  Life is nothing more than a series of choices You Choose! Michael
is the kind of guy you may 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, Michael 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 to Michael and
asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the
time. How do you do it?" Michael
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 orb 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," Michael
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 Michael 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 Michael was involved in a serious accident,
falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After
18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released
from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I
saw Michael 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," Michael 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. Michael 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 Michael. "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." Michael
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." After
all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. You
have two choices now: 1.
Forget you ever read this. 2.
Incorporate what you've learned into your life. You
know the choice I made.All Rights Reserved. |