Do You Believe In Murphy?
I was just about to work on yesterdays Wordless Wednesday post when the power went out. It’s unusual for me to not post daily but I hadn’t bothered to write a post Tuesday because I’d done 2 on Monday and wanted to give people a chance to catch up. You could say that Murphy was working against me yesterday to make the power go out and cause me to miss 2 days of posting!!!!
Our neighbours have a generator which can be connected directly into their home. It means when the power goes out they have enough power for lights, TV and the oven. Not only was their generator in town when the power went out, it happened to be the night she was cooking roast chicken.
This is the first time the power has gone out since Farmboy scored himself a very small but FREE generator with a drum of oil he bought. He was hoping it might be strong enough to power our pressure pump so that we could all have showers. Nope. It did give us a light but no showers. Why does the power have to go out on the day when both Farmboy and Trailer Boy have been crutching sheep all day and are not only filthy but STINK??? Is this Murphy?
We’re usually out on a Wednesday night so I was looking forward to the opportunity to watch a newish show I’ve been missing. The electricity came back on 10 minutes after the show finished. Murphy?
Here’s the thing. I’ve read and heard many times about people blaming Murphy when things go wrong. After all, the saying “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” is attributed to this elusive Murphy (was Murphy a very unlucky bloke???).
The problem I have is that those who regularly blame Murphy seem to struggle with Murphy attacks more often than those who don’t. And it leaves me with a “which comes first, the chicken or the egg” dilemma.
If we’re focusing on the negatives in life, does it cause more negatives to happen? Do we, in a way, “attract” the bad stuff by focusing on it.
Let’s look at last night in a slightly different light.
I had happened to buy schnitzel for tea so it was something that Farmboy was able to easily cook on the bbq. Unlike many nights where we’re relying on our microwave to defrost something from the freezer or throwing a frozen meat pie or similar in the oven, we had fresh, unfrozen meat ready to cook for tea.
It was a beautiful night and our kids love to play outside if one of us is out there with them. So they enjoyed Farmboy cooking on the bbq while they happily played in the backyard. We then had a lovely family meal using one of the picnic tables because in the twilight, there was more light outside than inside.
Farmboy did some experimentation with pumpkin on the bbq. We’ve cooked it on the bbq before but usually in chunks that have been microwaved first. This time he sliced it in a similar fashion to the potato.
Our neighbours may not have had their generator but their water is all gravity fed so Farmboy was able to take Trailer Boy over there and get them both clean.
By not having the TV on, the older two kids and I were all sitting at the table talking about our holiday. I did some more planning. Princess Singstar worked on her next blog post and Lleyton did a few things. I also remembered to do Princess Singstar’s homework with her.
So, my question is, do you believe in Murphy? Do you blame him when things don’t go to plan? Is it a matter of what we focus on we “attract” or is it really about perspective? Are you the kind of person that sees the cup as half fun or half empty?
Discuss. 
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LOL! The kids and I were just having a discussion about Murphy last week! The kids wanted to know if there actually was a real person called Murphy and who he was! We decided we’d better do some research and then I promptly forgot…
So, do you know who Murphy really was?!!!
lv,
Joy
Firstly, I love nights like you described. Our kids have an evening ritual of a tv show, so we have to be creative when it’s not on and many a lovely night has been spent outside playing cards or board games when the power is out.
Secondly, sometimes I think the universe tries to tell us things, and no amount of positive thinking will stop it. I have had 3 disastrously stressful trips to Sydney for uni. No matter how prepared I am for things to go wrong, how positively I assure myself things will go better “this time” it never does. I constantly feel like my life should be a drama show - there is always something dramatic.
I generally consider myself a happy, positive person, but I cannot get over the things that have happened since we decided to not leave here. I have not had more than 3 weeks with a phone connection in one hit, chicken pox after illness (7 colds/flu’s) car drama’s etc etc etc. I know “life wasn’t meant to be easy” but sometimes I wonder if it’s meant to be this hard.
Right now all I want is my trip next week to go smoothly, and to not miss any of my planes. Is that too much to ask?
I believe in Murphy. Maybe it’s the universe testing us. You know that saying….whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
Maybe if you have a positive attitude, you pass the test and all is well.
Although maybe some powers-that-be get annoyed with the Pollyanna stuff and keep sending you more bad luck until you FINALLY see the glass half full.
I’ve had days where I handle each little thing. “It’s okay” “I’m all right” “No big deal” “I can get through this”
Then finally, there’s that one thing that breaks me. I can no longer paste a smile on my face and pretend everything’s all right.
I can see both points of view. How you handle stresses in your life is all a matter of perspective. But sometimes it all just gets too much and you need help.
I don’t believe in Murphy’s Law, but I do believe in God, and sometimes all I have to cling to is the knowledge that He will never test me beyond my limits. Sometimes He just has to take me really close to the edge to get me to listen.
I never give Murphy a single thought until someone else mentions him. Then I forget about him again.
I’m a bit dubious / sceptical about law of attraction type stuff… that said, I do believe that it is all about perspective. I think our thoughts do shape our reality and we can look for opportunities or problems.
BTW, what was the show you wanted to watch??
In our society, it is easier to be negative than positive, to say something bad about a person than something good, you notice that people always love to hear gossip, but rarely praise. I think we are drawn to the excitement or adrenaline rush of something “bad” happening. I’m as bad as the next one, but this year I have been making an effort to look at the positive. We recently took a camping vacation into the mountains. We had my husband’s smaller (read more gas-efficient) car all packed to the gills. Two more things wouldn’t fit into the car so at the last minute he repacked everything into my bigger car. Our vacation was wonderful! When we came back I took his (empty) car and went to the local farm stand to replenish our supplies. When I came out of the farm stand the car wouldn’t shift into gear. I started ranting, “I have so much unpacking to do, washing, oh this is awful, blah blah blah” but then I stopped and said “Thank goodness we didn’t take this car, we would have been stuck on top of a mountain!” I try to look for the good and try to believe that everything happens for a reason. We may not know what that reason is, but everything happens for a reason. We just have to believe - it’s called faith. Maybe you had a power failure to give you time to reconnect with simplicity.
Although I have no proof, there certainly is a lot of circumstansial evidence for old Murphy’s existence.
Origin of Murphy’s Law
http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-true.html
I set a place for Murphy at the dinner table every night. And that is why we don’t eat in the dining room….
And some people lead blessed lives.