Lucky Zen

Today's Quotation: I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it. Everyone has bad breaks, but everyone also has opportunities. People who can smile at their breaks and grab their chances get on. Samuel Goldwyn

Today's Meditation: I don't believe in luck. Those people who have succeeded in life usually have done so as the result of hard work, of being able to see opportunities when they've come up, or a combination of the two. Those people who win tons of money in lotteries or inherit vast fortunes aren't necessarily lucky--many people who have come into money that way have become quite miserable, very unhappy with their "new" lives. My biggest problems in life have come when I haven't recognized opportunities. Because I haven't seen them until too late so often, I haven't been able to take advantage of them. I suppose many people would say that I've had bad luck, but I don't see it that way at all. I see it as having missed opportunities, and I don't get down on myself for having missed them. After all, there was no one around when I was growing up to teach me to recognize and take advantage of opportunities. Most of us are in that same boat--we haven't been taught how to recognize the opportunities that come our way as opportunities, so we squander chance after chance to make more of ourselves or improve our lives or lifestyles. That's okay, because that's how life is--what's not okay is to recognize the problem and not do anything about it. Now that I know how many opportunities I've let go by, it's up to me to teach myself how to recognize them and take advantage of them. And the burden isn't completely on me--there are plenty of books and tape programs out there that can help us to learn to do these things. This is material that should be taught in schools, but it isn't, so we have to find other teachers outside of the classroom who have focused on this sort of thing as their own area of expertise. Bad luck? Sorry, but there's no such thing. The universe functions too well for that to be true. Sometimes it's true that things are completely out of our control, but even if something negative happens to us, there will be something important for us to learn in it. If we can smile at our bad breaks and move on with our lives, learning in the process, life becomes much brighter. Bad luck tends to be an excuse for not wanting to look deeper.

A Way to Begin

After reading the thought/meditation/that came today, from Living Life Fully, I knew that I had to copy it and put it here for everyone to read. It gives you much to think about. I know that after I read it and ponder it fully,that I will have much to journal about today.









January 1





Today's quotation:

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we
transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we
truly know and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because
once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. Scott Peck

Today's Meditation:

How many difficulties do you find in your life? We have problems with relationships, finances, jobs, cars, hobbies, addictions, decision-making--in short, just about everything. But how many of those difficulties do we make even larger and more intense because of our perspective, because of the way we see them? I know that in my life, many of my most difficult moments have been caused by my own view of situations, not by the situations themselves. I've missed meetings at work and have agonized all day over what the repercussions would be, only to find out that there were none--everyone understood why I missed.

I'm growing closer to accepting that life is difficult, and I now see most difficulties simply as a part of life and as opportunities for me to learn and to grow as I work my way through them, rather than as obstacles in my way that are going to cause me many problems. Now that I accept that fact, the difficulties seem to be fewer, and the challenges are more manageable.

This is going to be a good year. And yes, there will be many difficulties in it, for you and for me. Accept that fact, and the hardships will be fewer and less intense. Acceptance of difficulties allows us to relate to them in a much different way, just as acceptance of a person allows us to relate to that person in a much more positive manner.
Questions to consider:

How do you see difficulties in your life? Do you accept them as learning or teaching situations or wish they would go away?

What would your life be like if you had no more difficulties? Would it be a positive change, or a negative one?

Have you grown more as a person when dealing with difficulties or when life has been flowing smoothly?
For further thought:

Sometimes things which at the moment may be perceived as
obstacles--and actually be obstacles, difficulties, or drawbacks--can
in the long run result in some good end which would not have
occurred if it had not been for the obstacle.

Steve Allen


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