How To Be A Lucky Duck

"Lucky Ducks"

(small watercolor study)

Gouache

Ever used the expression, "You lucky duck!", to someone who perhaps just got a hole-in-one on the 18th hole in golf or found a five dollar bill while out jogging?  We use expressions like that all the time.  Do you ever wonder why they originated?  That's what I wondered about the phrase, "lucky duck".  Not much is available as to its origin, except that the rhyming qualities of luck and duck are catchy.  The emphasis is more on the luck part and not intimating the duck nature to a human being.

But wait!  Is there really any way a person can increase their chances of luck or experience good turns in life?  Psychologist Richard Wiseman thinks so.  He wrote a book about it called The Luck Factor:  Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life:  The Four Essential Principles.  In it he espouses that we have much more to do with being in the right place at the right time than we think.  Thus, the four principles of which I'll briefly water ski over the surface:

1.  Relax.  

That sounds pleasant enough.  I think we all could handle more of that in our lives.  Mr. Wiseman goes on to provide evidence for why relaxed people have better luck in more opportunities than uptight folks.  Here he emphasizes how relaxed people are better able to maximize opportunities.

2.  Trust your gut.

Here Mr. Wiseman writes that people who rely more on their intuition are luckier than those who don't.  So listen to your heart!

3.  Expect the best.

On this point, Wiseman found in his research that positive outlooks greatly trumped a negative view in taking chances and looking at the future.  Those with positive outlooks had a self-fulfilling prophecy when it came to achieving good outcomes in their lives.  Negative outlooks can create a vicious downward cycle of not taking risks and playing safe, thus losing out on growth and good opportunities.

4.  Turn that frown upside-down.

This point focuses on the fact that we all have bad experiences in our lives, even the seeming "luckier" ones.  But the key here is how one responds to hard knocks.  Do we get down and succumb to the situation, or do we express gratitude that things aren't worse, learn from it, get up and keep persevering?  Those with "luckier" attitudes believe that things will ultimately turn out best in their favor.  They don't dwell on the negative.  Instead they take action to create better opportunities.  

So, there's nothing "quack" about that advice.  Basically, it is just good common sense about the best way to live life no matter what good or bad comes your way.

One aspect that gives me great confidence about the unknown is found in what King David wrote in Psalm 31: 14,15:

But I am trusting you, O Lord,

saying, 'You are my God!'

My future is in Your hands.

We all have opportunities to make choices that impact our lives.  Beyond that we can trust our lives and the unknown into the sovereign, loving, all-powerful hands of the great Creator God.

Live bravely and beautifully!

The Unattended Moment

(From my nature journal)

"For most of us, there is only the unattended

Moment, the moment in and out of time.

The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,

The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning

Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply

That it is not heard at all, but you are the music

While the music lasts.  These are only hints and guesses,

Hints followed by guesses;  and the rest

Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.

The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation."

                                       ---from The Dry Savage   

                    T. S. Eliot

We've all experienced transcendent moments that cause something to well up within us and wish to express or capture the moment...to possess it, if one could.  But alas!  These moments escape us, like air drifting through our fingers.  One way to come close to capturing those moments is to somehow find expression of them in art....whether by painting, writing, poetry, dance, sculpture.  The author Willa Cather describes this to a young artist friend:

"Art is but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining and elusive element which is life itself---life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose."

Beauty engages us, it attracts us, it causes us to want to respond to it.  Beauty is a necessity!  It takes us to the "beyondness" of things to something grander and greater. Beauty takes our breath away.  Beauty takes us to the Maker of beauty....our great Creator God.  King David expressed in Psalm 27 that he had one strong, compelling desire...and that was to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.  All that we see and experience of beauty in this fallen world is but an echo, a whisper of what is to come. Beauty, joy, delight....these are essentials to our human flourishing!  I hope you experience these qualities in many unattended moments in your life.

"To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour."

---Auguries of Innocence

William Blake

Live bravely and beautifully!

Brrrrds!

"A Feathered Friend"

(Small watercolor study)

Many of us are experiencing the icy, snowy grip of winter weather. We hunker down and speed walk from house to car to work, then repeat in reverse order.  We disappear under a pile of clothes and coats, longing for spring.  During this season, I watch the little birds that winter over and marvel at how their tiny little bodies can crank out enough body heat without succumbing to the cold.  It isn't easy for them, but take a look with me at how marvelously they are designed to bear up under adverse circumstances:

1.  Birds are warm-blooded avian creatures with a higher metabolism than mammals, averaging temperatures around 105 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius.

    

*Their body warms the air space between the feathers providing insulation.  Birds have their own little North Face downy coats.  They fluff their feathers out to provide this extra space, making warm air pockets.

*Many birds grow extra downy feathers during a late fall molt.

