We talk a lot about skills techniques, weapons and gear...
but time and again when you hear accounts from those who were thrown into a real sitx we hear "Luck was with me." "In not for my lucky..." I would never go without my lucky..."

I'm not saying to trust to luck, luck is a fickle lady...
but there is a lot to be said for some item you feel brings you luck, gives you that bit of comfort in a time when others might panic...

Over the years I've heard of some odd things people would call lucky, One fellow I know keeps a gall stone he had removed in a tiny jar. My wife swears she owns a pair of lucky panties... My lucky object is an Old Timer pocket knife I was given by my dad when I turned ten...

So I ask you all... do you have a lucky...something that you just couldn't do without?

Go ahead and post it, cant be any stranger than my wifes

[edit on 11-3-2010 by DaddyBare]

I dunno about lucky items in a survival situation.
If they weren't useful..they'd be dead weight and cast aside right smartly.

ill just leave these here....


To a good general luck is important. -Livy

The fortunes of war are always doubtful. - Seneca the Younger

In war important events result from trivial causes. - Julius Caesar

Adversity reveals the genius of a general; good fortune conceals it. -Horace

of course replace war with survival/life.

i think they show that, even if you may be survivor man, a small bit of luck always helps your journey A LOT.

i bring what i need, and get lucky in finding that "rare" find of some game, or fresh water, or something that i didnt bring, but would still need. perhaps a cave to take shelter in during a storm. not getting your underwear soaked when you slip down an embankment. that kind of stuff.

as for lucky gear... my hat maybe? i dont really put thought in that.

[edit on 3/11/2010 by mahtoosacks]

Originally posted by AccessDenied
I dunno about lucky items in a survival situation.
If they weren't useful..they'd be dead weight and cast aside right smartly.

this only works if you are prepared.

if you just go hiking one day, of course you would bring all you need, right?

When people claim an object is lucky. They are using it as a symbol to re enforce there beleif that luck plays its part. When realy its more like a confidence booster. Then when things go right they put it down to these lucky objects.

I beleive in luck and i beleive you make your own sometimes. I myself have a lucky hat that i wear when i play poker. It cant realy be all that lucky or i would be rich. More it makes me feel like ive got an edge, something other people dont have. Its weird is'nt it lol.

Luck is nothing but preparation brought to the fore. Those who plan for all contingencies will either have a useful item or skills that apply in that given situation.
What most people ascribe to bad luck is nothing more than a lack of preparedness.
I got cancer 2 years ago - was that "bad luck"? In retrospect I suppose it has more to do with diet, lifestyle and plain old genetics more than anything else.
I believe everything has a purpose, even the sad and tragic events.
That belief would preclude anything being ascribed to luck.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Luck is nothing but preparation brought to the fore. Those who plan for all contingencies will either have a useful item or skills that apply in that given situation.
What most people ascribe to bad luck is nothing more than a lack of preparedness.
I got cancer 2 years ago - was that "bad luck"? In retrospect I suppose it has more to do with diet, lifestyle and plain old genetics more than anything else.
I believe everything has a purpose, even the sad and tragic events.
That belief would preclude anything being ascribed to luck.

even with everything you need, you still get lucky.

lucky that bees nest was found early, lucky that you didnt fall in mud, lucky that deer didnt spot you first....

never shoot down an opportunity of being lucky

my lucky 30/30

and all its lucky rounds.

Definition of luck:
That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune; as, good, bad, ill, or hard luck. Luck is often used for good luck; as, luck is better than skill.

Luck, that's when preparation and opportunity meet.
Pierre Trudeau

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people's luck.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

For a change, lady luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock.
Timothy Zahn

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
Thomas Jefferson

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest.
Rodney Dangerfield

Hey DaddyBare, can you post a pic of your wife's lucky panties?

I, personally, don't carry a lucky anything.

Throughout my life I've had some lucky objects, just none currently, which, on another topic,
might explain alot about my current state of affairs. Hmm.

Anyway, to anyone who has said it's not worth carrying a lucky ...... if it's not useful,
I would remind you that the number one key to survival, is state of mind.

If that lucky rabbits foot puts you in the right state of mind, regardless of it's "usefulness", it's worth having.

Within reason.

When my grandparents went to Greece, they brought back worry-beads, which I suppose Greeks would wrap and hold in their hands and "pray for their, or somebody else's safety/health".

I carry them everywhere in my pocket. When I take tests, I usually wrap it around my hand during the test, and a majority of the time, I'll get a high A. If I don't wear it, I sort of lose focus and don't do as well. It's weird, but it really works for me.

Oh! And I brought them with me to the hospital a year ago when my younger brother was hooked up to a breathing machine because something happened to his lungs. So I sat next to his bed for hours holding the beads in my hand, while holding his hand. The doctors said it was a 50/50 chance that he could fully recover, and I remember that after I prayed that he would recover, I stood up and walked around the room. A few hours later, the doctor came into the room and said that everything looked normal in their readings and don't know why nothing else bad happened to his lungs after his first little problem.

I couldn't help but feel that when I am using the beads, and really am praying when I am using them, that a higher power is watching over me and feels all of my emotions and tries to do what it feels is best for me. Strange, but I feel truly connected to the worry-beads now.

My pants? They're supposed to be worn out like that..

...they're my lucky pants.

[edit on 12/3/2010 by Mystic Technician]

I carry a ace of spades playing card in my wallet.
Last year I got a lucky tattoo, the numer 13 inside a spade, I got it on friday the 13th and paid $13. So I either royally screwed myself on luck or quadrupled my luck.

Bad Luck Superstitions

If your bed faces north or south you will have bad luck.
Don't cut your nails on friday.
Setting a hat on a bed is bad luck.
If pepper is spilt, then you and a friend will argue.
It brings ill fortune if a lease or any contract is signed in the months of April, July, and November.

Even as a kid, when my father gave me an old rabbits foot key chain the first thing I said when I received it was that it wasn't lucky for the rabbit. As such, I can honestly say that I have lived my whole life and have never had anything that I would consider lucky.

I may be too pragmatic for most and a bore to others, but I never placed my life or the lives of those I commanded in danger because I thought luck would keep me and my men safe from harm. That is just not logical.

Most of what people call luck is just preparation for the unexpected. While no one can prepare for every contingency, good thought process and preparation about what one is doing is most often sufficient to ensure some measure of success. However; if I ever had something go wrong, I can never recall blaming bad luck for it.

Most of "Murphy s Law" events that ever happened to me always made me realize that no one and nothing is perfect. While one can attain a level of success, it most likely comes from experience and having a solid grip on what one is doing , but even then perfection is never a regular thing one can count on with great confidence.

Anyway, I would be lying if I said that I believe in luck because I don't. In a life and death situation, good, clear thinking and preparation are the keys to success. Anything that takes away from what supports success is normally what leads to some type of failure.

Cause and affect. Choices and decisions always fueled my success or failure.

Thanks for the posting.

Although some call it luck,and it appears to be that way at times ,I have reason to believe it all boils down to the skills or training that you have with common sense and the ability to assess situations effectively.

Running into a burning building,rarely works out for the best.

[edit on 25-4-2010 by The Utopian Penguin]