Why are lucky people so arrogant?

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Luck, good and bad, doesn't evolve out of the blue randomly.

Hereditary (metastatic, terminal) brain tumor. Who made it happen? How is that not just plain bad luck? How does that not suck?

No. I don't have a brain tumor. Hypothetical question. You don't not make your own luck. It's an illusion. # happens and we react (or don't even have time to sometimes). Even the way you think and the way you react is down to random chance. Your brain works the way it does because of random chance. If you can cope well or if you can't cope well is not up to you. You cannot (for example) choose to be Einstein. This is all just so much BS the world sells people to placate them.

My point is that it's easy to sit back on your high horse and tell people to look on the rosy side of living in a toilet. Especially if you don't (or you do but you're fortunate enough to have the processing power to convince yourself that you don't).

a reply to: BrianFlanders

I think you can make your own luck. Or rather, you learn about what luck is (maybe intuitively). You learn that luck is a wave that goes up and then down. You can learn to trust your gut and basic observations of the (hidden) universe.

I think it really comes down to your own personal preference and tolerance to fear and pressure. Some of us have a very low tolerance and therefore many, many doors will always seem shut and locked. To others with a much higher tolerance, doors are cracked open, or wide open even. Sure there is either darkness from within the next room or sometimes its blinding light, but it is always somewhat the unknown. If you dare to proceed and can handle the stress, you have more options to explore.

Luck is like waves in the ocean that you really want to surf. Some people have no qualms with trying to ride the waves while others are scared sh!tless.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Luck, good and bad, doesn't evolve out of the blue randomly.

Hereditary (metastatic, terminal) brain tumor. Who made it happen? How is that not just plain bad luck? How does that not suck?

No. I don't have a brain tumor. Hypothetical question. You don't not make your own luck. It's an illusion. # happens and we react (or don't even have time to sometimes)

Another friend of ours had a brain tumor two years ago and had to undergo surgery. He has said it is the best thing to happen to him, it changed and challenged him to change his destructive lifestyle course. A man who was not very athletic and now 50 years old has in two years gotten in shape and running in numerous marathons. Who was never motivated to move up at work is now the head of multiple departments and also has become a landlord in a successful real estate venture.

There are many success stories of triumph over challenging situations or disabilities that happen to folks. It is not that they were lucky...it is they began to see things differently and adjusted their attitudes.

Edit add: BTW: was watching a Roosevelt documentary last night. Teddy Roosevelt's parents were told he would not survive childhood if he did not live a sedate life, then told by doctors again in later years he would die early due to his heart if he did not slow down. He took it as a challenge.

Similiar bad luck for Franklin Roosevelt. There are many stories out there in this world that should encourage all to never to just accept their perceived fate...and give up. The successful never give up.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
LOL

Seriously!

Everyone is always searching for the secret to success and/or happiness. The truth is that it's all luck. The existence of this planet is just random chance. If you live long enough to watch the mighty fall, you will realize they never had any secret trick that made everything work for them. It just happened to them and they reaped the rewards. That's it. That's all it is. They didn't do anything special except exist. And if you aren't one of them, you didn't really do anything wrong except exist.

Why isn't this basic fact more widely recognized? One reason. The people who were not born with a lucky hand would probably just give up. That isn't profitable. Your suffering is probably the only thing of any real value that you possess. Perhaps there is a way to parlay that into success. If you're lucky enough to have the natural talent to do so.

Luck is what happens when preparation and opportunity meet.

Yes, there are some people who simply have everything handed to them. There are other people who get to start on second or third base by virtue of birth alone but they still need to work hard. Then there are other people who truly come from nothing but play their cards right.

I'm of the opinion I can only worry about myself and what I can do with the cards I am dealt. If you spend time worrying about who had whatever advantages you didn't, it won't help you get anywhere.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: BrianFlanders

I disagree.

I think we create our own "luck".

Demerits for not reading the thread. You cannot create anything if you don't exist.

But I do exist, we all do.

Create your own success or blame the gods of chance for your poor choices.

*shrugs*

The lucky people are smart enough to stay away from unlucky people.

Therein lies their power.

a reply to: CynConcepts

I sit and observe. Even questioned how could one be so lucky and the other not. After 10 years of observing, I have realized the differences. It is attitude. Not luck.

This is so spot on!

Some of the happiest/"luckiest" people are people that have been through horrible things. They still move forward. There is even a book about it, called Grit.

originally posted by: CynConcepts

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Luck, good and bad, doesn't evolve out of the blue randomly.

