Face Green Green

John 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, John 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 and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

He 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,” he 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 your life.”

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, 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 he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him 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,” he 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

He 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 John. “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.”

He 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 do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

You have two choices now:

• Sit back and do nothing and continue to get the same results
• Make a decision to change your life by changing what you are currently doing.

Girlfriend married to Mailman

A man going abroad to work leaves his fiancée crying. “Don’t worry, I will write you everyday,” he said.

For years he did write her. But since he was happy with his job, he had no immediate plans of going home.

One day, he received a wedding invitation. His girlfriend was scheduled to be married. To whom? To the mailman bringing regularly the letters of her boyfriend!

Indeed, distance does make hearts flounder. The poor boyfriend surely explained, “What went wrong? I sent her letters, chocolates, and flowers.”

When relationships go wrong, the list of things given and done for the person usually crops up. We say, “I have given you this and that… I have done these things for you.” It seems that love is simply proven by the bestowal of gifts and favors. But while presents are important, love demands what is basic: ‘presence of the beloved’.

I have observed for instance, my plants. When I did not care for a long time, they are unhealthy and many of them wither. But when I tend to them, they bloom with beautiful flowers. I did nothing exceptional. I guess persons all the more require a caring presence.

Love is fundamentally a commitment to a person. We may be committed to our business, job, hobby, sports and clubs. But strictly speaking, they cannot love us back. Only a person can love us in return, and for that matter, the highest commitment as human beings, is spending time with those persons we love. And since people need affection and nourishment, material things can only help up to a certain degree in fostering love. But it can never replace the greatest gift of presence because everyone needs someone – be it friends, parents, siblings or simply that ’special’ one.

Being there for someone need not necessary mean having to say much. Words are sometimes redundant. Remember that ‘presence’ (to be there for someone) is more than enough. “What Is Most Valuable Is Not What You Have In Your Life, But Who You Have In Your Life”

In our pursuits, let’s not neglect spending quality time with the most important person of our lives. =)

It’s 9 more days to Christmas, and we are nearing the time of the year. I suggest to take a break, gather with our love ones and friends for a scrumptious meal! Play catch up. You never know what you have missed.

Especially for us, we drived long hours and some of us probably also does not have rest days. It need not be Christmas but remember to take one before 2007 is up.

Have a Fruitful week ahead!

Brought it on Yourself

“If there are any idiots in the room, will they please stand up?” said the sarcastic teacher. After a long silence, one freshman rose to his feet.

“Now then mister, why do you consider yourself an idiot?” enquired the teacher with a sneer.

“Well, actually I don’t,” said the student, “but I hate to see you standing up there all by yourself.”