book and I was the author, how would I want my story to go?”
she says as she reflected back how she needed to let go of the
“old Amy” in order to write a new chapter of her life.
Allow challenges to be stepping stones to help
you find your creative path.
Refusing to let her disability prevent her from snowboarding, she
decided to go back to the snow-capped mountains and descend
the slopes.
“I remember just being so discouraged that I thought, ‘I can
walk away right now because I can’t do this,’” she recalls. But she
didn’t. Instead, she persevered and kept pushing. Realizing that
her difficulty was mostly because she was wearing a pair of
prosthetic feet not customized for the sport, she asked her
prosthetist to make her a pair that would help make
snowboarding possible.
“That’s when I learned that the borders and obstacles in our
lives can only do two things: Stop us dead in our tracks or force
us to be creative,” she says. “We don’t have to be limited by our
circumstances. Our circumstances can actually open up a whole
world of unlimited possibilities.”
Declare your intention to the world.
While at a speaking tour with Oprah, Purdy learned a most
valuable lesson on the power of intention. “Not trying to do
something. Not hoping to do something. Absolutely going out
there and doing it. Declaring your intention,” she says.
When she and her husband Daniel founded Adaptive Passion
Sports, their intention was to provide resources to kids, young
adults and veterans with permanent disabilities who are into
action sports like snowboarding and skateboarding.
“Telling everyone about your intention is one of the scariest
things to do. What if we fail? It’s so much easier to keep our
hopes and dreams to ourselves. But I believe that if you declare
your intention, the universe and all the people around you
conspire to help make your goal into a reality,” she says.
It was also the couple’s intention to turn athletes who are part
of the program into elite competitors, in their bid to add
snowboarding into the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
“Standing at that podium had two meanings for me. One, it
represented all the hard work that went into my legs, training and
figuring out what I was capable of. Two, it represented the pride
and gratitude of being part of a community that, no matter how
hard things got, never gives up,” she says.
Ultimately, the author and co-founder of apparel line Element
Eden lives a life with no regrets. “My legs haven’t disabled me. If
anything, they have enabled me. They have forced me to rely on
my imagination and to believe in the possibilities.”
In Their Words
“We are all dedicated contributors each in our own
way. The definition of ‘dedicated’ is truly being devoted
to a cause. It’s not the work, it’s the purpose of work
that drives me. Share your passion, impart it freely.
What I do know for sure, if you keep your eye on the
ball, you have a better chance of hitting the home run.”
SHARILYN ABBAJAY • Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas
SVP Spa Operations and Strategic Retail Development
and 2015 ISPA Dedicated Contributor Award Recipient
“I asked myself: Where is this [insecurity] coming from?
There’s a beautiful Arab proverb that says ‘when a
person seeks his purpose, the universe conspires to
answer’. The trick of life is in knowing that you deserve
goodness—knowing that you are worthy. We only find
that in each others’ eyes.”
DR. BERTICE BERRY • Transformative Speaker,
Author and General Session Guest Speaker
December 2015
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PULSE 37