Dream it. Do it.
The night started off as any other. Most patients I saw had been in the hospital a few days and were strategically nestled into their sterile white sheets, lit by the faint blue glow of their television monitor above. Then there was this patient.
I walked into the room and introduced myself, or so I planned. The patient interrupted my introductory address, held out his finger and took a sip of water. A family member in the room defined the awkward pause and said that the patient’s voice was dry.
“Just a minute,” the patient said.
“Of course,” I replied.
The patient went on, “Now startover. What was your name?”
I reintroduced myself and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been here?”
“Well, this time, just one day, but let me tell you this,” the patient answered.
The patient recounted when he first had heart complications and the many doctors he had seen over the years. Then he said, “…so the doctor gave me very little time to live and it was then that I knew I had to make a decision. I could either follow the doctor’s orders and live or keep on doing what I was doing and die.”
“You obviously chose wisely,” I briefly commented.
“Not only wisely,” the patient answered, “but that was 30 years ago and I still make that same decision every day of life.”
Take it literally or take it metaphorically, we do have some control over living or dying. Want more proof? Simply google the phrase effects of attitude on life and you will see that you can fill up cabinets with scholarly articles linking positive attitudes to longevity, stronger immune systems and relationships.
So are your daily questions, where are we going to eat? and what should I wear? Or should we be more cognizant of making decisions of a deeper sort like, I’m going to make the decision to: reconcile with that person this week, or be confident, or emotionally available, or something like, I choose my spouse [or family], etc. What it comes down to is this,
“How are you choosing to live today?”
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” – Amelia Earhart (American Aviation Pioneer and Author)
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” – Scott Hamilton (American Figure Skater)
Ephesians 4:22-24
Heart to Hearts 