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Positive Attitude
Michael 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 could 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 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 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," 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 life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, 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 choose 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.
You have two choices now:
1. Delete this.
2. Forward it to the people you care about.
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