Luck

So I'm relaxing this evening at home, just thinking about "lucky" and my inner response to ever being told that I am lucky. I am really resistant to this whole idea that anything I've come to gain in my life has been the result of luck. I think my entire life is a product of hard work, and then the good/bad choices I've made. I can't think of anything I've been given that I haven't earned. Earned by working or earned by being a good friend/person which made another person feel inclined to bestow some gift or privilege upon me. Even for those who seemingly "have it all" or have been given opportunity since birth, I tend to believe they did something grand in a previous life. I don't believe there are just people who are lucky and people who aren't. And it is interesting to me the things we consider lucky. Winning the lotto. I have seen many come into so much money just to become ruined by it or be robbed by those closest to them. I don't know that finding out your own children or spouse would rob you blind or kill you for your possessions is indicative of much luck. At the end of the day I think it is all about your own perception. I think the happiest people have learned that happiness isn't contingent on circumstance and comes from within. I know that I am going to be happy living in a cardboard box or living in the lap of luxury. And that ability to be positive isn't something I'm lucky for either. I worked very hard for that. It was all (and still is) in my control. I could let it go and stop putting the work in. Or I could take it a step further and solidify my happiness and minimize suffering even more. It is all in my hands.