|
||||
|
|
|
Attitude Is Everything Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had 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 personall 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 or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant 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 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 traumacenter. 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. Wannasee my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone throughhis 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 emergency room 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 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. Francie Baltazar-Schwartz |
| |
|
Categories: Advice Devotions [1] Anger Devotions [2] Animal Devotions [5] Art Devotions [1] Attitude Devotions [3] Beauty Devotions [16] Bible Devotions [7] Blessing Devotions [7] Challenge Devotions [6] Change Devotions [1] Character Devotions [5] Chicken Devotions [2] Children Devotions [39] Christian Devotions [2] Christmas Devotions [5] Church Devotions [3] College Devotions [2] Companionship Devotions [1] Complaint Devotions [1] Courage Devotions [4] Criminal Devotions [3] Dance Devotions [1] Death Devotions [9] Deep Thoughts Devotions [2] Desire Devotions [1] Destiny Devotions [2] Dog Devotions [2] Doubt Devotions [1] Dream Devotions [3] Driving Devotions [6] Egg Devotions [1] Excellence Devotions [7] Excuses Devotions [1] Faith Devotions [22] Father Devotions [7] Fishing Devotions [2] Food Devotions [3] Forgiving Devotions [9] Freedom Devotions [1] Friendship Devotions [9] Funny Quizzes Devotions [2] Giving Devotions [17] Glamour Devotions [1] God Devotions [32] God's Promises Devotions [1] Golf Devotions [1] Goodness Devotions [3] Grace Devotions [5] Growth Devotions [1] Guardian Angel Devotions [3] Habit Devotions [1] Happiness Devotions [4] Hero Devotions [1] Honesty Devotions [2] Hope Devotions [4] Humor Devotions [1] Hunger Devotions [1] Ice Cream Devotions [1] Impossible Devotions [2] Integrity Devotions [2] Joy Devotions [7] Kindness Devotions [19] Knowledge Devotions [5] Leadership Devotions [3] Lists Devotions [1] Lonliness Devotions [2] Love Devotions [45] Loyalty Devotions [1] Medical Devotions [3] Memory Devotions [1] Men Devotions [2] Miracle Devotions [6] Money Devotions [9] Mother Devotions [6] Music Devotions [2] Nature Devotions [5] Obstacle Devotions [2] Old Age Devotions [1] Old People Devotions [5] Optimism Devotions [1] Outdoor Devotions [1] Parent Devotions [1] Patriotic Devotions [1] Peace Devotions [2] Perfection Devotions [2] Persistence Devotions [10] Police Devotions [1] Political Devotions [1] Prayer Devotions [24] Recognition Devotions [1] Redemption Devotions [1] Regeneration Devotions [3] Salvation Devotions [13] Santa Devotions [1] School Devotions [2] Self Esteem Devotions [1] Service Devotions [1] Sports Devotions [3] Spring Devotions [1] Strength Devotions [1] Success Devotions [4] Teacher Devotions [2] Thankfulness Devotions [10] Thanksgiving Devotions [1] Time Devotions [24] Travel Devotions [1] Trouble Devotions [5] Trust Devotions [8] Unfairness Devotions [1] Unity Devotions [2] Weakness Devotions [1] Wisdom Devotions [14] Women Devotions [3] Work Devotions [7] Worry Devotions [1] |
|
It is believed that all material on this web site is in the public domain. This web site Copyright © 2002 - 2006 By Steven J. Hayes. All rights reserved. Basic Jokes is part of the Basics 4 Life family of sites. Privacy Statement |
| Devotions | Famous People | History | Holidays | Jokes | Music | Quotes | Recipes | Weather |