Michael 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.
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If an employee was having a bad day,  Michael 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 Michael and asked him,
"I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?"
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Michael 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."
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"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
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"Yes, it is," Michael 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."
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I reflected on what Michael said.
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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.
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Several years later, I heard that Michael  was involved in a serious accident,
 falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care,
Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw Michael about six months after the accident.
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When I asked him how he was, he replied,
"If I were any better, I'd be twins.  Wanna see my scars?"
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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," Michael 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."
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"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Michael 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."
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"What did you do?" I asked.
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"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael.
"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 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."
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Michael 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.
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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6:34
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After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.