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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 }
  • Joe Lochrie June 26, 2012, 5:16 pm

    I have kept this story for years and always hand it out to people who I think could benefit from it. I always try to be like Jerry every day, I always chose to be positive. Great story.

  • Dharshan June 25, 2012, 6:09 am

    Very nice story.

  • Payal Tiwari June 19, 2012, 5:04 am

    The stories were really very nice. Infact they all were just awesome.

  • Dana June 19, 2012, 4:49 am

    Great, be positive & productive. Negative thinking will waste the energy.

  • Raj June 14, 2012, 11:18 am

    Positive attidude people would never understand the magnitude of a bad situation.

  • Steffy sg June 7, 2012, 9:23 am

    Really lovely and beautiful story.

  • Dave June 4, 2012, 6:22 am

    I think positive thinking affirmations are a great way to access the subconscious mind and improve the way we think about life.

  • ROSHAN SINGH June 2, 2012, 1:43 pm

    Great story, changed my life

  • SIDDHI VAIGANKAR May 29, 2012, 4:05 am

    WITH POSITIVE THINKING EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN LIFE

  • Gargi Sharma May 24, 2012, 12:07 am

    Awesome story I will write in my english homework. First time i have heard such a nice story lovely one muah !! 🙂 I will share it with my friends

    <3

  • Vinothkannan May 21, 2012, 9:44 pm

    Good story yaar…..

  • Rohit May 18, 2012, 11:26 pm

    Ultimate truth of life…positive thinking is all which can make our life.

  • Gaurav May 18, 2012, 8:30 pm

    Good story regarding to the consequences of your way to thinking……..thanx

  • Pankaj May 17, 2012, 7:15 am

    Awesome story. Thank you so much.

  • Dinesh May 10, 2012, 5:27 am

    Very nice story. It has made me to choose how I should live now.

  • Jose May 9, 2012, 7:20 pm

    Thank you so much. It makes u feel better inside.

  • Sandu May 2, 2012, 5:47 am

    Motivator

  • Krunal April 24, 2012, 6:36 am

    Bravo.. Good One..

  • Rakesh April 20, 2012, 11:23 am

    Very inspiring story to live a life in fullest.

  • Abhay April 20, 2012, 5:51 am

    Its really Nice story……..

  • Susan Imuzai April 19, 2012, 2:27 am

    Thank you for sharing this. I chose to think positively.

  • Vschauhan April 14, 2012, 7:49 pm

    Really inspiring and motivating story. Thanks for sharing.

  • Manju April 10, 2012, 4:51 am

    Such a nice story… Attitude is everything…true..

  • Joy April 6, 2012, 6:17 am

    Attitude is showing your willpower, nothing become something if we think possitive everyday in life. In fact every moment in life.

  • Kunal March 25, 2012, 2:50 am

    Hmmm…. That’s interesting story…

    People should really live their lives as per the character (Jerry). It’s something inspirational lesson to us to learn to keep our mind in good mood whatever the condition is.

    I liked this story very much. Keep posting such inspirational stuff.

  • Harriet Tembesi March 18, 2012, 8:58 am

    Woow! It has really inspired me. Today I was feeling so low & discourage. Thanks. I believe I will see the positive side of things & not the negatives.

  • Jeevi March 14, 2012, 6:31 am

    Really got inspired from this story 🙂

  • rutzs March 10, 2012, 2:00 pm

    Great Great story highly motivational…..
    Teached me the best way to remain positive…. 🙂
    It moved me to my core….

  • Peter k March 6, 2012, 11:48 pm

    Interesting story

  • Akshay March 6, 2012, 4:52 am

    Wow… very interseting story.

  • Rames February 28, 2012, 4:55 am

    oh… wow… super story to motivation….. great…..

  • cute February 28, 2012, 4:38 am

    great !! 🙂

  • Timothy February 23, 2012, 6:48 am

    Awesome story. The attitude we have is all that matters.

  • Kishan Giri February 23, 2012, 5:43 am

    Ya i learned to stay still in confusing path of life or do and go ahead which i am going to do from now on wards after i finished this such a wonderful truth of way of living life…Hat’s off to the writer

  • Dr Ebrahim Khodadoost February 16, 2012, 10:01 am

    I liked the idea behind the story. I personally have decided to take up Jerry’s strategy in life.

