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Positive Thinking

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had 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 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 trauma center. 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.

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Let this really sink in-
then choose how you start your day tomorrow.

{ 265 comments… add one }
  • Dipti September 5, 2023, 8:23 am

    Great

  • Miri June 5, 2023, 6:57 pm

    Amazing!!!

  • Apinoko precious November 10, 2022, 10:54 am

    This is absolutely amazing.It is mindblowing.Thank you very much

  • Priya July 8, 2022, 11:31 am

    So inspiring! Thanks for sharing

  • Sadhna Sindhu November 1, 2019, 6:42 am

    Life is all about happiness and no need to search happiness in material things.
    Real happiness is inside yourself, Khud se pyar karo aur don;t hurt anybody.
    You’ll become Jerry
    Daily say to God “THANKS” and say to yourself “LOVE YOU ZINDAGI”
    Life ek baar milti hai toh khulkar jeo:):)

  • Poonam October 4, 2019, 6:11 am

    Literally a very inspiring story love it

  • Rajesh Chouksey August 11, 2019, 12:30 pm

    We always have the choice. Since we grow up in the surroundings of the blame game, we generally stuck-up in the middle of the whirlwind and end up with the dark side of the event.

  • JIMMY REYES July 5, 2019, 5:52 am

    wow!!! I’m really inspired this story. start to day I choice a good mood, even my boss is always in bad mood. hehehe thanks writers … more power!!!

  • Denis kipruto June 19, 2019, 1:51 pm

    wonderful and inspiring story..love it

  • scarlett January 26, 2019, 10:59 pm

    wow this is deep

  • Sahil June 20, 2018, 1:48 am

    Very nice story , it crates lot of positivity and never say die attitude ! .. keep it up

  • Namrata April 21, 2017, 9:29 am

    Heart touching nd motivating story..Message behind d story is very gud..

  • Shanu March 28, 2017, 12:11 pm

    I am really inspired from this story……

  • letngam mangjel January 30, 2017, 9:32 pm

    I want a live like jerry …

  • Abby Carson January 12, 2017, 4:05 pm

    An inspiring story… Would love to be like Jerry

  • Sanjay raj December 30, 2016, 5:18 pm

    To live like jerry is the first goal in my life…

  • Sanjay raj December 30, 2016, 5:15 pm

    Living like jerry is the first goal in my life..

  • Sarika December 14, 2016, 1:13 am

    Nice story we should follow the moral in our life…..

  • Chuck December 12, 2016, 7:12 am

    Wow what a story. I loved it.

  • shaik imran November 15, 2016, 2:15 pm

    its really nice inspiring story to all

  • Anand Maralgoikar October 12, 2016, 7:22 am

    Nice Story

  • Shubhamkarande September 25, 2016, 7:10 am

    This story really changed my attitude about life. I am inspired by it very much.

  • Rupsy September 4, 2016, 1:37 am

    Really awesome… Inspired me.. From now I m also going to make positive choices in my life… Thank you 🙂

  • sree hari August 25, 2016, 11:42 am

    Excellent story but I want see how is it useful in my life

  • Nfor Obadiah August 10, 2016, 9:12 pm

    Great one every body need to hear it

  • Shekhar July 24, 2016, 12:38 am

    Very great one….loved it….

  • Melania Martins July 8, 2016, 3:37 am

    very nice

  • Sanu June 2, 2016, 5:38 pm

    Really it was inspiring…. positive attitude is priceless…

  • simranoberoi April 25, 2016, 8:11 pm

    very awsome story to boost mental strength and inspiration thanks

  • Winston Hayes March 8, 2016, 9:27 am

    This is powerful and thought provoking! This is has been my teacher! Thanks!

  • ashu February 14, 2016, 6:20 am

    Great story

  • Shekhar Kumawat India February 11, 2016, 1:36 am

    Simply Great!!

  • gani nasreen sulthana January 4, 2016, 12:30 pm

    Wow superb I love it.

  • premraj lekhak November 11, 2015, 11:20 am

    It is very wonderful and beautiful story. If we apply it life would really mean to us.

  • kodali October 22, 2015, 2:03 am

    gives positivity.

  • Eunice October 10, 2015, 10:21 am

    Felt so inspired. I was feeling so low afyer realizing that alot need to be done yet am so broke. Av realized that even in this situation I can still smile cos my frouning wont change anything.

  • PM September 20, 2015, 1:27 am

    Very nice story….. it create positive energy to me and how to handle situation…

  • Vijay Yadav August 2, 2015, 12:02 am

    Very good story, it help to break our mind set to see the situation

  • S. S. Sahni August 1, 2015, 4:01 am

    Yes, if you want to remain happy and overcome the bad situations, you must learn to possess positive thinking.

  • Sharthiyo biswas July 18, 2015, 10:31 am

    Nice story everybody should have such type of atritude

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