Is there such a thing as bad luck?

[Tahir2]

I do not believe in luck, you make your own circumstances by the way you deal with them.

I do believe in fate (the big things like life and death). Luck and fate are not the same thing. Luck more deals with the idea that if you do something totally unrelated it will change the outcome e.g. if you pray hard enough you will pass your exam even if you didnt attend one lesson.

OK with that personal definition out of the way.. here is my recent experience:

Someone stole a hold load of central heating system copper piping from the house I am renovating along with some electric tools: £500 (insurance wouldn't cover it even if my house was insured).

Bumped into someone when the roads were icy (at 2MPH causing the tiniest of scratches on the bumper which will be buffed out easily). The neighbour (a friend of my bro) gave me the option of going through insurance and claiming for whiplash or settling on the spot: £50

Speeding ticket (my fault, no excuses): £60

Car clamped for being two minutes over the ticket time (yes really 2 minutes): £125

Total wasted money so far: £735

So was all that bad luck? Or destiny? Or.... am I just a doofus?

I really hope there is not more to come!!

 

[homerdog]

Your neighbor is a dick.

 

[Sonic]

Your neighbor is indeed a dick and a douchebag. For a move like that he deserves actual whiplash.

I guess it depends on what you consider luck. Fate/destiny are more bullshit in my eyes than luck is. The only thing that fate/destiny is spot on about is death and really luck applies more to that than fate/destiny does.

To me luck is what happens randomly throughout the day whether it be positive or negative. It could be driving to work during rush hour and finding that traffic is moving along nicely. To me that would be an example of good luck. A thug comes up to you on the street and holds you at gunpoint and takes your wallet. Bad luck.

Kinda like the game of WoW. In PVP as a warlock against a rogue you have an uphill battle. You might win by getting a few big crits in a row and that is good luck. Facing a rogue as a warlock is bad luck in general unless the rogue is shit.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well, there is luck if you define luck as... A random probability that something may happen.

For example, "winning" at a slot machine involves much luck.

Bad luck would just be that you got a probability result that isn't very favorable to you.

For example, having a pidgeon take a poop on your head instead of the guy next to you.

As to the OP. Well, lets hope your run of unfavorable luck has run its course.

Regards,
SB

 

[CNCAddict]

I think this is more of a debate about determinism vs. free will. Technically there is no scientific evidence that free will exists. So if you take that as a fact, it means everything is determined and we will all live our lives like pebbles bouncing down a stream. Everything that happened, happens, and will happen can not be changed and was always "in the works".

So just take solace in the fact that all these terrible things were always going to occur and there was no way for you to prevent them.

P.S. I'm not saying I want to believe any of the above...but I still can't find a reason not to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism

 

[Grall]

Your neighbour threatens with legal action unless you hand him £50?

Maybe YOU should threaten HIM with legal action...for effing extortion! That definitely sounds illegal. What an ass! If you paid him you should at least punched him in the face first, to give some value for your money...

Sorry to hear about your streak of bad luck. It's nothing deliberate, the universe isn't out to get you personally, fortunately. The universe has no agenda, nor any consciousness as such so it simply can't deliberately screw with you, which is a small comfort perhaps but always something.

 

[nintenho]

It's not like you need rabbit's feet but you did get some shitty days in a row.

 

[I.S.T.]

I don't believe in bad luck per se... but, the events of my life over the past several years would be a good case for it. =\

It's just separate things happening to you that were coincidentally all bad. That's it. To give it any more power than that just isn't realistic and depresses you.

 

[Bludd]

I have a friend who believes himself to be innately and perpetually unlucky. He doesn't believe in statistics and he doesn't like to play games involving dices. He has stated that he is more unlucky than someone who, as a result of an accident of some sort, is paralysed from the neck down. He said "I've been unlucky my whole life but that guy was unlucky just once." We continue to give him shit about that to this day and he doesn't really mean it, at least not any more, and it was a bad, off-the-cuff analogy.

 

[Tahir2]

Life can indeed suck and have its tragedies, and my life is the same I guess. However there are positives and I firmly do believe that it all depends on how you deal with the hand life deals you with.

I used to do tours for a charitable organisation and was asked why there are wars and why there are bad people.

My answer usually was that it all depends on the self - my advice was, is that there are many events out of our control but once in our realm it is up to us on how to deal with them. You meet an old acquaintance on the streets down on his or her luck and you remember what a nasty person they were to you so what do you do? Ignore them when they try to say "hi", give them a good hiding or swear at them for being such a dick? Or do you greet them and treat them kindly and help them?

Sounds like a load of crock but this kind of things happens on a daily basis and I for one have realised over the last year or so I have become a nasty and bitter person due to my perspective on life and I am in fact a bit of a dick, just a shell of the person I once was... so I have had a bit of bad luck (or a lot if you knew the ful story) but looking back on it most of it has been my own making, even the events described above...

CNCAddict I am going to come back to you on the self-determinism and free will debate. Many years ago I had a strange conversation with a guy in a train station at 4am in the morning which lasted about 2 hours. It all started with him asking me for a cigarette (luckily I have given up now). He also didn't believe in free will but came to his conclusion by arguing that we are not in control of our thinking as in we cannot switch it off, and it just goes on like a machine.

By the way I beleive in a bit of both... some self-determinism and some free will.

So... got to break this vicious circle, take limited control that I have of my own life and get on with it. A positive mind brings makes positive things happen.

And my neighbour, well what should I do if he ever needs help from me? Life is strange like that - maybe I should tell him to get lost or maybe I should help him. Life is weird.

