something positive is gleaned. It's a choice we make dozens if not hundreds of times every day. Try it sometime. Maybe for a whole day. Force yourself to think about the potential positives that have or could come out of what you're experiencing, and be thankful. Joyful even.
image taken with Canon 5KMII, 24-105 4L lens, 1/1600 sec @ f4, ISO 400
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