Bayside Blessings…

Winter prepares to set following the luckiest of seaside days in Wildwood, NJ

You gotta try your luck at least once a day because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it. ~ Jimmy Dean

Not know you’re lucky? How can that be? Do we all define luck differently? Are some people just born under a lucky star, while the unfortunate ones constantly live under a dark, star-less sky? What is this phenomenon called luck and how do we get it?

To get to the heart of the matter, I consulted the good folks at Google, who clearly know everything worth knowing (or so I’ve heard🤔). Surely, they must know what qualifies as luck. They define that illusive quality as “success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.” Well, that sounds sort of accurate if not somewhat unjust. But wait, what happened to making our own luck, i.e., taking action to make good things happen, Google? Is it all just random and hey, really unfair?

Before accepting that unfortunate (for some of us) assessment as truth, maybe we need to define luck on our own terms. After all, one person’s dreary rainstorm is another person’s rainbow-in-the-making. Maybe our perspective is the ultimate definer. The optimist is always the first to find that rare four-leaf clover, possessing eyes that look for, and therefore, see the good.

To test this theory, I suggest an almost-spring beach walk. During that research-driven stroll these still-chilly days, what will we focus on, the cold or the sunshine warming body and soul? A lucky person, naturally, feels the sun’s warmth, the hint of summer on the horizon. Those wise beings know how fortunate they are to be surrounded by sand and sea, trusting that bright, beautiful days are not only on the way but in the Here and Now.

Breathing in that sweet, salty air, truly seeing that picture-perfect ocean view…How lucky are we? 🍀🌈🏖️