It was January, bitter cold, they were hardly dressed and were starving.  As they stopped to camp overnight my mother broke down and began to cry. A German soldier asked her what she was crying about and my mother said, “I can’t stand it anymore. I’m freezing, starving, and I’d rather you kill me.” He said, “Look at me.” She looked into his blue eyes, blue eyes she could see in her mind the rest of her life. He said, “The war will soon be over and it is us who will be dead and not you. You can make it just a little bit further a day at a time.” He then gave her a piece of his sandwich and ordered her to go guard one of the fires at the camp.

The next day my mother had renewed hope. She looked for an opportunity and noticed two things. When you went through deserted German towns and the road curved, there was a point when the guards couldn’t see you. There were about 1000 girls and only 100 guards. She also noticed when they stopped to camp for the night there were many moments when no guards were visible. At one of those moments she snuck away. Looking for a place to hide she went to a deserted house and scratched the frost off the window to reveal a wonderful scene inside. A Christmas tree with ornaments, but even better with fruit hanging from it. She broke into the house, devoured an apple, but before she could feel the joy of freedom she realized she had left her two sisters and friend back at the campsite. For sure they’ll think she’s dead and this could be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for them. She also knew they couldn’t continue the march much longer either. But what should she do? She’d already escaped! It was only a few seconds of deliberation before she thought, “I could not live the rest of my life knowing maybe I could’ve done something. If I can do this once I can do this twice. I’ll sneak back and we’ll get away together.”

So she hid some fruit on her person and tried to sneak back to the camp. But a guard caught her! “Where were you!” he barked. She explained she just wandered off and got lost. He beat her a few times with his rifle. But even during the beating my mother knew that this would be the last time and tomorrow she would escape.

The next day when the road curved and the guards couldn’t see, she, her sisters and friend all scattered. This time my mother found a barrel and waited for hours until nightfall before she came out. The first thing she noticed was silence and that’s when she realized, “I’m free.” Just like that. All things pass. She, her sisters and friend had escaped and survived.

For the rest of her life when times were tough, when problems or upsets would occur, my mother would let her thoughts drift back to those days and put the present circumstances into perspective. Then in her words she would, “Spring into action and do something about it!”

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In this uncertain economy, many are terrified of the “R” words.  Recession. Reorganisation. Redundancy. Because they are in the news and on our minds, we are more likely to act out of fear.  Scooby Doo, the children’s cartoon dog, madly barks “ruh roh!” when things go wrong.   When feeling fearful, it is easy for us to adopt an upset “ruh roh!” reaction to even small problems especially if there’s a cascading series of them.

Worse yet, next we can fall into feelings of discouragement, hopelessness then disengagement. That dip downwards is contagious, like a billowing dark cloud.  It can pervade entire companies and communities. And a leader’s mood profoundly impacts the team’s performance according to a Harvard Business Review article.  Yes, your mood dramatically affects everyone around you – just more if you are the leader

Yet, as I explain in Gospel of Joy, anyone (perhaps you?) can be a catalyst to ignite the spark of “can do” spirit in a workplace, community organization – or home.  Start by adopting the attitude you want to have today.  That’s mood management. Like fear, joy is contagious. In short, How will you perceive your day?  That’s YOUR choice.

Perceptions drive and affect attitudes and behavior.  Whether it’s marketing a brand, making a relationship work, motivating ourselves to do better, being innovative or creative or making a contribution – how we view our current circumstances is how we create our reality.   Your choice to act resilient lifts others up to emulate it – even when they weren’t intending to feel better.  We are instinctively imitative animals.  That’s why your positively contagious mood becomes a performance enhancer for you and for those around you.

What’s the nourishing mood food to sustain you in sticking to positivity? Gratitude, hope, compassion, listening, cheerful enthusiasm, generosity, forgiveness, laughter, reverence, energy and vitality, love and equanimity.

Are you willing and ready to choose joyful working and living  – with others, you trendsetter you? It just might catch on.

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