She Did Dance Again

Today I am grateful for clean windows and fresh air. I am grateful to those who share their recovery wisdom, courage, and strength with me.

I wanted to follow up on one more Boston Marathon bombing victim that I blogged about last year. Her name is Adrianne Haslet-Davis. Read my April 26, 2013 post here. She is a ballroom dancer and a dance instructor. She didn't let the anger and the grief get the best of her. Her goal was to dance again and she has. Our attitude and outlook can't change a circumstance like a serious injury or illness, but it can sure change how we handle that circumstance. Adrianne Haslet-Davis clearly has benefitted from the attitude and outlook she applied after a horrible split second changed her life.

Here is another recent interview with Haslet-Davis. I commend her strength, courage, hard work and hope. I commend her advocacy for amputees.

And here on YouTube is a TED talk by Hugh Herr. Herr never viewed his body as broken after losing both feet in a rock climbing accident in 1982. Rather he saw technology as broken. He works at MIT's Media Lab Biomechatronics group. The talk includes some amazing science. At the end of the talk, Haslet-Davis dances with Christian Lightner in her first performance since the bombings. Amazing. Inspiring. I am grateful for this science and the advances being made to help people like Haslet-Davis, Iraqi war veterans and many others.

Our lives can change in an instant. Or they can stay the same day after day, week after week. There is so much we can't control, but crucial things that we can.  Like our attitude and actions.  Mine are better when I stay focused on gratitude, when I stay focused on the present.

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