Thought some of you might get a chuckle out of this, though I expect

[Joe Chi Minh]

it might not be everyone's cup of tea.


"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 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 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.

I loved the way he BELLOWED: GRAVITY!

[Kajsa]

1. That's a great story, KCDM!

And it has a great message.

"GRAVITY!"- :rofl:

Thanks so much for sharing this.

:) :pals:

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. It rang so true, too. For some reason, a lot of us blokes seem to like

showing our injuries! Women just quietly get on with things. They're used to taking all the flak, and getting no recognition. Physical injuries are child's play, I expect. The human spirit is an amazing thing, though, in men and women, isn't it?

It would have been very dry and witty if he'd just whispered, "Gravity", but shouting it was "the cat' whiskers". He sounds very American to me. Stolid as suet pudding, but as passionate as a latin! I hope the surgeons and nurses didn't have too much of a struggle keeping his quip out of their minds during the operation.

[NMDemDist2]

3. I am much like "John" sans the life threatening accident

but everyday I choose to be happy, everyday when trouble (or assholes) come my way, I smile, shake if off and get on with my day.

I work with the public everyday and everyday I greet them with a smile and a quip.

It's a wonderful way to live your life and I'm grateful I got to learn that 'lesson'

Thanks for coming around our little A/R forum, yours is a voice I greatly appreciate.

:hi:

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. It's my pleasure, Pecos. My heart hungers for stuff, too, as well as my head. And I find some peace

and warmth in my heart when I turn up here. I need a fix. I'm serious. Most threads don't cater for a certain dimension only the heart has access too, though it wouldn't be much good if we left our head behind, of course.

I should add that I understood that you were intimately familiar with John's way of approaching each day. And, thank you again for such kind words. Thank you, Kajsa, as well. I've just checked and found I hadn't explicitly thanked you.

Waving wildly at you both!

[KitchenWitch]

5. I have heard the same story, only John was a bank teller

and he got shot by a bank robber and was allergic to bullets.

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Though the story sounds apocryphal, now, but the core truth remains undimmed, doesn't it?

[KitchenWitch]

7. I agree completely.

Attitude is probably 95% of it all.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. ...

:thumbsup: