Jerry is the manager of a  restaurant.  He is always in a good mood. When someone would  ask him how he was doing, he would always reply:  "If I were  any better, I would be twins!"  Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when  he changed jobs so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant.

 Why?  If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him  how to look on the positive side of the situation….Because Jerry was a natural  motivator.

 Seeing this style really  made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it!  No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do  you do it?"

 Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two  choices today.  I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood.  I always choose to be in a good  mood.  Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be  victim or I can choose to learn from it.  I always 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 always choose the positive side of life."

 "But it's not always 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.  It's your choice how  you live your life."

 Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business.  He left  the back door of his restaurant open and was robbed by three armed  men.  

 While Jerry trying to open the safe, his hand shaking  from nervousness, slipped off the combination. One of the  robbers panicked and shot him.. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the 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 incident.  When I asked him how he was, he  replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to 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, after they shot me, 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."   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 expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really  scared.  In their eyes, I read ' He's a dead  man' and I knew I needed to take action."

 "What did you do?" I asked.

 "Well, there was a big  nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to  anything." 'Yes, to bullets', I replied. Over their laughter, I told  them: "I am choosing to live. Please 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 you  have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours – that no one can  control or take from you – is your attitude!  So, if you can  take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.