Almost Free Marketing by David DeFord

A few years ago a huge thunder and rain storm

caused American Airlines to cancel my flight

home from Dallas. I had been away from home

all week and was anxious to get home to my

beautiful wife Kathy.

To add to my aggravation, the airlines didn’t

cancel the flight until I had already turned in my

rental car. Stranded at DFW with no car, I felt

exhausted and irritated.

As directed, I phoned the airline’s reservation

center to arrange for a flight home the next day.

My frustration grew as I sat at the airport,

phone to my ear, listening to the recorded auto-

attendant explain how important my call was to

her. Ten minutes passed, then twenty.

Finally, a real person came on the line and

offered to assist me. I sensed that she felt as much

frustration as I. Instead of venting to this poor

woman, I chose to exercise patience. I mentioned

that she and her co-workers must be quite busy

with the storms plaguing the area. Near tears,

she indicated that the last caller had cursed her

savagely and harangued her for nearly thirty

minutes. She appreciated my patience.

I expressed my sympathy.

The next morning, I found that the reservation

clerk, responding to my simple compassion, had

upgraded me to first class. As I sat in the extra-

wide seat, drinking soda from a glass made of

real crystal, I reflected on the powerful effect of

focusing on the part of the glass that contained

the liquid, rather than the empty half.

Often our attitudes attract the treatment life

hands us. Through our attitudes we can influence

whether we find favor or martyrdom. We

can opt to see our challenges as defeats or as

opportunities. We choose to see in others the

best or the worst. We can look to the future with

excitement and anticipation, or we can live with

worry and stress.

Our “luck” springs from our expectations.

Several times a week, I walk a six-mile loop

around a local lake. As I hike the beautiful path I

pick up litter left behind by my fellow walkers. I

scan to the right and left of the trail looking f

or tissues, wrappers, cans, and bottles. I have

become accustomed to looking for trash. I expect

it.

Once I spied a clump of white objects up

ahead. I assumed someone had carelessly

dumped several small pieces of paper. I was

looking for trash and I had found it.

However, as I neared the white bits, I found

that the trash wasn’t trash at all. There stood

dozens of small and beautiful white wildflowers.

We see what we expect.

When we seek the goodness in life and in

others, we find it. When we choose to

recognize the positive side of life we become

more interesting and fun to be around, we find

deeper intimacy, and we reduce our negative stress.

Work on yourself. Notice your initial reactions

to people. Must others prove themselves to you

before you see their goodness? Notice your

expectations for life. Do you expect good to

happen to you? Do you look upon setbacks as

“just my luck” or as temporary conditions?

We attract to ourselves good or bad fortune—

half full or half empty. Which do you prefer?

Related Quotes

Something happens inside of us when we are

courteous and deferential toward others. It is all

part of a refining process, which if persisted in,

will change our very natures.

Gordon B. Hinckley

The state of your life is nothing more than a

reflection of your state of mind.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The optimist sees opportunity in every danger;

the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.

Winston Churchill

A great attitude does much more than turn on

the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically

connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities

that were somehow absent before the change.

Earl Nightingale