The Legend of Luck

By Rom Watson
c. July 7, 2013

Chinese, Hindu and Native American mythology all share a legend in which the world was created on the back of a giant sea turtle.  We now know this not to be the case.  This legend was an attempt, in an earlier time by people without access to the facts, to explain something.  Luck is likewise an attempt to explain something.  In the future, I believe that the theory of luck will be given as much serious consideration as the explanation that world was created on the back of a giant sea turtle.

If luck is merely a legend, why then do some people receive good things and others receive bad things?  It depends on the individual consciousness of the person.  (This article will focus on receiving good things, as we should never give our attention to bad things.  Our attention should go to solutions, not problems.)  We’ve all heard the expression “You create your own luck,”  but how do we attract good things into our lives?  By modifying our individual consciousness into a consciousness that accepts good.  Let me tell of an example from my life, an example that took place at Hamburger Mary’s on Santa Monica Blvd.  If you’re like most people, you won’t accept that we all have the capacity to influence our own conscious minds.  However, if you believe as I do that the thoughts on which you dwell affect your mental outlook (or “consciousness”), then you will give credence to the story I’m about to tell.

The “backstory,” as it is called nowadays, is that every morning I read certain positive affirmations.  (I like reminding myself on a daily basis of the mental outlook to which I aspire.)  One of these affirmations is by Dennis Osgood of Vista, CA:

“Spirit brings forth as much good as I am willing to accept, so I accept it now.”

How is reading affirmations working for me?  I frequently win things.  I never used to, but around six or seven years ago I started winning small things, such as giveaways at company functions.  A $10 Starbucks gift card, a lunch with the CEO and COO, etc.  Then in May of 2010, I won a television.  My wife and I went to Washington State to visit her mother, Gerri.  When we arrived, Gerri presented us with buttons she’d purchased for the annual Colorama Days festival.  The festival includes carnival rides, a parade, a rodeo, and culminates with a raffle.  We both took a button, (upon which was printed a raffle number), pinned it to our clothing and attended the drawing.  When it came time for the grand prize, they called my number.  I won a Samsung flat-screen TV.  It’s very nice, and still works very well.

At a subsequent company function I again won the grand prize: two $50 American Express gift cards.  At this point my co-workers began to comment on my propensity for winning.  However, they never ask how I win, probably because most people believe in the legend of luck.

Everybody wants to win, but many people don’t realize what winning requires.  It requires not only desire, but acceptance. People don’t get what they deserve, and they don’t get what they want; they get what their conscious (and subconscious) mind is willing to accept.  In the words of Deidre Cole of Granada Hills, “The giving nature of the Universe waits for me to make room for all It gives.”

Do I always win?  No.  A few months ago a co-worker asked me if I wanted to contribute money to a group purchase of lottery tickets. I gave him five dollars, and then a day or two later I learned the amount of the prize: $475 million dollars.  When I heard this, I noticed a thought that crossed my mind. (I have been striving for years to become more aware of my thoughts, and occasionally it pays off, as it did in this instance.)  This thought occurred in just a split second, but I noticed it.

This thought was about how much work would be involved if I won millions of dollars.  Work to handle and distribute great wealth, such as hiring attorneys to set up trust funds for family members, hiring experts to help make investments, hiring accountants to take care of taxes and other logistics, etc.

This split-second thought was the tip of an iceberg, an iceberg that existed in my subconscious mind with only a tiny portion poking through to my conscious mind.  It wasn’t fear exactly, but it was apprehension, with a tinge of dread.  It definitely wasn’t acceptance.  Did we win the $475 million dollars?  No.

I suspect that many are bypassed by their good because unbeknownst to them, they’re afraid of the baggage that comes along with it.

If you become aware of your own fears and apprehensions, you can then replace them with acceptance.  Acceptance not only of your good, but also acceptance of the responsibility that goes along with it.  You can, in the words of George Ruffin of Fort Worth, “create space for a positive consciousness.”

I will use my most recent win as an illustration of this principle.  Here, finally, is the story I mentioned earlier.

My wife and I were invited by our friend Michele to go to Hamburger Mary’s for an evening of “Legendary Bingo.”  The cost of each Legendary Bingo session is $20 per person.  This money goes to charity, and each session benefits a different charity.  Our money went to the Ozzy Foundation, which helps pet owners pay for expensive veterinary procedures so they don’t have to euthanize their pets.  We were given a pad of bingo cards, and two additional orange bingo cards for the final game.  We grabbed bingo markers from a large bin on the floor, then were seated at a booth towards the back and handed menus.  We ordered food, and then the bingo began.

Legendary Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s is also known as Drag Bingo.  Not because the attendees dress in drag, though I suppose that wouldn’t be frowned upon, but because the bingo callers dress in drag.  The host was a gentleman dressed as a gentleman, but our bingo callers were two gentlemen dressed as women.  This is how West Hollywood does bingo.  They also do it loud.  And when someone wins, they have to jog around the restaurant so all the bingo losers can pelt the winner with wadded up bingo cards.

We had fun, and laughed a lot.  The first nine games used up the pad of paper bingo cards, so for the tenth and final game we used the two orange bingo cards.  This was a blackout game, requiring every number on either card to be filled.  When every number on one of my cards had been called except one, I saw that I might win.  However, unlike the time with the lottery tickets, this time I was ready.  I actually said to myself, silently, “I accept the responsibility that goes along with winning this. I accept the gift bag, and I accept being pelted with wadded up bingo cards.”

And then I won.

“N-37.”  The final number I needed.  I marked it with the marker and said “Bingo.”  My wife then said it much louder than I did and raised her hand and pointed downward at me.  After it was determined that I had indeed won, (they check each card carefully), I jogged around the restaurant as the other patrons pelted me with their wadded up cards.  The grand prize was a gift bag containing a box of Milk Duds, a package of three bamboo eating utensils, a Veggie Set Go tote bag, a package of children’s bracelets made of candy, and a $50 Target gift card.  Winning was nice, but the real prize was seeing the demonstration of the principle I’m describing.

I still read that daily affirmation, but I have amended it to read:

“Spirit brings forth as much good as I am willing to accept, so I accept it now AND I accept the responsibility that goes along with it.”

Is reading affirmations all it takes?  No, you have to believe them.  (To quote from an ancient text: “It is done unto you as you believe.”)  To modify your individual consciousness into a consciousness that accepts good, you have to believe –no, believing isn’t enough –you have to know that good things are always streaming into your life.  Even if they’re not actually here yet.  Especially if they’re not actually here yet.

So ask yourself: “Am I willing to accept the good the universe has in store for me?  And, am I willing to accept the responsibility that goes along with it?”