2.  Many birds are equipped with a uropygial gland, also known as the preening gland or oil gland.  This is located on the lower back just above the tail base.  A little grease nipple-like nub secretes the oil which they rub with their beak all over their feathers, beak, legs, and feet.  This oil contains monoester or diester waxes which insulate as well as waterproof the feathers.

3.  Birds' legs and feet are covered with specialized scales that minimize heat loss.  They can constrict blood flow to extremities, reducing further heat loss.  Also, they can utilize a process called counter-current exchange where the in-flowing warm blood into the legs and feet exchanges with the cold outer flowing blood.

*  Birds will tuck one foot up under their feathers to warm it while the other grasps what supports it.  They also squat down on both legs under their warm down feathers.  

4.  Birds can move into a torpor state in which metabolism is greatly reduced, sometimes by as much as 50 degrees.  This inactive state requires fewer calories but can put birds at risk to predators.

*  Birds don't sing as much during the colder season because singing is a high-energy calorie burning activity for them.  Hmmmm.....makes me wonder if our fitness centers should now teach singing as a weight loss solution.  

5.  The smaller birds will often roost together in bird lumps at night to share body heat.  

6.  Some birds, like Chickadees, will cache food during the warmer months and have tremendous memories of up to a 1,000 places where they have stored food.  

What are some take-aways for us from how birds cope with hardship?  

1.  Birds have wonderfully been provided for to deal with hardship in their body design.  As Matthew 6:26 refers to God's care for the birds, we can count on our great Creator's care for us in hardship.  He promises to be with us in trouble and to be a refuge for us when the storms of life hit.  If He can design little uropygial glands and downy feathers for birds, what do you think He can do for you?

2.  Birds minimize activity when needing to conserve energy for body heat.  They don't sing as much.  Under times of stress we need to cut back on extra activities and commitments in order to focus on what matters most.  This helps to keep one from burning out.

3.  Birds prepare during times of plenty for the coming barren winter months.  They eat extra for body fat storage and also set aside food in storage.  So, too, we need to be prepared for the emergencies and hard times in life to enable us to survive and even thrive under duress.

4.  Birds utilize community.  By roosting together, they survive long winter nights.  We need community, too.  We do best in life by sharing and being involved with others.  We cannot go it alone and flourish.

Here's a brief documentary about how birds survive the winter season:

Live bravely and beautifully!

Mr. Groundhog's Dilemma

"Point Whitehorn Beach"

(Small watercolor study)

Today is Groundhog's Day, a celebration here in the United States that has amassed much festivity around it.  In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, crowds of up to 40,000 at times have gathered to find out if the local famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, has seen his shadow.  If he sees his shadow, supposedly that means 6 more weeks of winter. Otherwise, if it is a cloudy day, spring is supposedly on its way early. Different regions of the country have their own variations of weather-predicting animals.  

Badger emerging from his den

I have never understood the logic behind the Groundhog's Day algorithm.  To me, it makes sense that if the groundhog sees his shadow because the sun is shining, then that indicates decent weather and favorable prospects for the oncoming spring.  Cloudy weather with lack of sun would indicate winter weather patterns still exist.  But they didn't ask me for my opinion.  When it comes down to it, who knows how the weather is going to pan out?!  Why, even Punxsutawney Phil has only been correct only about 39% of the time. The National Climatic Data Center declares Punxsutawney Phil as having no talent for predicting spring.

Punxsutawney Phil is afraid of his own shadow.  He probably stews all winter underground in his burrow debating over whether the uncertainty of his sightings will get enough Facebook "Likes" that day.  Will the assembled crowd be pleased with his reaction?  Will he be the recipient of Twitter's scathing remarks for the day?  Will his ratings go up or down?  

Marmot

Here in northwest Washington the sun is shining brightly today.  No matter the weather, life must and does go on.  Uncertainty of what lies ahead with weather or anything else in life must not be allowed to paralyze us in what needs to be done in the moment.  The balanced posture is to keep an eye down the road but be fully engaged in the present process.  I am thankful that Someone much greater than I who does control the weather and keeps the universes spinning in space has my life in His hands.  Here's some thought-provoking questions that God asked of Job which brings some perspective to uncertainty and control:

Have you visited the storehouses of the snow

or seen the storehouses of hail?...

Where is the path to the source of light?

Where is the home of the east wind?

Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?

Who laid out the path for the lightning?

Who makes the rain fall on barren land,

in a desert where no one lives?

Who sends rain to satisfy  the parched ground

and make the tender grass spring up?

Does the rain have a father?

Who gives birth to the dew?

Who is the mother of the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?...

Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?

Can you make lightning appear

and cause it to strike as you direct?

Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?

Who can tilt the water jars of heaven...?

---Job 38:19-38

Marmot

Live bravely and beautifully!