Hereditary (metastatic, terminal) brain tumor. Who made it happen? How is that not just plain bad luck? How does that not suck?

No. I don't have a brain tumor. Hypothetical question. You don't not make your own luck. It's an illusion. # happens and we react (or don't even have time to sometimes)

Another friend of ours had a brain tumor two years ago and had to undergo surgery. He has said it is the best thing to happen to him, it changed and challenged him to change his destructive lifestyle course.

My guess is that he would not be saying this if he was dead from the metastatic. terminal (That means FATAL in plain English) brain tumor. Something that's going to kill you is not going to be the best thing that ever happened to you. I can tell you that. And also, note that I said "hereditary" as in "it was in your genes". That means a destructive lifestyle didn't cause it.

Randomness is what this thread is about. That means stuff you didn't (couldn't/can't) choose (don't have enough information to make an informed choice). This is what luck (good and bad) is. People who get murdered don't choose to die. That kind of thing. You could be standing right next to someone who died in some kind of accident. You could not have known so this was not something like "it's what you make of it". No. If there's nothing special about the person who randomly survives a horrible accident, there's nothing wrong with the person who didn't.

Is it clear now?

I will share another family story, one that inspired me. My cousin as a teen in high school was a champion in athletic sports. He was always winning! Then one day, he tried to jump his 10 speed over a deep ditch. He laid there for a day until he was found. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

He was always a hunter. His family built a ramp out into the woods where he would sit. They had his bow and arrow set up with a trigger release that he could use his tongue depressor if he chose. Instead he just observed the wildlife and returned home and began painting the most beautiful realistice wildlife paintings with his tongue tools.

Later years, he became an inspirational speaker at the universities. He also traveled to Africa on safari and using his specialized gun bagged him some trophy game.

Not only didn't he gave up, but his family were wise not to give up too. Point of fact, it is up to you alone to encourage yourself not to give up though. Giving up is a surety you will never be successful at anything.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

Dude. If you don't exist or find death via an accident, luck either way is meaningless to ponder. You no longer personally exist.

The personal perception of success varies, but it is a perception held by the living. Stop throwing out this strawman argument out, since it is senseless.


Edit add: luck, good or bad, is simply a personal mental perception. It is not a reality. It logically does not exist, it simply is a descriptive term used for the seemingly unexplained events.

A child with terminal prognosis can be seen as being lucky to be born. The parents can be seen to be lucky to experience some loving time with their child. To be able to have those memories to cherish for a lifetime. It is all perspective.

originally posted by: CynConcepts
I will share another family story, one that inspired me. My cousin as a teen in high school was a champion in athletic sports. He was always winning! Then one day, he tried to jump his 10 speed over a deep ditch. He laid there for a day until he was found. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

He was always a hunter. His family built a ramp out into the woods where he would sit. They had his bow and arrow set up with a trigger release that he could use his tongue depressor if he chose. Instead he just observed the wildlife and returned home and began painting the most beautiful realistice wildlife paintings with his tongue tools.

Later years, he became an inspirational speaker at the universities. He also traveled to Africa on safari and using his specialized gun bagged him some trophy game.

Not only didn't he gave up, but his family were wise not to give up too. Point of fact, it is up to you alone to encourage yourself not to give up though. Giving up is a surety you will never be successful at anything.

You are not listening.

OK. Let's try this one on for size.

1. Name something that you USED TO know. And what I mean by that is name something you have forgotten. Now, this is information that only existed in your own mind. It's not written down anywhere and it's not something you can Google and find the answer to. So, specifically, this is something you used to know (and you know that you used to know it) but you have forgotten all the details of it except that you used to know it.

2. Let's say this is crucial information. It's a matter of life and death that you recall every single detail of whatever it was that you have completely forgotten.

3. Can you choose to retrieve the information that you have forgotten from wherever it went?

Is this a matter of being unfortunate in that you have forgotten the only thing you ever actually needed to remember? Your mind is full of everything that you don't need at that one crucial moment in your life. You have all kinds of useless information in there. Except that one thing you actually need. As luck would have it.

a reply to: CynConcepts

My wife says that her cancer was the best thing that ever happened to her.

She was given 6-9 months to live about 5 years ago... stage 4 sarcoma with multiple tumors.

There was nothing doctors could do, she was told.

She took thier word at it, got to researching and fixed herself.

She is now in the best shape of her life, feels great and has an amazingly good outlook on life.

