ARCHIVED BLOGS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CHOICES

Over the years it has been my distinct pleasure to have interviewed some very amazing people. They have lived through life’s adversities to live life to the fullest.

They were victors not choosing to accept the role of victims. Suzie Mathias, a Thalidomide survivor, taught me that "people complain too much and do too little."

Let me share with you my chat with Jack. He is the kind of person that you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When asked: "how he was doing" he would always reply, "If I were any better then I would be twins."

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jack was there telling his cohort how to look on the positive side.

Seeing this style made me curious so one day I asked him:
"I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time."

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself that you have two choices to-day. You can choose to be in a good mood or 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 wining or I can point out the positive side of life."

Yeah, right, it’s really not that easy, I protested. Yes it is Jack said. Life is all about choices. Every situation is a choice. You can choose how you react to situations. You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood.

It isinevitably your choice how you live your life.

Several years later Jack was involved in a horrific car accident. I saw him six months after he was released from the hospital. I asked him how he was doing and he told me that if he was any better he would be twins. He even offered to show me his scars.

He reflected that when he laid on the ground he remembered that he only had two choices. He could choose to live or to die. He chose to live.

The paramedics were great. They kept telling him that he was fine while they rushed him to the hospital. The nurses asked Jack if he was allergic to any thing and he replied- gravity. Over their laughter, he told them to operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.

He defied the odds due to the skill of the medical staff but also because of his positive attitude. Attitude after all is everything.

Therefore my friend he explained do not worry about to-morrow, for to-morrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble/pleasure of it’s own. After all remember that to-day is the to-morrow that you worried about yesterday.

If you are reading this column off the internet you have two choices? Simply hit the delete key or forward the column to the people you care about. You know what choice I made.

Len Lesser