Friday, July 31

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.

16 comments:

Shiny Rod said...

Sweetly done darlin, I'm feeling positive already. I love how you put this together and tied in the bible verse at the end. You truly write from the heart.

Gilly said...

So, so true, Judy. So many people (and I was the same until I learned better!) that their moods are not their fault, its somebody else's, and that they have no control over them (they are usually describing a bad mood!)

It was an earth-shattering moment when I was told that I could choose how I reacted to something or somebody,and equally, that the reactions of others was THEIR choice, not mine!

I think maybe "worry" in the Matthew verse could be translated a different way. If Jesus meant what your blog is saying, then the translators haven't got this across, in my opinion!

Darlene said...

I have repeated this story to my family many times, to no avail. Sigh! It might help if I learned to teach by example. ;-)

Grannymar said...

A man with attitude! I like his attitude.

Hope all your glasses are more than half full!

Pat said...

For some reason I lost the end of the lines but nevertheless got the very potent message with which I totally agree.

Tabor said...

Great story and great lesson. I need to work on this.

Arkansas Patti said...

Negative is such a heavy load and I am such a lazy person.
Wonderful story we can all aspire to.

oklhdan said...

I love this story and it is so true. It is such a challenge for some people to remain positive and some of us are just lucky to be born without enough sense to know when are feet are in the fire. Ignorance does have its own reward at times....ha

Paul Nichols said...

I posted my Positive Day post. This was a great story you posted. Thanks.

(By the way, the righthand side of your story somehow got too narrow to complete each line.)

Joy Des Jardins said...

Wonderful story Judy....thank you for shining a light on the positive. Have a wonderful weekend...

robin andrea said...

Now there's a philosophy that both inspires and irritates me. I guess I'll have to work on my positive side!

srp said...

It all comes down to those two choices... do I chose to live or do I chose to die. Life is too precious to have the second attitude. Love this.

Maria said...

There is so much truth in the words in your post. We do have choices and thank you for the reminder. Very Powerful!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

He sounds like an amazing man! I wish I were more like him. I just know that there are times my reactions to things are immediate like a trigger---before I can even consider making a choice.
His story is very inspiring and I LOVE what he said when asked about Allergy's...lol!

Dianne said...

attitude is indeed everything!!
great positive post

JeanMac said...

Powerful. Thanks, Judy.