I often get asked
\nby friends far and wide
\nhow I live my life
\nconsidering all I\u2019ve been through
\nhow I live my life?
\nconsidering all my health complications
\nhow do you remain?
\nso happy?
\nso perky?<\/p>\n
I tell them it’s all about choices
\nsometimes I have to choose
\nto sit for a day
\na week
\na year<\/p>\n
but if I’m patient
\nif I sit and wait
\nthere’ll be good days again
\nand I choose to do so
\ncos really
\nwhat’s the alternative?<\/p>\n
so I wait
\nto get back to the point
\nwhere I can be functioning
\nand perky
\n(and frankly – I don’t think I’m perky
\nI think I’m nuts
\nbut that’s another story :)_<\/p>\n
my friend Ripper posted the following
\non his Facebook today
\nit describes what I’m trying to say
\nquite well.<\/p>\n
“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!’ <\/span> If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. <\/span> ‘You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’ <\/span><\/p>\n 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 <\/span> 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. <\/span><\/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. <\/span><\/p>\n ‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.<\/span><\/p>\n ‘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.<\/span><\/p>\n You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’ <\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. <\/span><\/p>\n After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.<\/span><\/p>\n I saw him about six months after the accident. <\/span><\/p>\n When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?’ <\/span><\/p>\n I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. <\/span><\/p>\n ‘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.’ <\/span><\/p>\n ‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked.<\/span><\/p>\n He continued, ‘…the paramedics were great. <\/span><\/p>\n 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.’ <\/span><\/p>\n ‘What did you do?’ I asked.<\/span><\/p>\n ‘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” <\/span><\/p>\n Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Attitude, after all, is everything. <\/span><\/p>\n And really, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”<\/span><\/p>\n I remain but a work in progress I often get asked by friends far and wide how I live my life considering all I\u2019ve been through how I live my life? considering all my health complications how do you remain? so happy? so perky? I tell them … Continue reading
\nHe was a natural motivator. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nSeeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it!’ <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI choose to be in a good mood.’<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI’m not always successful
\nbut I sure as hell try!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"