Today is Positive Day!

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 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

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.