What does it mean to be "lucky"?
Hello. This is Sanpei.
The other day at work,
I found myself wondering what it actually means to be "lucky."
An event occurred that made me think about this,
and I decided to write this article
to share it with you all.
For those who are interested,
please read on.
One workday,
when I put on my work shoes, I felt something foreign inside,
"Is it a pebble?"
I thought, but I went about my work without checking.
During a break in my work,
I took off my shoe to take out the pebble,
and to my surprise, something black
rolled out from inside the shoe.
When I squinted to take a closer look,
It was a stink bug!!!
A ladybug-sized one!!!
"It's definitely going to stink!"
I thought, but
Maybe, just maybe, it's one that doesn't stink!
Holding onto that wishful thinking,
I took a sniff...
It smelled like grass...
I thought, "I'm having a streak of bad luck this morning,"
but through this experience,
I wondered,
What does it mean
to be "lucky"?
"I was lucky!"
Couldn't we interpret it that way?
I thought about that.
What is "luck"?
First, what is "luck"?
A word meaning the sequence of events that happen to a person and influence their circumstances, as well as the forces beyond human understanding that govern those sequences of events.
When I look it up in the dictionary,
"luck" seems kind of mysterious, doesn't it?
Next, when I look up "good fortune," which expresses being "lucky," in the dictionary
Being lucky. A state of having good circumstances.
Happiness.
Hmm,
Having a stink bug in your shoe is
not a "good circumstance,"
and it's not "happiness" either.
No matter how I think about it,
I can't call this
"lucky"...
After thinking about it for several days without finding an answer,
just when I was about to give up
Sanpei, I've had an epiphany!!
Now, can you all tell
how Sanpei
positively interpreted this event?
'That's easy'
If you thought that,
you are likely someone who has overcome
many difficulties in the past
a master of life
I believe.
Truly,
'A crisis is an opportunity!'
You must be someone who has deeply internalized that way of thinking.
Let's get back to the story.
How did I perceive this event?
It was
"I'm so glad the stink bug didn't get crushed!"
"I'm so glad it wasn't a cockroach inside!"
"How wonderful it is that things don't usually smell like grass!"
That was it.
If the stink bug had been crushed,
these shoes would surely have been beyond saving.
If it had been a cockroach,
my mental state would surely have been beyond saving too. lol
How happy I was to be able to live in an odorless environment every day.
What a blessing that was.
To the stink bug that made me realize this,
thank you.
I'm glad you weren't crushed.
Thank you
for joining me.
The end.