Category: Lucky

My Lucky List {Lucky}

by Rhonda Franz

Synonyms of the word “lucky” and its definitions suggest a meaning far more beautiful than a simple happenstance. Opportune. Timely. Fortunate. Providential.

Simple pleasures are my thing: a found piece of that chubby pink bubblegum behind my children’s candy stash, warm tortilla chips with restaurant-style salsa, a long lost (and then found) pair of jeans at the bottom of my messy closet that still fit. The littlest bit of luck makes my day.

I believe in faith and in God’s providence. I also like the random and routine occurrences that help me to appreciate a little luck—or fortune or opportunity—in the everyday as well.

My current lucky list:

• A rural life with room for my boys to roam and yell and run wild.

• A city upbringing, so I’m not afraid of the rough neighborhoods.

• Fabulous finds in the bargain section of the bookstore.

• Indoor plumbing (as if I’ve ever been without it).

• Turns out, I have two copies of that favorite book someone wants to borrow.

• The sun, because…snow days.

• All three of my children said, “Yes, ma’am,” and didn’t argue.

• Dirty laundry, because it means my family has clothes.

• Crumbs on the floor, because it means children are eating well.

Some days, I have to look hard for the list to find it through sadness and stress and crummy circumstances. On those days, I’m craning my neck and gritting my teeth and trying hard to see the fortune in the good, the not so good, the frustrating, and the overwhelming.

Sometimes it’s referred to as gratitude. Other times people say look for the positive in each situation rather than focusing on the negative.

When days are long and life is rough, try catching scraps of luck scattered throughout your day.

What do you see on your lucky list?

Rhonda Franz is an educator, home operations specialist, and mom of three rowdy boys. You can find her sweeping up crumbs and doing laundry in her Northwest Arkansas home. She can also be found on rhondafranz.com, CaptainMom.net, and @rhondafranz on Twitter.

5 Ways to Create Your Own Luck {Lucky}

by Tiffany Hathorn

5 Ways to Create Your Own Luck

I don’t believe in luck.

I do believe that good and unexpected things can happen in our lives. I also believe that some people experience these types of things more frequently than others. And when they do, they are often deemed as being lucky or having some type of good luck charm.

However, I think that luck is really a combination of certain factors: having a positive mindset, putting yourself out there (i.e. being proactive), and keeping an eye open for opportunities. In other words, I don’t think that luck is something that happens TO us. I think that it is something that we can attract and that we can pursue. I believe that we can create our own luck.

Below are 5 ways that I personally believe we can create our own luck.

Be bold!

One of my friends is an amazing blogger/vlogger. Over the past few months, she has carved out a nice income for her little family by starting her own custom printables business. We were talking a few days ago and she mentioned that she was going to reach out to some random people on Pinterest whose boards she had stumbled upon and offer her services to them. She was going to offer to create printables for them that she felt would add to their content and generate more traffic for them. When she told me that, I thought to myself “Fortune favors the bold”. I told her as much. I admire her ability to really put herself out there, think outside of the box, and go after what she wants. Someone on the outside looking at her runaway success with her printable business may think that she just lucked out. However, I know that the truth is that she works hard, does her research, and is bold in her actions. And those things pay off in the form of new clients that are rabid fans of her work.

Network! Network! Network!

Seriously. The more people you know and engage with, the wider your circle becomes. The wider your circle, the higher your chances of coming across some really cool opportunities. I could think that I was lucky for having some of the opportunities that I have had over the past year, but the truth is that sometimes knowing the right people really can open up doors for you.

Be a positive person

You could network your entire life, but if you are someone that no one wants to be around, chances are when they have an opportunity to offer, they’re not going to come to you. However, if you are someone that focuses on positivity, is friendly (if not a social butterfly), and who people generally enjoy talking to/being around, you are much more likely to find yourself on the receiving end of good vibes and amazing opportunities.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

Sometimes an amazing opportunity could be sitting right in front of you. However, if you are stuck in your own little bubble, not paying attention, you may miss out. Again, this doesn’t mean that you have to be a social butterfly. But it does help to be aware of what is going on around you.

Be Open and Flexible

I think that the worst thing you can do if you are trying to create your own luck is to limit yourself. Be open to new things. It’s okay to be focused, but don’t have a focus that is so narrow that you aren’t aware of or open to things that fall outside of your line of view. Sometimes it is the things that we wouldn’t normally try that end up opening up an entire beautiful world of possibilities for us.

What do you think? Is luck something that merely happens or can we guide it?

