It’s March and besides celebrating Women’s History Month (or shall we say Her-Story Month!), I’d like to focus on how “lucky” we all are. Yes, I know there are those who seem to enjoy reciting the old verse: if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all! But the truth of it is, we CAN create our own luck. Our passion fuels our ambition and urges us on to do better. With this sort of attitude, we ultimately realize our dreams. Perhaps not all, yet a great deal of our dreams do become a reality. Often when what we had planned doesn’t work out we tap into our imagination and creativity and something even better seems to present itself almost as if by magic.

The kind of magic that turns moving far away from our family-of-origin into an attitude of compassion and caring which attracts a circle of friends who became like family. The kind of magic that turns recovering from a life-threatening illness into a new attitude about how precious life is and hownot to take a moment for granted. A new attitude of delicious freedom which urged me to follow the road less traveled a lot more often. In the past, I would not have been as willing to show my vulnerability, nor to try new things because I had already decided I wouldn’t be good at it. Fear stopped me and so I was afraid to even try.

Some would say that a breast cancer diagnosis was terrible luck. I believe mine was a gift letting me know that it was time I stopped being afraid to live my life. But, being the stubborn Norwegian I am, it took the second breast cancer episode to shake me to my core and finally move me out of my familiar routine. Now, I seek out FUN with new experiences and sensations to replace the fear factor. So what if I’ll never have a painting in a gallery, I like to play with the paint and see what happens. So what if I’ll never “do” anything more with the techniques I learn at Art Retreats.  I have an absolutely terrific time basking in the sheer joy of following my heart to discovernew adventures where my Creativity comes alive. And I plan to continue to nurture that blissful state as often as I can.

I believe my luck (and Yours) is simply abundant and far reaching. I’m lucky in a hundred big ways because I have my health, the health of my family, that I’m surrounded by people who love me, that we have are warm and dry, that we have enough to eat and work that is fulfilling and challenging. I’m lucky in a thousand life-affirming little ways: being able to take a walk on the beach, look up at the sun, moon and stars, hear my daughter’s laugh, see my husband’s smile, savor a cup of hot tea, write in my journal, wish a friend Happy Birthday, celebrate a colleague’s success, hear a loved one’s voice on the phone, or smell a Spring flower.

Wishing you a simply abundant life full of your own amazing luck!

Be well,

Mary