I recently read this inspirational piece on Facebook.
Jerry was the manager of a restaurant. He was always in a good mood. Many of the waiters at his restaurant used to quit their jobs when Jerry changed jobs and follow him from restaurant to restaurant because Jerry was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day Jerry was there, telling the employee how to look at the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "No one can be a positive person all 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 be in a good mood or I can be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood."
Several years later I heard that Jerry accidentally left the back door of his restaurant open one day; three armed robbers entered and they shot him. Jerry was quickly 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! When I asked him what was going through his mind as the robbery took place he replied, "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door. 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 lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors but also because of his amazing attitude.
The world can be full of people like Jerry, if we just try!
Every day we have a choice between enjoying our day or hating it. The only thing that is truly ours -- that no one can control or take from us -- is our attitude. We choose how to react to a situation. We choose how people will affect our mood.We choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood. It's our choice how we live our life.
Dear Readers, let us try three simple steps to train ourselves to be positive thinkers.
1. Believe Happiness and Positivity is a Choice
We think that people are unhappy or happy because of outside forces – fate, experiences, parents, money, relationships. This is not true.
We can choose to be happy and find the good, regardless of what’s happening around us. We need not point fingers or blame others. Things happen and it’s up to us to choose how we want to feel about it. We are in control of our happiness and no one can take that away from us.
2. Rid Life of Negativity and Look For the Positive
If we want to live a positive, joyful life, we cannot be surrounded by negative people who do not encourage our happiness. Not only do we have to get rid of negative people, but also of negative habits. There is positive in everything. In every person, in every situation, there is something good. Most of the time it’s not obvious. We have to look and ask ourselves, 'What is good about this?' If we look hard enough we can see good in the most difficult and trying situation.
3. Reinforce Positivity in ourselves and share it with others
We have to practice being positive. We have to be honest with ourselves and not focus on the negative. How can we feel positive if we keep telling ourselves that we are ugly or too fat or dark or too dull? We may not like everything about ourselves but we have to accept that we all have positive and negative attributes, and it’s up to us to feel proud of our positive traits and try to minimise our negatives.
Being nice to other people reinforces positivity in us. Let us tell someone they look nice today or are doing a great job, let us tell our parents how much we love and appreciate them, let us do what we can to cheer up someone who is feeling down. Let us strive to be encouraging and supportive always.
Try these three simple steps for a few days and see the effect; it is magical.