The Opportunity of Adversity
Recently, I came across an inspiring talk by Aimee Mullins on TedMed. Aimee Mullins is an American athlete, actress, and fashion model. When she was born, the delivery doctor informed her parents that she wouldn’t be able to walk or to lead an independent life… She was born with missing fibula bones, and had both her legs amputated below the knee when she was just 1 years old.
Today, Aimee Mullins has competed in the Paralympics, been appointed as Chef de Mission for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, chosen as a L’Oreal ambassador, walked on runaway shows for designers like Alexander McQueen, acted in various movies and is one of the most prominent thinkers on the topic of prosthetic innovation. It also turns out that her TED conference talks are amongst the most-viewed of all time, and have been translated into 41 languages!
In the video below, Aimee Mullins talk about adversity – and finding opportunities from it. Aimee Mullins explains how “adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life”, but that adversity is part of our life. She shares with the audience that there will definitely be adversity and challenges in life… however, if we see them as “natural, consistent and useful” we would be less burdened by it.
She also cites Charles Darwin quote, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” She shares her realisation that transformation and adaptation is our greatest human skill… and that adversity is just a change that we haven’t adapted ourselves to yet.
Everyone experiences adversity in life. For Aimee Mullins to be where she is today, she saw the opportunity in her personal adversities. Instead of avoiding it, she adapted herself and believed that her potential was limitless. How wonderful and inspiring…
I would like all my friends and students to please watch this video. Aimee not only speaks from experience, but she also speaks with sincerity in hope that with her sharing, it would make a difference in someone else’s’ life… Do watch the video, share it and leave a comment below so everyone can see how this talk has changed the way you look at adversities.
Tsem Rinpoche
Aimee Mullins – The Opportunity of Adversity
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/aimee-mullins.mp4
Aimee Mullin at a photoshoot.
At the L’Oreal Women of Worth Awards.
Interview on The Edit.
As one of the faces for L’Oreal Paris.
Aimee Mullin’s shoe collection!
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Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring story. Adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life, but that adversity is part of our life.There will definitely be adversity and challenges in life. We just need to use our strong points to overcome the weak points and think positively to face challenges.
Thanks for sharing such an inspiring post of Aimee Mullin.I read and saw the video ……just amazing a lady with such a strong determination and will power to be where she is now. Not everybody to be like her such an amazing lady….She was an American athlete, actress, and fashion model.
She even has competed in the Paralympics.She experienced adversity in life but somehow she over comes it with the changes she had set to chance.We do experiences adversity in life and we must made use of the opportunity given to make a difference.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing
It’s powerful when someone like Aimee Mulin, who has faced her adversity or obstacles since born, but she blossom in adversity, talks about “…adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life”, but that adversity is part of our life.
A change of perspective makes our attitude to face the situation changed, and from this changes, the whole situation we are facing changed.
What makes Aimee Mulin’s talk touches people’s heart is she talks with sincerity as Rinpoche mentioned in this blog article, with the hope that her sharing would make a difference in someone else’s’ life. She wishes so much what changes her life positively should change another being’s life as well. Fr this, she is beautiful.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing. 🙂
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this talk.
Aimee’s speech is very inspiring. She is a very strong and determined . She managed to change the mind set and view of disability and to turn it into very positive thinking.
I agree when she mentioned human has the skill to transform and adapt. It all comes from the mind. If we are strong to keep our mind thinking and react positively we can change a lot of things.
I love the quote Aimee Mullins took from Charles Darwin. Humans always claim to be above the other species because of our intellect but this statement is quite vague and wide scoped. Aimee zoomed in on the application of intelligence to our ability to adapt to change. In many ways, this is the wisdom of Mother Nature. Just by looking in the sky, we can observe Nature’s constant adaptation to the various activities around her and within her.
There is so much to learn for us from the abundant elements of Nature and her people – the human beings.
Thank you Rinpoche for this inspiring post!
非常欣赏 Aimee ， 埋怨上天不会送她美丽的一双脚。
她没有因为身体上的残缺放弃，不停的锻炼。 创造美好的人生。
谢谢仁波切。
Thank you Rinpoche for the precious sharing on how the mind set of a person could make the difference between dependence with failure or independence with determination and succeed in life.
Aimee’s determination in life is certainly a inspiration for all to follow.With so much adversity ,she could make herself so successful in life, compare to a so call complete person.
She is a remarkably person who possesses strong inner and outer beauty. With her intelligence and the determination she was generous to share her valuable experience to lead others who is less fortunate out of their self pity and make a complete person more determine to succeed in life.
Keep it up Aimee…Your determination to help others ,certainly do make a big difference in our discriminating society today.
Thank you so much Rinpoche.
Aimee Mullin is truly inspirational.
Just the video I need to keep myself going!
Looking at Aimee, so poised, so self-assured, one would never imagine that she is without legs. On the contrary, she inspires. She is the proof of what Charles Darwin has said: ” It is not the strongest that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable”.
One outstanding quality she has is her ability to turn adversity on its head. It is great that there are people like Aimee around, to show that failure is what you yourself make.
In the beginning of the video, when Aimee shared the meaning of “disabled”, it is very disheartening to hear this meaning if you are someone in that position, be it at physical or mental position. Labels is being put at every single abnormality we find in human, eg, fat, skinny, tall, short, fair, dark skin,…and if it is repeatedly being input into someone, it stays. Like what Aimee, says what is the meaning of “normal”, it is much more of “Common”.
If there is no adversity in life, there will not be any changes to made to oneself, and no potential will surface from it. Taking adversity, like what Aimee has said, it is a ” natural, consistent and useful” we would be less burdened by it. As our greatest human skill is transformation and adaptation.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this video, and Aimee for sharing her experiences with us.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this very very inspiring talk. Her life is a miracle. She showed us that miracle can be create by ourselves. She become who she is because of what her mind think not what other think of her. Human mind is very powerful. When you think you are disable and live a life like a disable then you are forever disable. Same as many people although they are not physically disable but because of the mind set and imprint of how they were brought up and what society has set for them that make them think like a disable. Some have a very strong mind that would turn difficulties into opportunity and then they excel in their lives and inspire others to do so. The choice is in our hand.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring story , never think that in life is going to be so smooth flowing we will tend to face challenges and adversity but all these obstacles that we face we must accept it and use the adversity to turn the situation into the positive one then again to think like Aimee is not everyone can be so positive the effective way to do it is by learning the Dharma and use the Buddha teaching to overcome all the challenges in life.
Aimee’s story is inspirational to me because she didn’t let her life become that of a person just getting by through life. She didn’t let her problems define her rather she challenged the adversities in her way and conquered the light we all hope to achieve during hard times. She is a brilliant inspiration for people on how to find the silver lining behind grey clouds. She is also a beautiful, smart and eloquent lady. Well done to Aimee Mullins.