What does “lucky” mean?

When we call someone else lucky, what does that mean, exactly? How are they lucky? Is there a particular area of their lives that’s lucky?

When you Google the definition of the word, one of the lamest that comes up is:

Having, bringing, or resulting from good luck.
“You had a very lucky escape.”

I especially like this one, the answer to a question:

How do you describe a lucky person?

Some common synonyms of lucky are fortunate, happy, and providential. While all these words mean “meeting with unforeseen success,” lucky stresses the agency of chance in bringing about a favorable result.

Notice that phrase – agency of chance?

For me, this translates as synchronicity. My last win with Gold Rush, I wrote about here. It was in January of this year, and involved a fireman and an odd encounter at the lottery machine.  I got this nice ticket from the same machine when I had to run to Publix because we’d decided a pizza tonight sounded good.

No fireman this time. Just a sense that I might get lucky if I buy a ticket or two. I usually buy 2 of whatever I select because maybe every other couple of tickets  on the roll has a winner of something. My odds, though, aren’t quite good. According to the back of this ticket, the odds are 1:4.69. So I’d have to draw at least 5 cards for a win, I think that’s what those odds mean.

That feeling paid off. That’s what’s missing from the definition of lucky. You have a hunch and you play it. And it doesn’t matter whether that hunch involves the lottery or a person , a situation or an event. You act on what the synchronicity is telling you.

AND HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!