Words of Wisdom
\nby Michael<\/p>\n
Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.<\/p>\n
When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”<\/p>\n
He was a natural motivator.<\/p>\n
If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.<\/p>\n
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”<\/p>\n
Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.<\/p>\n
“Yes, it is,” Michael 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.<\/p>\n
“You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.<\/p>\n
“The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.”<\/p>\n
I reflected on what Michael 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.<\/p>\n
Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.<\/p>\n
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.<\/p>\n
I saw Michael 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?”<\/p>\n
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,” Michael 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.”<\/p>\n
“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Michael 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.”<\/p>\n
“What did you do?” I asked.<\/p>\n
“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael. “She asked if I was allergic to anything.<\/p>\n
“Yes, I replied.” The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity.”<\/p>\n
Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”<\/p>\n
Michael 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.<\/p>\n
Attitude, after all, is everything.<\/p>\n
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”<\/p>\n
After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.<\/p>\n
You have two choices now:<\/p>\n
1. Forget this.
\n2. Pass it on to people you care about.<\/p>\n
You know the choice I made.<\/p>\n