Power of Choices

I was over whelmed by the interest shown by the readers about the story on the 'Power of Choices'. Thanks a lot for your interest. I had initially had one short story to emphasise the Power of Choices in one's life. Later i thought why not google and find out if people had have more real life stories, which i can quote in my post. I came across a site called unlimitedchoice and also found a story which i had read long back, which is also a powerful motivation.

To start with, what are Choices in our life. Choices are the our decisions which determine what we do with the situations which we encounter in our daily life. Simply put, the power of choice is the ability to take actions and responsibility for those actions. Its our decision of how we decide to respond to some situations. In one of the Personal development programs which i had attended, i liked one particular learning.

The difference between Action and reaction. When something happens with us, do we tend to act or react. There is a lot of difference between the two. Act is something which you do when you are in control. Reaction is something which happens when you are not in control and you do something just because you feel you have to do something. The way we decide to respond to life will determine how far we get.

Now about the story which i had said. There was once a drunkard who had 2 sons. He always used to come back home, abuse his children and wife. Years passed by. One son went on to become a crook and a petty pedlar. He too was a drunkard. He blamed his father for his current predicament and continued to be so. The other son went on to become a famous tycoon who was all over the newspapers about his achievements. he was asked the secret of his success.He said "his father" was responsible for his current situation. When they found that the tycoon's father was a drunkard and he always used to come home and beat his children and wife, they were surprised and asked him why he thought so.

The tycoon replied "My father was a drunkard. I learnt from my father what all things one shouldnt do. I decided that i would be a good father and that i would live to the best of my potential". In a way his actions have inspired me to live to my best capability and become what i have become now....

I had always found inspiration from this story. Both the sons had the choice to do what they want. One choose to focus on what his father did to him and accordingly he too wasted his life. The other choose to take responsible of his life and lived his life accordingly. Hence, the choice you make will reflect the way you become.


Second Story:

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had 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 unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry 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 Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, 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,” 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. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant 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 Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. 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 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 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, 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.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. 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 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 Jerry.

“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 breathe and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them. ‘I am choosing to live. 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 we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, is everything.

I hope that after reading both the story you have realised the significance of the Power of your Choices and that you understand that its your choice that will determine how you shape your destiny.

God Speed.