Elise Haynes chronicles family life in her blog Haynes Family Yard Sale. The opinions stated in this article are solely her own and not those of St. George News.
HUMOR – Let me tell you a secret about myself. I am really lucky. For example, on March 7 at 11:54 a.m. this was my Facebook status: “I just want to sit on the beach eating pretzel M&Ms while I finish reading Midnight in Austenland. Is that too much to ask?!” At the time I was land-locked in Utah, most likely washing dishes or doing laundry or some other such activity. There was no beachcombing in my immediate future, or so I thought. However, on March 10 at 1:22 p.m. I found myself sitting in the sand on Newport Beach, eating pretzel M&Ms by the fistful and reading my book while periodically retrieving my children from the surf. It was glorious. And lucky.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” On the contrary, Donald Trump says, “Everything in life is luck.” The decision you need to make is whether you want to be a dead poet or own half of Manhattan and have unusual hair.
What is the secret to my good luck? It is equal parts karma, the golden rule, gratitude, prayer, Irish ancestry, hard work, and some stubbornness thrown in for good measure. You can remember them by using the simple acronym KtGRGPIAHWS.
How can you apply my secret to your life? Let’s say that what you want is to win a Jacuzzi on The Price is Right. According to my interpretation of karma, if you want to win something you have to be generous with what you already have. Consider donating your patio furniture to Deseret Industries, thereby making a deposit at the Bank of Karma while simultaneously clearing space for your new hot tub. It’s easier to understand karma if you think of it as a boomerang – whatever you throw out into the world will eventually come back and hit you in the face, so make it nice and fluffy.
Gratitude is also an important aspect of good luck. I read something recently that asked, “What if you woke up today with only the things you were thankful for yesterday?” This scenario seems unlikely, but if it were to happen I would wake up tomorrow with ibuprofen, Thin Mints, and nothing else. I have noticed that the more grateful I am for the little things in life, the more those things tend to stay with me.
Here’s an example of how prayer is related to good luck. A few years ago I was standing on the shore of Sand Hollow Reservoir waiting to begin my first and last triathlon. My main goal was to finish the triathlon without dying. There was one major obstacle to my goal: the open-water swim. I am a terrible swimmer and that morning the conditions were treacherous. A chilly wind was blowing and the lake was covered in mountainous white caps. Even experienced swimmers were exiting the water early. My heart pounded. I didn’t want to chicken out, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I prayed. I prayed hard, with all of the zeal that an inexperienced swimmer who feels they are moments away from death possesses. I didn’t ask for much, just that the race coordinators would cancel the swim portion of the race and that I wouldn’t die a watery death. And it worked. The swim was cancelled and I didn’t die that day. Imagine if I had prayed for the tsunami victims or a new Escalade!
So if you’re in need of a trip to the beach, or even just a little stroke of luck, remember KtGRGPIAHWS: karma, the golden rule, gratitude, prayer, Irish ancestry, hard work and stubbornness. Or just go The Donald’s route – make wise real estate investments and use plenty of Aqua Net.
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