This morning, I looked out of the window and saw ‘orange slip’ on many of cars parking on the street. Oh no, I ran out and ‘luckily’, I didn’t see one on my car. To be honest, none of the cars that got a ‘orange slip’ (driveway ticket) block the driveways and the yellow marks on the curve were faded or simply too far out. Regardless, I can imagine the unhappy faces.
Thinking back…it was a string of ‘luck’. I moved to the neighborhood because of the new job and ‘luckily’, my cousin was working abroad, I sub-let her apartment and I’ve been enjoying the city life for the summer. She decided to move back home so I can stay till the lease start for my new home. Last night my cousin took my parking spot when moving her stuffs out. I was ‘lucky’ to find a space on the street when another car left and ‘luckily’ I didn’t park an inch further or I’d also get a ‘orange slip’.
Thinking again…what is luck? Is it pure coincident? It may look random but it’s actually a series of conscious decisions/ actions…new opportunity from good works and my cousin’s apartment by asking around. For the last part, you might say I’d not park on the street and ran the risk if not because of my cousin’s moving. I’d like to think because I helped her moving, karma ‘spared’ my car. Good thoughts and deeds bring good luck!
Chinese’s word for Fortune is 命運 (Min Yuan) which is an interesting combination. 命Min is ‘pre-determined’ while 運Yuan is ‘unpredictable‘. I like a saying mom had told me that successful people attribute their success to Yuan (good luck) while unsuccessful people blame their failure to Min (bad fate). Many things happen out of our control yet we can always choose how we think, feel, and act toward them.