Luck of the Irish

All the talk of St. Patrick's Day and 'Luck 'O the Irish' has me thinking. Does this pehnomenon called 'luck' really exist?

I'm no authority on the Irish. Genetically, I'm not even a tiny bit Irish. But some of the people I love the most are, including my husband and children. And, living near Boston, everyone gets to be Irish - at least for today. So I feel that I can comment, at least on the 'luck' part.

I'm not convinced that luck exists. I don't think anything in life is that random. Chance happenings, bad luck, and good fortune are simply terms we assign to that which we can't explain or can't control.

I prefer to believe that nothing happens by chance. There are no accidents. And that the Universe is ruled by specific laws. Like the Law of Cause and Effect and the Law of Attraction. We make choices and our choices have natural consequences. Events happen and we respond. To say that we are lucky or unlucky seems to rob us of a sense of order and safety that could comfort us if we believed that the Universe is actually in perfect balance.

Perhaps the word 'luck' rubs me the wrong way because it is often casually misused. For example, I've been told several times that I'm "lucky to be thin". Actually, luck has nothing to do with it. Statements like this lead me to believe that some people are more comfortable assigning life to luck rather than taking responsibility for it.

I refuse to believe that there exists a force in the Universe that would randomly assign events and circumstances of good luck to one and bad luck to another. I believe that we attract to our lives that which we give our attention and energy to. So perhaps the Irish have historically manifested luck by focusing on the positive. If this is the case, then we can all enjoy the Luck 'O the Irish!