Read this, and let it really sink in. Then choose how you start
your
day tomorrow...
Jerry 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 unique manager because he had several waiters who had
followed
him
around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters
followed
Jerry
was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry 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
Jerry
and
asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of
the
time.
How do you do it?"
Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself,Jerry,
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," Jerry 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 will 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 Jerry said. Soon there after, I left the
restaurant
....
I took a job in the industry to be able 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 Jerry did something you are
never
supposed to
do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one
morning
and
was
held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.
While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness,
slipped
off
the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry
was
found
relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was
released
from
the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry 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 did ask him what had gone
through
his
mind as
the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind
was
that I
should have locked the back door," Jerry replied.
"Then, as I lay on the floor, 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.
Jerry 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 deadman'. 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
Jerry.
"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, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I
told
them,
' I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not
dead '."
Jerry 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.
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