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Thursday, August 14, 2008

The BEST attitude....You have to read this..it will make you think!!!

I was going through a rough time and a friend of mine sent this to me...it is long BUT well worth reading!!!!!

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 doit?' 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 here after, 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.

15 comments:

Jennifer Cunnane said...

What a great story - so important to remember to be positive especially during difficult times or bad days. Hope everything is well! Did you get the certificate from tri sports yet???

BreeWee said...

I read this a few years back (I went to a tiny Christian college) and seriously I thought it was ridiculous, that was when I was a bitter stubborn obnoxious surfer brat! Then I got into the "real world" with bills and drama in a marriage and it started to make sense and to this day 2 choices are still ALWAYS on my mind with every thing that happens...

Love it! Thanks for the reminder Mel. AND you made my day by the way with your awesome note...

jahowie said...

Being positive is something that I need to work on. Thanks for posting this. Have a great weekend!!

Sam said...

Great post, it was just what I needed to kick start my day.

Anonymous said...

Hee hee, yes, totally what I needed to read. I am VERY positive - 99% of the time - but I am human too, so I do get crabby and pissy....SO this was great ( you are right!). :)) Great reminder!! Jen H. TGIF!

kerrie said...

so very true and a very good reminder of the attitude that i need to have!
there are some days that i really need to choose to laugh just so i won't cry.

Lee said...

wow Mel, that writing just made my day! And I thank you for that. Lee : )

Sarah said...

I really believe this. But it's so nice to be reminded because we get so wrapped up in our silly little heads and get so DOWN about things.

We forget that we have a choice in the way we act, react and think. And really, we are so lucky. We have no reason to be miserable - there are so many fates people are living out in this world that are so much worse than ours, and still so many of those people know how to have a positive outlook.

Thanks, Mel - for some reason it's so easy to forget this but it's so good to be reminded. :)

BreeWee said...

Mel! Ha ha, you can check out all the hottie swim boys all you want, just don't touch! Man they are fast & good on the eyes! Hey, for the sake of our hubbies Jenni did a funny post of the hottie women in the Olympics, send the hubby there if he gets jealous, thats what I do. Here is her link, you gotta see it...

http://jennikeil.blogspot.com/2008/08/for-guys.html

TriGirl Kate O said...

Your husband smoked me on the bike today, but I did manage to say "are you Todd?" and introduce myself VERY quickly. Man that is a tough course. I'm just glad it's over!

triguyjt said...

great post.. and a great reminder....

Thanks....
right on!!!!!

Raina said...

Melissa, I love this! I'm gonna have to start using that answer when asked How I am.

Raina :)

Trigirlpink said...

hummmmmm... I needed an attitude adjustment. Thank Mz Mel.

Todd was no were to be seen for me at Timberpaloosa. Oh well. Did he have fun???

Lily on the Road said...

Thanks Mel, as always you are an inspiration!

Cy said...

Thanks for sharing this Mel. Great Post!

I always enjoy these reminders that we have one life, so you might as well make the best of it.

Cheers!