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Choose — What Will You Do With Your Choices? |
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[We all have the ability to make
choices. The choices we make often determine where we go in
life, what kind of person we become and how others perceive us. Now, I’m not saying
that you have control or power over every choice you make.
I’d rather you consider that you have choice in one particular
area of life that influences so much – and that is choosing
your response to life, in other words, choosing your attitude.
This “anonymous” story below, the kind that goes
around the Internet and in emails, says it very well. I hope
you “choose” to read it – Tom Gilbert]
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Choose
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 they could
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 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. Your bottom line: "It's your choice how you live
life." I reflected on what Michael said.
Soon after, 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."
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 do not 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."
You have two choices now:
1. Ignore it
2. Put the lesson into practice.
I hope you will choose #2. I did.
Enjoy Life – It’s the only one you get!
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Thanks to Ken Evoy for turning us on to this article. If
you choose to build a business and not just a website, he's
got the answer.
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978,
1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout
the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for
the offering of goods or services requires the prior written
consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved.
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Minding Your Emotions by Steve
Shores
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Recommended
Reading
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MATTHEW 6:5-8
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"And now about prayer. When you pray, don't be like
the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners
and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure
you, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when
you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you,
and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who
knows all secrets, will reward you.
When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions
do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating
their words again and again. Don't be like them, because your
Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!"
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(NLT)
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