ATTITUDE

“You are always whistling”, Nesrin commented when we first started dating.  She said, “The part I like about you is, despite the eviction notice and being completely broke, you always whistle or hum a song. Nothing troubles you…”

I always believed in a positive attitude and focusing on the positive.  Thinking of all the things that are wrong and could go wrong depletes your energy and paralyzes you. 

It is very important that my kids wake up every morning happy and walk out the door with a smile.  I wake them up singing opera or a Frank Sinatra song and even dance merengue for them.  They cover their ears and beg for it to stop trying to hide their smiles.  We always have breakfast together with fun conversations.  They leave with a big hug and more silly comments and always enter the car with a smile!  I tell Nesrin, this is the most important time of the day as a family! The kids can leave home either with a motivated perspective or a beaten down attitude.

The dictionary defines attitude as a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior. It could be a NEGATIVE attitude that says: you cannot accomplish or a POSITIVE attitude that says: yes, you can accomplish.

A good sample of a great attitude is the “Love Story” of our good friends Jose Luis and Luz Elena….

Fifteen years ago Jose Luis was in a car accident.  “Luckily for him a group of guys came to rescue him…” they took him out of the car, robbed him and left him lying in the middle of a highway.  A few minutes later a car drove over him! The damage he sustained should have been fatal, 13 broken ribs, punctured lungs, a liver ripped in 3 pieces and substantial internal bleeding.  After 30 days in a coma, the doctors told the family that he would not make it and asked for permission to pull the plug.  The father refused!

Meanwhile, his neighbor, Luz Elena was visiting him everyday at the hospital providing support to Jose Luis’s family. During one of her visits, the Doctor said to her, “you should go home, change clothes and get ready for the funeral, I don’t think that he is going to make it today”. He has had 13 surgeries in 9 days and his body cannot handle it anymore!

To everyone’s surprise Jose Luis made it! He woke up and started a yearlong recovery process!  He pushed his body to walk, breathe and move despite the excruciating pain he was enduring! His fighting will power took over his mind and pain! He was not giving up, and he had the definitive attitude to survive.

During this time Luz Elena was by his side helping him step by step and a love story was born! The price of the accident was to find his soul mate that became his wife! What is inspiring is when he talks about his accident, as horrific as it was, he smiles and says, “I received the greatest gift of all, the love of my life!” What an amazing attitude!

During a summer vacation from college I decided to work as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.  Humming was a trick that we learned to keep knocking doors. Whenever a door slammed in your face, smile and keep it lively until the next house. Humming will always put you in a positive attitude and lift your spirits to have the motivation to knock on the next door.  Eventually it became part of who I am on a daily basis! Maintaining a positive attitude on a daily basis helps in coping with whatever life throws at you! One can maintain a sense of optimism in their life that says I will find a way!

Attitude is what defines your action and mind set.   This is a quote from one of my favorite writers, “Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. Each day, when I awaken, I will follow this plan of battle before I am captured by forces of sadness, self-pity and failure” by Og Mandino

I always try to follow OG Mandino’s advise and have a positive attitude despite what I was going through.  I had no money, an eviction notice, but I did manage to have a girlfriend that believed in me and did not care about my temporary situation.

We may not be able to control events in our lives, but we can direct our attitude and actions to change the results! 

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