LUCK

~Some believe in it & some do not. Many of us are superstitious & many are not. Many of us are optimistic & many are pessimistic. I believe attitude plays a major part in determining the outcome of events, however, be aware of "Murphy's Law" (What will possibly go wrong, will go wrong...so, expect the unexpected & try to plan for it). Basically, I'm an optimist at heart with "Murphy's Law" lingering in the background.  "Good things" happen to "good people" & "bad people" & "bad things" happen to both groups as well. We often say,"boy, he or she is a lucky person" or "too bad, that was very unlucky for that person". What determines your luck?  No one really knows for sure, but, I will give you my way of thinking about it. You may or may not agree....just my opinion. There is no scientific evidence that can be isolated to determine whether you will be lucky or not. However, good decision making will play a major role in increasing the probability of "good things" happening. On the other hand, bad decision making will do the same on the negative side.

 

~Most gamblers are superstitious & will have "lucky days" & days which are not so lucky. It usually runs in streaks. These streaks could last awhile in some cases. Why does this happen? Like I said earlier, attitude is an important factor. If you participate in an event & believe you will be unsuccessful or lack confidence, you, most likely, will do poorly or have "bad luck". However, the opposite is true when you take the other side.

 

~Here is my theory of Luck.

 

~Imagine a time line which goes on forever in both directions (very much like the x-axis in a basic math course). The zero point is located when you are born. Obviously, it will be different for each one of us. As we live our lives, the seconds, minutes, hours, days, & the years tick away. Time increases to the right of the zero point as we age. Remember, this time line goes on forever, even after we are no longer here. Our life span is just a very short section of this line. 

 

~At the zero point (birth), a new curve (not a straight line) starts on the time line. I call this the "luck curve". It will bounce around above & below the line in a continuous manner (no jumps or breaks). For each moment in time, it will be located either on the time line, above it, or below it. It could stay in its location for a good amount of time or could bounce around a lot.

 

~When this curve is above the time line, you will be lucky. On the other hand, when it is below, you will be unlucky. The vertical distance away from the time line determines the degree of "luckiness" or "unluckiness".

 

~For some people, this curve is above the time line most of their lives...these folks seem to be the luckiest of the bunch & for others, it could be below most of the time. The latter are those unfortunate ones who experience more than their share of unlucky events.

 

~Since our life spans are minuscule compared to the entire time line, the luck curve could dominate above, below, or on the time line for many people.

 

~The essence of my theory is the fact that the amount of time this luck curve spends above the time line will approach the amount of time it spends below the time line. It's very much like flipping a coin over & over and observing the number of heads & tails. For a relatively small number of flips, say 20, you wouldn't expect 10 heads & 10 tails...this would be very unlikely.  However, flipping it 1,000 times, would give you a much closer 50%-50% split with the heads & tails.   1,000,000,000  times would even be closer...the more you flip the coin the closer you would be to that 50% heads, 50% tails mark.

 

~This is what I mean by "approaching" a given value. As we travel on the time line, the area trapped between this curve & the time line will approach a zero sum (for those of you who know some calculus, it is very much like the definite integral of sinx from 0 to 2 pi). (positive area when the luck curve is above & negative when below). What happens when we are gone is anybody's guess, but the time line goes on & so does our luck curve.

 

~So, in conclusion, we accept the "good things" with the "bad things" in our lives and we learn to cope with the outcomes. However, let me repeat the most important feature that we do have control over, that is, decision making. Good decision making will have a definite affect in increasing the chances of "good things" happening..