>----- Original Message -----
From: Helen Dynda <olddad66@runestone.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS <adhesions@forum.obgyn.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2000 3:10 AM
Subject: Attitude is everything
> The following was sent to me by Cindy. There is a good lesson to be
learned
> from this; and this is my reason for sharing it with you.
>
> 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, Mike, 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 will 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 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.
>
> Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious
> accident, falling some 60 feet from a communication 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 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."
>
> 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. Attitude, after all, is everything.
>
> You have two choices now:
>
> 1. Delete this.
> 2. Forward it to the people you care about
>