Tiffany Hathorn has been blogging since the summer of 2010. She got started as a way to document her pregnancy and her life as a first-time mother. Since then, her blog has transformed into a chronicle of her life as a single WAHM. She blogs about raising her son solo, working from home, and her journey as a homeschooling mom. If you would like to follow Tiffany, you may do so by subscribing to her blog or liking her fan page.

Twitter: @tiffanyhathorn

Learning from Unlucky Moments {Lucky}

by Jeanetta Darley

Four Leaf Clover (1)

Growing up I remember an old Reba McEntire music video about her being a working mom who was going back to school. Huey Lewis played her husband in it, but that’s not relevant to my point at the moment. Anyway, the video shows her studying and working hard and getting really stressed and mad at her kids when something is spilled on an important paper. You could tell she felt bad about the yelling. She turns it in, stains and all (well before the days of the home computer and being able to just print out another copy). At the end the professor comments something to the fact that she did a good job but to try to avoid the stains next time. Reba’s character at that point remarks,

“I learned more from the stains than I did the paper.”

As I’ve grown up that line has always stuck with me. Even in our most unhappy, unlucky, unpleasant or un-what-you-had-planned-out-in-your-head moments we can find our greatest learning opportunities.

Some of my unluckiest moments have been BIG and out there. Moments that everybody saw. Moments that made me want crawl under a rock. The ones that make you feel like you’re about to throw up or that you just want to be invisible. Facing the music can be the hardest lesson to learn.

Like the time I was making an events calendar for the library where I worked and instead of typing “food pantries,” I typed “food panties.” You know what?! Spell check sees those as perfectly acceptable because they are both REAL WORDS! How unlucky, and extremely embarrassing, that I made the mistake of not carefully reading over the calendar before I made 200 copies. I learned my face could go many shades of pink and red. And I absolutely learned to double and triple check my documents.

This is not the most unlucky moment I have experienced. Trust me. Not by a long shot. This just happens to be one of the funnier ones. Along with the time in college I forgot where I parked my truck and reported it stolen. I learned to slow down and think back before running ahead. You can imagine the obvious lesson learned from falling on the dance floor due to the ignorant combination of four inch heels and too much champagne. Thankfully I missed the eight year old and the drum set. Yes, that moment wasn’t pretty. But my shoes sure were.

I feel it sometimes takes these shocking blunt-object-to-the-head moments for us to really learn a lesson. How boring would life be if everything were always easy and obvious? And my past transgressions always seem to be a great comfort to others when they find themselves in an unlucky spot. I can pat them on the shoulder. Look them in the eye and say, “Hey, at least it wasn’t food panties.”

What are some of your unlucky learning moments?

How boring would life be if we were always lucky? #luck #ARWB @jeanettadarley

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Jeanetta is a crocheter and coffee addict, chicken keeper and goat wrangler, a farmer girl and maker of drunk jellies. You can find her online at www.jeanettadarley.com or on twitter, pinterest & instagram @jeanettadarley.

Learning to Love Yourself

By Ricci Ellis

“Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. How you treat yourself sets the standard for how others will treat you.”

? Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

As a single gal I have been on a mission to learn to love myself. You would think that by the ripe old age of 32 (today is my birthday!!) I would have this down by now but I don’t.

I think everyone loves a good list and so today I have listed a few things that are helping me to love myself a little more…

1. I think feeling good about yourself is a big part of loving yourself. That’s why some of my New Year’s Resolutions are to eat better and move my booty. As much as I complain about making better food choices and working out, I know that ultimately those are things that make me feel good so I have been putting forth more of an effort to do them.

2. Spending time with people that love me and that I love makes me happy and being happy is also a big part of loving yourself. I loved all of the time I got to spend with my family over the holidays and now that I’m back to “normal life” I have been keeping up with them more via text and Face Time. And seeing my cute niece’s and nephew’s faces over Face Time just makes my day!!

3. Do things you love! This one seems like a no-brainer but I know that sometimes I get super busy and caught up in everyday life that it seems like I am just going through the motions and forget to have fun! Shake it up a little and have dinner with your best friend in the middle of the week, treat yourself to a solo movie on your day off, or do whatever it is that makes you happy!

I am working on these things every single day. How are some ways that you are working on loving yourself?

Ricci_Headshot Ricci Ellis is an Arkansas native and current central Arkansas resident. Her favorite titles include dog mom, sister, aunt, blogger, respiratory therapist, and student. You can catch up with her on her lifestyle blog, Imperfectly Ricci, or on any social media @riccialexis.