I can’t help but notice that it’s Friday the 13th.  I know it’s just a silly superstition.  After all, I own a black cat that walks in front of me frequently.  I bought a house that was #13.  My step daughter broke a mirror but we haven’t noticed 7 years of bad luck.

Still, I find myself treading a little lightly on this day of inauspicious portent.  It’s not a day I would choose for making a risky investment or asking for favors.  I prefer to let it pass quietly.

Superstition aside, I believe we create our own luck by our beliefs.  I recently heard a friend say “With my luck, the plane will be delayed several hours.”  “Not true for me” I thought, “I feel quite lucky.  With my luck the plane will land safely!” 

Most people are as lucky as they choose to see.  When we focus on our many blessings and our outrageous good fortune to be alive at this time in history in this country of bounty, we begin to see how lucky we are.  I still don’t plan to buy a lottery ticket today, but I know that today and every day is my lucky day.

Ashley Davis Bush, LCSW is the author of

 “Transcending Loss:  Understanding the Lifelong Impact of Grief and How to Make it Meaningful”

 To order a copy Click Here

She picked up one item after another, swiping each barcode across the glass surface.  I thought to myself, this woman . . . this stranger across from me, employee in a drug store, has a mother. 

It is my habit, one of my shortcuts to inner peace, to look at the employees in stores, banks and coffee shops, and ask them in my mind, “Who is your mother?”  In that brief moment of awareness when I recognize our common humanity, that we are each born of a woman’s body, my heart is opened. (more…)

The Gallup poll has come up with a statistical composite for the happiest person in America.  He is a tall Asian American, observant Jew, over 65, married with children, live in Hawaii, run his own business, and have a household income of over $120,000. (more…)

Reminders of life’s fragility are everywhere.  I know that there are automobile accidents every day, yet I somehow manage to forget.  I hop in my car, happy and relaxed as if there are no risks.   Yet, this week I know two people involved in accidents.  In both instances, cars totaled, the drivers walked away physically unharmed.

I know how much this experience can shake your core.  I’ve been in two car crashes in my life:  once on the back roads of Mexico and once in my own back yard on Route 33.  One minute you are driving innocently along and the next minute, car crushed, you are shocked and shaken, talking with officers on the side of the road.  And this is the lucky scenario. (more…)

I recently attended a professional conference about couples and attachment theory.  One casual, off-handed comment by the presenter stuck in my mind.  She said, “It matters how you greet your spouse at the end of the day – is your head down texting or do you really welcome each other?”Every day we have a precious opportunity to reconnect with our honey and yet, we mostly take it for granted.  “Hi dear, where’s the mail?”  “Hi dear, you deal with the kids cuz I’m exhausted.”  “Hey, did you pay the mortgage today?”  I bet that many of us are met more enthusiastically by the family dog than by our own partner. (more…)