1. ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. It really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “ I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it”.

Jerry replied, “ each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘ Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in 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 choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I choose to point out the positive side of life. The bottom line: it’s your choice how you live life’.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.

Jerry was rushed to the hospital. After 18hrs of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was discharged from the hospital with fragments of bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the incident. When I asked him how he was, he replied “ wanna see my scars “.

I declined, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place, he said, “ as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live”.

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of the doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that day, we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Life is filled with uncertainties and challenges. Often it is easy to have a bad attitude or pessimistic outlook. While maintaining a positive attitude can be difficult it can be a powerful tool that helps us persevere through trials and storms.

Having a good attitude does not mean that you are always optimistic. It is more of accepting the circumstances you are in and having a hopeful mindset.

I have found that when I am faced with trials and tribulations and am feeling low or pessimistic, just spending a little time to sit before God and talk to Him about my trials and vent out my frustrations to Him, brings a calm over me. I feel reassured that He is there, and that He is in control. And I always come out of there feeling positive and hopeful.