WHEN THE
BLACK DOG BITES
Some years ago the following chain Email hit my
Inbox. Its heading was “ATTITUDE”.
Ho, hum –
another shallow communication that, once read, will immediately be deleted and
forgotten. So I thought.
No, not
this one. It had a profound effect on me. I immediately passed it on to friends
and family and read it several times before saving it for further reference.
Every so often I’ve re-read it and it still impacts me. Here it is:
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’d 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’m
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.
Therefore
don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.
After
all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Anon.
A few years ago I was struggling with some heavy
issues at work and, frankly, I was down in the dumps and feeling miserable.
Then one of my work colleagues asked how I was. I’d re-read this story the
night before and spontaneously replied, “If I were any better, I’d be
twins!”
Apart from
the surprised reaction from my work mate, I was astonished to find myself
immediately feeling more positive and ‘up’ simply by saying those words!
Now,
whenever I remember, I try to make this part of my problem-solving repertoire
when the black dog bites.
Why not
give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose but your blues and frustrations.
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