  • HARSHGOSWAMI February 4, 2012, 9:13 am

    VERYYYYYYYYYYY NICE STORY

  • Snekha January 28, 2012, 10:32 am

    Very useful story please follow this moral in daily life

  • Amit January 27, 2012, 11:14 pm

    Just went through the story and love it. I hope this will work on me too…

  • Ravi ebizzer January 21, 2012, 5:24 am

    Very good story, it creates a positive energy …….

  • Rishav anand January 15, 2012, 8:07 am

    You saved me !!!!!!!!!!

  • ANAM BAIG December 28, 2011, 10:30 am

    Nice story ….. I am motivated though that…….this story brings change in my thinking.

  • Selwyn Ncedo December 15, 2011, 3:24 am

    This story has helped me change the way I think a great deal.

  • Pratap November 28, 2011, 10:07 am

    Positive attitude should be maintained until death……. very very very nice story…

  • Bageshwer Singh November 26, 2011, 8:18 am

    This story is very nice and practically very tough.

  • Kiran November 12, 2011, 4:46 am

    Fully attitude and positively moral.

  • Loganayaki November 11, 2011, 4:43 am

    Ya super and great story… it is very good example to motivate our self… I really enjoy and realise this story.

  • Seriouszeno November 9, 2011, 6:52 am

    Really inspirational. Got to have that attitude.

  • Swetha November 1, 2011, 8:05 am

    Hey! That is great. I loved the story and it was motivational too.

  • Gaurav October 28, 2011, 8:27 am

    hey thanx for this story …

  • Madhuri October 2, 2011, 2:48 am

    very nice story……….

  • Manu September 28, 2011, 1:19 pm

    Nice story

  • Sachin September 23, 2011, 6:14 am

    I know positive thinking does work in tricky situation.

  • Angel September 19, 2011, 11:36 pm

    Nice and motivative too

  • Rajiv.singh September 5, 2011, 6:09 pm

    It was a gud morale story. , . . . Finaly i got a reason to live ma life in a better way

  • Pooja August 29, 2011, 1:09 am

    Nice…Story

  • Giftson August 26, 2011, 4:58 am

    This is very good to read and we want to follow.

  • Nigen August 22, 2011, 7:17 am

    Thank you I…feel different now just by reading this =)

  • Lily August 17, 2011, 4:13 am

    So inspired story…thanks for sharing this..

  • Lily August 17, 2011, 4:13 am

    Nice story… I’m motivated about it..

  • James August 11, 2011, 12:49 am

    Long live the Jerry-like! May they infect our society.

  • Abhijit August 9, 2011, 4:56 am

    Really nice story. Good for so many people with depressed & negative mind.

  • Pam July 30, 2011, 7:24 am

    Nice story…it gives a positive outlook 🙂

  • Miley Cyrus July 23, 2011, 6:23 am

    Wow, it was in the middle of a concert, I was sitting in my dressing room with my laptop – read the story, really touching.

  • Swati July 21, 2011, 10:14 am

    Lovely sayings… Love and help others make you feel happy forever as I do.

  • Vishal July 17, 2011, 5:19 am

    I want to live like Jerry.

  • Nikki July 13, 2011, 1:50 pm

    I would love to be like him …

  • Mareeswari July 7, 2011, 7:30 am

    Tears in my eyes when I am reading this story…
    Amazing…
    I just try to live like Jerry…

  • Mukesh July 7, 2011, 7:10 am

    This story helped me to think positive and be happy.

  • Sharwan Kumar Saini July 4, 2011, 3:55 am

    It is a very interesting and inspiring story to me and for all.. there is a very positive point that have to adapt by us in our life.

  • Jasmine matilda July 2, 2011, 12:25 pm

    Awesome! Coz it adds positive energy.. I’ll surely pass it on to the ones I care.

  • Pooja June 30, 2011, 11:56 am

    It is a good story. I learned a lot from this. Really amazing. Thanx for this nice story.

  • Khushboo June 23, 2011, 4:15 pm

    Beautiful story, it helped me to take the imp decision of my career…. It’s really very inspiring.

  • pramit June 17, 2011, 11:21 am

    Thanks, it helped me in my school elocution contest.

  • sadiq June 17, 2011, 7:36 am

    This is amazing, I was suffering from lots of problems but now I have a chose problem or solution?

  • Dinesh June 16, 2011, 5:25 am

    It is very nice story. With positive attitude we can achieve any thing out of this life.

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