Michael 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 natural motivator. If an employee
was having a bad day, Michael 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 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?"
Michael 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. 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," 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. You choose how people 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 Michael said.
Soon thereafter, I left
the company 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 Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications
tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in
his back. 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?" 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.
"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." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well there was a big
burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "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."
Over their laughter, I told them,
"I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."