YAY it's Monday!

20^th August 2012

It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

Unlike most I love Mondays, it’s generally the day when my energy is totally recharged and I have the afternoon to do those little jobs I don’t have time to do the rest of the week nor do I want to do them at the weekend.  It’s my ‘to do’ day, and today I have a lovely list of things to get through.

The weekend as I mentioned wasn’t a huge weight loss success but it was a lovely life success, we had a smashing weekend, spent time with my mom and generally had a chill out, unfortunately spending time with mom is dangerous because she brings out her stash of Pringles and cheese nibbles!   Hey ho, Monday morning, always the day for restarts and I’m ready for one of those, I’m actually thinking casseroles and stews this week nom nom, even if the sun is shining outside, my body wants comfort food, maybe a good time for a few Filling and Healthy days, yeah maybe.  I want a beef stew and a chicken hot pot mmm, is it wrong that I could eat that now and it’s only 5.30am?

I was looking through some of my ‘self help’ positive stuff again yesterday, I’ve collected so much over the years and it’s good to have a flick through it now and again, it’s almost like revision and you can never have too much positivity in your life I’m sure!  A couple of years ago I put myself a book together so that I had all that information in one place to save me looking all over the place for it, I’ve put that book on my desk now so I can pick it up anytime and have a flick through.  One of those stories I found I thought I’d share with you this morning, it’s about having a choice to change, you may have read it before, but read it again anyway;

Life is all about choices

If you're not happy with your life - change it!  When you get out of bed in the morning you can choose to have a good or a bad day, it really is that simple.  Think about it, nothing will be different in your life, for example you will still have a mortgage and be in debt so you can choose to be happy being in debt or miserable, either way the debt remains!  So yes life is all about choices and if you don't agree, read the following story.

LET IT REALLY SINK IN......THEN CHOOSE. 

Clint 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, Clint 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 and asked him, 'I don't get it!'

'You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?'

He 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 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,' he 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.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It's your choice how you live your life.'

I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry 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 he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him 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,' he 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.

He 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 John.  '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.'

He 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.

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Enjoy your day, so think or say “Oh no it’s Monday morning”, that’s not setting you up for a good day at all is it?  Remember all days start the same, how the end up is largely down to you. Xx