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Live Inspired Podcast with John O'Leary

How I Learned to Shake Hands After Losing My Fingers to Amputation (ep. 339)

Live Inspired Podcast with John O'Leary

John O'Leary

Self-improvement, Bestsellingauthor, Education, Dailyinspiration, Society & Culture, Liveinspired, Johnoleary, Inspiration, Joebuck, Inspiredliving, Onfire, Relationships

4.9672 Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We live in a marketplace that feels so isolated, stressed and divided.

At age 10 a painful experience revealed how broken, disabled, and imperfect I was, and it's a lesson we can all benefit from today.

Today, I invite you to view your painful experiences as a gift preparing you for something bigger. You will not find peace, acceptance or joy in someone else’s opinion of you, but by choosing to love yourself. Approach friends, acquaintances and strangers with confidence, love and an open embrace.

Accepting this challenge is certain to elevate the way we feel about our own lives. It will also liberate us to extend our hands and hearts to those still desperately seeking acceptance in theirs.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to Live Inspired Monday Moments with John O'Leary.

0:12.1

I record these so that you and I can begin our weeks in awe, and don't forget it, on fire with a burst of inspiration.

0:20.6

Here we go. At age 10, think back to when you were age 10.

0:24.7

Well, at age 10, a painful experience revealed to me how broken and disabled and imperfect I was.

0:33.3

And then a conversation with my mom shortly afterwards challenged me to never believe the lies that would

0:39.1

cheapen the blessing, the beauty, the perfection of my life. The lesson learned 30 years ago

0:46.3

might benefit all of us in our lives today. You see upon coming home from the hospital after being

0:52.2

burned, fitting in was always my struggle.

0:55.7

In the early days, I was taken into public in a wheelchair with my entire body wrapped in bandages

1:01.8

from head all the way down to my toes. As the skin healed, the bandages were removed and the

1:07.3

wheelchair was no longer needed, but scars still covered me from my neck to my toes

1:12.4

throughout my life. I've had many experiences of being stared at, pointed that, whispered about,

1:18.8

shouted about in public and in private, but it was an experience in church that was most searing

1:24.4

for me. During the service, there's a moment that we turn to others, we extend our

1:29.7

hands, we shake theirs, and we offer one another a sign of peace. As a child, this was a much-needed

1:37.1

chance to burn off some energy that had been stifled over the previous 30 minutes trapped in a church

1:43.5

pew. On one occasion, I remember joyfully

1:46.8

turning to my brother, then my sisters, then my mom and my dad, and then turning to the family

1:52.5

that we knew in front of us. And then afterwards, I turned around, I extended my right hand

1:57.2

to a gentleman behind us. He extended his right hand to me, and then he looked down at my

2:02.7

hand, and he realized that he was about to shake the hand of a little boy with no fingers and with

2:08.9

arms that were scarred. The gentleman withdrew his hand from mine. He then crossed his arms, and he looked away. He refused with repulsion

...

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