 

[KimB]

So... got to break this vicious circle, take limited control that I have of my own life and get on with it. A positive mind brings makes positive things happen.

No, it really doesn't. It does perhaps allow you to take advantage of what opportunities come. And opportunities are basically bound to come. But having a positive attitude doesn't actually change anything about the world around you.

Basically, these events are just random. Sometimes good things happen. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes the good things pile up. Sometimes the bad things pile up.

Personally, I really like this old Hebrew folk tale:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_too_shall_pass

It describes reality exceedingly well.

 

[_xxx_]

There is a thing like karma. Often you probably were in situations where you felt the truthfulness of the old saying "you are what you think/feel" as a pure gut feeling.

It doesn't even have to be "magic", often it's just that people get the whiff of what you feel like just through subtle subconcious gestures and mimic, or your muscle tension etc. There are many ways to communicate on a sub-concious level.

Also it's been proven now that DNA communicates via electromagnetic impulses and even reacts directly to speech, so there is actually some sort of connection between all living beings. The interaction (in broadest sense and at any energetic level) does the rest, along with some chaos.

 

[KimB]

There is a thing like karma.

No, there isn't. That's superstitious nonsense. The universe in no way "pays you back" for your good or bad deeds.

Also it's been proven now that DNA communicates via electromagnetic impulses and even reacts directly to speech, so there is actually some sort of connection between all living beings. The interaction (in broadest sense and at any energetic level) does the rest, along with some chaos.

Pure pseudoscientific bullshit.

 

[RudeCurve]

Actually a positive attitude CAN cause good things to be in your favor. You wouldn't want to go into a job interview with a negative attitude would you? I didn't think so...

I'd say more people get hired with positive attitudes than negative ones.

 

[KimB]

Actually a positive attitude CAN cause good things to be in your favor. You wouldn't want to go into a job interview with a negative attitude would you? I didn't think so...

I'd say more people get hired with positive attitudes than negative ones.

Positive attitudes help with interpersonal relationships. They don't cause any sort of response from the universe.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Besides while pathologically psychotic individuals would have no "bad" feelings about themselves such that it is then communicated through body posturing/language to other people.

Verified in the real world when people associated with them such as neighbors/co-workers/etc. describe them as nice people who they never imagined could hurt a fly.

Karma, just like Religion is an attempt to form a belief system to promote socially desirable behavior (no stealing, no adultery, no murdering, etc.) while also providing comfort to people in a world that doesn't give a rats arse what happens to you.

BTW - disclaimer I follow a mix of Buddhist/Christian beliefs myself as it's generally a good baseline for interacting with other people. As well, there's nothing bad in drawing comfort from a belief system in the face of a reality that could give a rats arse what happens to you.

Regards,
SB

 

[RudeCurve]

But having a positive attitude doesn't actually change anything about the world around you.

Basically, these events are just random. Sometimes good things happen. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes the good things pile up. Sometimes the bad things pile up.

LOL, no those events are not random...lol.

When I go to a job interview if I have a positive attitude and qualified, I have a better chance at getting the job. If I get the job it's not a purely random event. If I come into the interview with a negative attitude, I won't have a BETTER chance at getting the job.

I don't know about YOUR world but in MY world there are people everwhere and the attitude that you project affects others and vice versa. No, a positive attitude isn't going to magically turn the weather from a cloudy rainy day into a warm sunny one, but that's a strawman argument anyway.

 

[KimB]

I don't know about YOUR world but in MY world there are people everwhere and the attitude that you project affects others and vice versa. No, a positive attitude isn't going to magically turn the weather from a cloudy rainy day into a warm sunny one, but that's a strawman argument anyway.

Actually, it isn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(book)

The problem is that this kind of thinking tends to be extended far outside of the range in which it is valid, as the book The Secret attests to quite stupendously. And this is far from a recent thing: eastern religions have a very similar thing with their belief in karma, while western religions believe that there is a deity which will mete out divine justice depending upon such things.

In the end, thinking positively definitely isn't a bad thing. It can certainly help you to see opportunities that might otherwise pass you by, or might help you to persevere in seeking a solution when you otherwise might give up. And yes, other people do pick up on it and respond to it (somewhat). But it isn't the be-all and end-all of getting things to go right for you.

 

[KimB]

Besides while pathologically psychotic individuals would have no "bad" feelings about themselves such that it is then communicated through body posturing/language to other people.

Fortunately we seem to have some built-in defenses and can often (though definitely not always) subconsciously detect such people, because they don't offer the same body posturing/language that other people do, and so they creep us the hell out, and we avoid them.

 

[_xxx_]

No, there isn't. That's superstitious nonsense. The universe in no way "pays you back" for your good or bad deeds.

Note that I said "something like Karma" and not Karma in the religious sense.

Whoever mentioned the universe - I specifically referred to basic things like gestures/mimics or on the other side electromagnetism which is easily measurable. It's easy to measure the human aura, as well as movements of energy in a human body - it's been done countless times already.

The fact that we don't yet understand how it all works doesn't make it invalid in any way, same as the papers wrote in the 1870's that a thing like telephone is nothing but unrealistic fiction.

Pure pseudoscientific bullshit.

LMAO, and that from the biggest snake-oil seller here Again, you only display your ignorance or maybe just that you spend too much time online selling stupid pseudo-scientific theories like AGW instead of reading about current scientific developments.

It has been done according to usual scientific methods, measured, well documanted and easily reproducable. there are several books about it out there, call back when you read them.