I don’t believe in luck, destiny, or fate, and my jury is still out on karma.

Personally, I think they’re dead end roads that don’t lead anywhere or if anything, it’s a slippery slope towards complacency and superstition – if what befalls you is predestined, what’s the point of taking action if the outcome has already been defined or you could affect the outcome by being born on the right date, walking around with rabbits’ feet, knocking on wood, throwing coins in fountains, or salt over your shoulder.

In essence, I don’t believe things happen for a reason, they just happen. Furthermore, to question why is actually pointless. Here’s a story that illustrates this point really well:

“It’s just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.’ He would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me… until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short… until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored… until I know his home village, town, or city… until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow… until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark… until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated… until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird… until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.’ He would say, ‘I won’t have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.’ The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him.” – Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta

I agree with Marilyn wholeheartedly – focus your energy elsewhere. Firstly, work on actively changing your perception of things – your mind is a lot more malleable than you think and you can experience stress, anxiety, and calamities with a lot more resiliency provided that you have the proper training (i.e. meditation) Secondly, direct your energy towards taking action. If someone smashed your car window, then all you can do is fix it. Chances are, it’s going to get smashed again and again and again. If it’s not your car window, then it’s your home window or maybe a glass or a plate. Even your heart will get smashed over and over and over again. To try to think or hope for otherwise is futile.

This is not meant to put you or anyone on a downer, but there’s a lot of strength building and growth in accepting that the cycle of up and down is never ending. Whether or not calamities will happen or when they will happen or with what magnitude is not within our control, how we choose to experience these cycles is.