Unlucky or not?

There's a saying isn't there about how we make our own luck. I think it's a combination of the two. Things happen in our lives both good and bad, that are completely out of our control.

There's also a saying that "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" - we have a relative who is constantly having "bad luck" mostly because she makes bad financial choices. Yet time and again she is bailed out by family.

So one could say she is lucky!

My oldest friend is the sweetest person but so unlucky - financially, her own health and the health of her nearest and dearest. Life is very unfair

I do know someone who is nearly always lucky in raffles; she always wins something, but as she disapproves of the lottery she doesn't try her luck there.

I have had serious health problems, which you may think unlucky. I’m still here enjoying life, so I think I’m lucky.

I think it’s how we react to events that determines our ‘luck’.

I am very lucky in raffles, I feel slightly agreived now if I don't win something!

I read a book once by someone called Wiseman (which I thought was apt ) and he said that luck is a frame of mind. If you talk to people and go to places you are more likely to have a circle of friends and acquaintances. That means that you are more likely to find out about things like jobs that are going, or bargains to be had, so are more likely to get them. If you stay indoors and refuse invitations to parties or events then that won't happen. You aren't unlucky, you just weren't there.

Similarly, if you always buy raffle tickets then of course you will win things, and probably forget the times you didn't. If you only buy them once a year, you probably won't win, but will almost certainly remember that you didn't. Again, it's less about luck than numbers.

There is an often quoted saying that 'the harder I work the luckier I get', which applies when people are told they are lucky to have a good job, or a decent salary.

Some things, like illness and accidents happen for no reason, and can be put down to bad luck, but without wanting to minimise the trauma of that, if you see yourself as being lucky to survive, or to have been old when you got ill, it can help with general happiness.

There is an undeniable 'Pollyanna' element to his outlook, but on the whole it seems sensible to me.