Kathy, here's one back at ya!
~~~~~~~~~
John is the kind of guy you love to hate.
He is always in a good mood and always
has something positive to say. When someone
would ask him how he was doing, he would
reply, "If I were any better, I would be
twins!"
He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John
was there telling the employee how to look
on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious,
so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't
get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time.
How do you do it?"
He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to
myself, you have two choices today. You can
choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose
to be in a bad mood.
I choose to be in a good mood."
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to
be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it.
I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can
choose to accept their complaining or... I can
point out the positive side of life. I choose the
positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices.
When you cut away all the junk, every situation is
a choice. You choose how you react to situations.
You choose how people affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The
bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left
the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost
touch, but I often thought about him when I made a
choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that he was involved
in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a
communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive
care, he was released from the hospital with rods
placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I
were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my
scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him
what had gone through his mind as the accident
took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was
the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,"
he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I
remembered that I had two choices: I could choose
to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to
live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?"
I asked.
He continued, "..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But
when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the
expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses,
I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a
dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions
at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to
anything. 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses
stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took
a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to
live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but
also because of his amazing attitude... I learned
from him that every day we have the choice to live
fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything .
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble
of its own." Matthew 6:34.
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about
yesterday.
You have two choices now:
01. Delete this.
02. Forward it to the people you care about.
You know the choice I made.