Turning walls into doors: two inspirational speakers who have transcended physical handicaps

I just discovered a new favourite inspirational speaker, and while writing shortly about him, I will also take the chance to mention another favourite of mine.

My new discovery is called Sean Stephenson, and I discovered him via his TEDx talk: "The prison of your mind". The talk is just 10 minutes long, but I already listened to it twice, and I am already a little bit in love with him :) His speaking style reminds me a bit of both Martin Luther King, Nick Vijucic, and Abraham-Hicks, and all those three are among my favourite speakers, and I can say that anyone who can mix them together in a meaningful way has my attention. As you can see in the video below, he is - just as Nick - blessed with a very unusual body. A body that most people would call a handicap. But, this is where both he and Nick are so important examples: they have turned their wall into a door, and a seeming limitation into a possibility. In other words, they have been able to redefine their relationship to themselves, find a way to be happy and inspired in their own bodies, and thus serve as a beacon of hope to all others, who in comparison usually are dealing with much less severe limitations. Some of my favourite talking points from his video where the following, but - since the video is so short - I advice you to just look at the whole video:

* don't listen to any prediction that doesn't empower you
* I am only an expert on one thing: to be me. But I do that very well
* The only thing you need to do and teach is to be able to look in the mirror and feel love for yourself. If you can pull that one off, then you are going somewhere.
* all limitations, prisons, and savours that you will ever encounter can be found in your head. Look at your perspective: what is the current problem with your current perspective, and how can it be improved?

The second speaker, which I already alluded to, is Nick Vijucic. There are hundreds of videos of him online, but one of my favourites is still the first one I ever saw, and that is the video I have embedded below:

The main thing that he talks about is to go to a state of gratitude. Do not focus on the things that you don't have (in his case, e.g. the fact that he does not have any arms and legs), and instead focus on the things that you do have. It might seem trivial, but that is really all it takes. Your state-of-mind is *only* determined by what you pay attention to, and the emotion that you feel is only determined by what you give your attention to (and how that relates to your inner beings perspective of the same thing). And the key thing in what you are paying attention to is not the object or the situation, but the thought about the situation - the perspective.

I love both of these guys, they are such gifts to humanity. I am really proud that we have such an advanced society nowadays that we can appreciate the gifts that they have to give us. That is a sign of progress!