Most people would have gone home and died.

So yes, being in the right place at the right time or life circumstances may seem like luck to some.

To others, simply getting up in the morning and promising yourself that today you do whatever you can do to achieve a goal with a smile on your face is why their lives are "better".

You make your own luck.

Excellent posts from you on this thread... thank you for them.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

Since I am a retired hypnotist, I will naturally say yes, I could recover that lost memory. In reality, it is not lost, all memories are there and can be accessed if focus is applied.

Edit add: as an aside joke: You forgot your wedding anniversary didn't you? Now, you are in the doghouse, aren't you? Lol.

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: CynConcepts

My wife says that her cancer was the best thing that ever happened to her.

She was given 6-9 months to live about 5 years ago... stage 4 sarcoma with multiple tumors.

There was nothing doctors could do, she was told.

She took thier word at it, got to researching and fixed herself.

And if that didn't work?

What you are describing is plain luck. Which is (once again) what this thread is about. Not everyone who tries this is going to "miraculously" survive what is generally a death sentence. You can certainly choose to not believe you have terminal cancer when a doctor tells you that you have terminal cancer. However, most people who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer have died from it whether they believed they would die or not.

So yes. Of course you can get lucky in a good way. Which is not really the point I was trying to make with the original post in this thread. My point was that it could go either way.

Most people would have gone home and died.

Most people could have done the same thing she did and probably would have still died.

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: BrianFlanders

Since I am a retired hypnotist, I will naturally say yes, I could recover that lost memory. In reality, it is not lost, all memories are there and can be accessed if focus is applied.

Prove it. Do you remember being born? Just focus! You can do it!

But seriously. You can't prove it so this is rhetorical. Obviously, I can't know what you have forgotten so I could not believe you if you told me that you remembered something you forgot. Obviously, if you did, you just thought you forgot it but didn't actually. I mean something you actually have forgotten. Not something that's in there somewhere. There is a difference. As someone who has forgotten more than you'll probably ever know, I can tell you that there is stuff I don't remember and will never remember and never could. And most people know exactly what I'm talking about. You are not being honest and therefore, this is a pointless offshoot.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

It was quite traumatic and painful experience, since I was no longer floating. I couldn't tell why or what was crushing my body. There was a perception of light through my eyelids, crazy psychedelic orange and yellow hues. My body felt hotter than when I was floating. I actually fought against the pressures fearful of the gripping pressures surrounding my body. Then, I was shocked by the brightness of the light through my lids. I stiffened in surprise. Then the pressure began again and I in an instance I felt like I was floating again but it was shockingly cold. I twisted and attempted to turn to find warmth...I did it seems, but felt an unnatural gripping on my body and face. I screamed....then stopped, for I heard another scream but the other scream was silent. I yelled again...and there was that other.

Do you wish me to continue? Many who have gone under hypnosis can relay similiar stories of their birthing process.

You are not being honest and therefore, this is a pointless offshoot.

With having that opinion, I can finally agree with you.

It is obvious that you would rather continue living in a made up world where you are simply a victim of circumstance and have no free will.

I on the other hand will leave you to it and go on to enjoy my successful life by choice.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

It had nothing to do with luck at all.

She was given a reality that she did not accept.

She instead made her own.

It also took a buttload of work between her and I... I didn't get over 4 hours of sleep a night for 2 years.

I guess what you just don't "get" is that reality is what you make of it.

If you think that reality sucks, then it is going to be.

Wish you luck on yours.

originally posted by: CynConcepts
a reply to: BrianFlanders

It was quite traumatic and painful experience, since I was no longer floating. I couldn't tell why or what was crushing my body. There was a perception of light through my eyelids, crazy psychedelic orange and yellow hues. My body felt hotter than when I was floating. I actually fought against the pressures fearful of the gripping pressures surrounding my body. Then, I was shocked by the brightness of the light through my lids. I stiffened in surprise. Then the pressure began again and I in an instance I felt like I was floating again but it was shockingly cold. I twisted and attempted to turn to find warmth...I did it seems, but felt an unnatural gripping on my body and face. I screamed....then stopped, for I heard another scream but the other scream was silent. I yelled again...and there was that other.

Do you wish me to continue? Many who have gone under hypnosis can relay similiar stories of their birthing process.

I am going to put this gently. I don't believe you.

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: BrianFlanders

It had nothing to do with luck at all.

She was given a reality that she did not accept.

Reality doesn't care whether you accept it or not.