Sharing time with you is such a singular time for me every time.
You know my standpoint on networking and acting as a team. If we are aware that we are not alone, we become more human. It is essential to think together rather than to be physically together at all times. We need our independence and we all lead individual lives; on the other hand, adjusting our thoughts, not necessarily copying them helps with becoming more supportive and spreading the kindness to so many people worldwide. Every day now there is more evidence in the news for this necessity. Our world, and we in it, is asked to flex quicker with help, with understanding, empathy and action in order to steady our lifestyle and that of others less fortunate than us. In this way we can promote healing of new wounds. The earthquakes, the floods, the cyclones and revolutions, not to mention the old wars are rocking our sense of right and wrong. We can no longer afford to ignore our ethical mind. Maybe it’s an excellent time to redefine our philosophy and live by our own standard. It will help others to see us in our power and help from us will be directed to the needy at a more efficient pace. I believe it is important to not only give where help is needed; we must equally be in harmony with what we are doing when assisting others. We can grow personally with this attitude, yet we also grow as a team. Do you see how mankind can be amazingly beautiful when each of us feels meaningful and harmonious amidst the chaos around us? It promotes a sense of unity just like disasters have united people since the very beginning of time.
I have met several people who are illiterate and who don’t know their date of birth lately. It felt strange to me as I observe that we often associate these bits and pieces as part of our identity. But are they? Who are we really and what can we say about us that does not reflect the first page of our passports? I challenge all of us to work on this task. I would love to organise a workshop with this theme: define more consciously who we are; who we are for ourselves first and foremost but also who we are for others and what we know about it.
A friend challenged my thinking recently on youth and good looks. What really counts is the attitude to the future as the past is definitely behind us. If we lead a meaningful life, it will most likely appear evocative to others. It’s about the outlook of what is to come. If we are constructive and positive, we can build something astonishing. Our world, the way we have been building it around us needs this creative thinking and doing now. Let’s be part of it! Or with Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world”!
The story of today will show you that attitude is everything:
Allergic to bullets
Jerry was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry 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 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 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,” Jerry 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 Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and 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. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local hospital.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry 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 robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, 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.” “Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room 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 Jerry. “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, „Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'”
Jerry 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.
The photo
A lake in the desert: anything is possible
In love, light and positive outlook
Mariana
www.mariana-amar.com
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