Hi Everybody
I’m enjoying a little time out in Paris, between working on books right now, and as always it is great to be here!!!! The weather alternates between chilly, rainy and dismal, interspersed with gorgeous sunny beautiful fall days this time of year. Today was one of those gorgeous sunny days, and I had a lazy Sunday lunch with a friend at an outdoor cafe, basking in the autumn sunshine.
Paris is beautiful at any time of year, and today was just a gorgeous day. It’s also ‘art fair’ season in October, and I went to three contemporary art fairs today, and loved that too!!! The art fairs were very interesting, although I didn’t buy anything. And I’m going to my favorite auction house tomorrow to dig around and see if I find anything fun. You never know what you’re going to find there and it’s a treasure hunt every time!!! Other than that, I’ve been enjoying seeing friends. I gave a fun Halloween dinner, and brought over 3 suitcases of Halloween decorations (they don’t celebrate Halloween in France), and everybody loved it. I hope you’re going to have a great Halloween this week. My kids have all been calling me to consult about costumes. I hate to miss all the fun by being here, but it’s nice to be in Paris right now, even without Halloween. Trick or Treat!!!
Love, Danielle
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I had to get off the mountain to go see any trick or treaters and they were so cute in their costumes and wide-excited eyes.
Never been to France. Would love to see Italy, Greece, Paris…..others….
Enjoy!
Hello Danielle, I thought this was a powerful message and wanted to share it with you.
Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has 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 natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael 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 Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”
Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike, 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,” Michael 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 Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower 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 Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw Michael 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 accident took place.
“The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter,” Michael replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, 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. Michael continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I as going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER 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 Michael. “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 breath and yelled, ‘Gravity.’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”
Michael 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, after all, is everything.
hi danielle -read abour your trip to paris-always wanted to be there-!! once I WILL GO -YES FOR SURE !!
I HAVE MANY OF THE MOVIES FROM YOUR BOOKS-ESPECIALLY I LIKED CHANGES-HAVE PLAYED THE MOVIE OVER AND OVER AGAIN–!!
JUST HAPPENED TO READ YOUR BLOG TODAY BUT VERY INTERESTING READING ABOUT YOUR PARIS TRIP !!
WISH YOU A VERY NICE STAY THERE !!
BEST
VÅRIN -WE CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN IN NORWAY TOO-BUT I AM NOT TOO INTERESTED IN SUCH THINGS —
Good luck, Daniela. Enjoy your trip! You deserve all the best what you get in your life.
Best regards, Nata.
Hola Danille Steel;
Oh how my husband loves Halloween rather he loves seeing the children in the homemade costumes rather than store bought. This yr. we went too one of my borthers house his little girl is enchanting and boy did I miss my daughter. Well my daughter Abigail aka Abi is in her second yr of college at U of I in Indianapolis, IN (University of Indianaoplis)studing to be a Dr. in Psychology and this tyr shes working out there and it was the first yr. may not the last that she was not home to celebrate with her dad and me. So we opted to go to Pepe’s. We had fun, but not like being with your own. Trick or Treat Mrs. Steel and God Bless.
Your Amiga Mari
*waves to kat above* Love hearing about your travels, Danielle. Thank you for sharing. x0
I just love to read your books and i think thats really good what u do i just can’t stop
reading your books i think that there really good