The Power of Choosing Gratitude

[Music]

[Applause]

what is gratefulness

how can being grateful change your

perspective on life

how can you choose to be grateful today

to define the word being grateful is

having a feeling of thankfulness

or showing an appreciation of kindness

it’s the emotion

of being pleased or relieved today i

want to leave you with something lasting

pierce your hearts hit your soul and

allow your minds to grasp something so

simple i want you to experience

listening to me and understanding how

just 11 years old

i began to better understand how the

effects of anxiety

pain and doubt can create a stronghold

in our lives unless we do one simple

thing

be grateful this is the power of

choosing gratitude

it was a beautiful friday afternoon my

old town of merced california

and as a fifth grader who just got back

home from school i wanted to go outside

play be with my friends and all that fun

stuff but first i got this funny idea to

surprise attack my dad who was on a

riding lawnmower just got

back home from work by shooting him in

the back of his head with my

wooden rubber band gun i thought it’d be

hilarious

so i got up got my rubber band gun and

ventured off to my backyard

to see my dad mowing the lot mowing the

yard from one side of the

lawn to the other

i saw him reach the middle of the lawn

and as he reached the middle lawn i

decided to sneak right up behind him

without him even noticing

and he didn’t notice at all i was then

behind the mower

and he reached the edge of the lawn and

then stopped the mower and put it in

reverse

i stole into the ground trying to get

away i tripped

and the backrack tire came at me the

whole miller came out with the

background tyrant on my right foot

and the blade completely took my foot

my dad felt this bump swung up into

action and lifted this

1000 pound lawnmower onto its side like

it was nothing

crying screaming he came to me hugged me

kissed me

couldn’t believe that this was happening

to his baby boy

he reacted perfectly though and got

towels to stop the bleeding wrap my leg

in a tourniquet and call 9-1-1 soon

after and i was airlifted to a medical

center

where i underwent four surgeries within

11 days and they amputated two inches

above my ankle let’s take a breath that

was a lot

but as devastating as that was there is

whenever i share how i lost my foot with

people i always end it with what i said

to my mom

right out of my first surgery and that

was this

i said mom i know this happened

for a reason to reiterate i said mom

i know this happened for a reason

i knew i had purpose in this moment i

probably wasn’t necessarily thinking

about it

but i was so thankful for something so

severe to happen to me

i did deal with pain and a lot of doubt

but it’s almost as if i knew the

blessings that are about to unfold

through this very pain and suffering

what i mean by this

is that the acknowledgment of blessings

in our lives leads to an open mind of

gratitude

this gratitude then affects our brains

literally changing our neural structures

to make us feel happier and more content

even with tragedy

amidst this tragedy though i constantly

look for the good in a bad situation

and this directory correlates to a

neurochemical level in our brain where

gratitude acts as a catalyst

for neurotransmitters like dopamine

serotonin and norepinephrine

basically the emotions that maintain and

can even uplift

are basically the chemicals that can

maintain or uplift our emotions

pertaining to pain and immediate stress

responses

now i didn’t know this kind of science

at the time but i want you to imagine

being

my dad and having been involved with

this accident

witnessing your own child choose

gratitude after something so

traumatizing

wouldn’t that change your perspective on

life it changed my life

and it changed his soon after you see

gratitude not only affects yourself but

others around you as well

this is a constant battle that we face

in our minds every day

we wake up every day and choose the life

we are going to live

why not make it a grateful one my

gratitude only escalated in relation to

my faith

and it was in this faith that i felt

stronger could push harder

and reach for the stars and become

resilient

through trial and future adversities for

example

when i was released from the hospital

and put in a wheelchair

i chose to be grateful with the rough

road of recovery ahead

and this led to hope for what was to

come hope to know that i was one step

closer to being able to walk again

when i got my casper moved and was

finally able to use crutches

after intense physical therapy i chose

to be grateful

and this led to built-up resilience so i

could push through barriers because i

was so grateful for all that i had

and what i had gone through already that

i knew i could keep going

when i was finally able to be fitted

adjusted and got my first prosthetic

how was i grateful especially seeing

my mom and dad in tears watching me take

my first steps again

like i was a toddler

also and this is one of the best parts

of my story

my leg was at the point where it was

fully healed so that i could

um to where i could get back into one of

my favorite places ever

i could fully submerge my leg into this

place a place i felt i was born into

and meant for something more the pool

the water

the amount of freedom that i felt in the

water

to just be weightless and swim around

like there’s like nothing

wasn’t is the most critical part

of my journey and i made me all the more

grateful

for everything that i went through both

mentally and physically

i had overcome so much to finally get

back into the water again

which was a goal of mine after the

accident and i even began to have the

desire to want to compete against other

able-bodied athletes and beat them

the reason for this is because i felt

normal in the water

free and just like everybody else i felt

like i had purpose

in the water achieving each of these

victories

and every part of this healing was key

it allowed me to find more of my purpose

and almost every day i chose to be

grateful though some days i didn’t

then i felt the harsh repercussions that

come from that

because staying in a negative state of

mind will torment you

and i know this because well let’s be

honest there’s no way i could be

grateful every single day

that’s impossible i urge you though

to choose gratitude in the hardest

moments of life

because you’ll start to see a better

version of yourself you’ll start to see

a more empathetic

optimistic selfless and spiritual side

side that

you may have never even seen before i

discovered more of who i was and

am from the times that i chose gratitude

and from the times that i didn’t

all is to say that during this time of

healing recovery finally being able to

walk again and diving back into the

water

wasn’t as the most critical part of my

journey and for what was to come

i knew this was just the beginning so

a few years later i began high school

and started swimming more competitively

and i realized that the pool was where i

was meant to be and that something great

could come from the sport

in fact a week after graduating high

school in 2015

i got offered by a paralympic coach to

train for the rio 2016 paralympic games

an opportunity i never expected

right away i accepted this offer and

started

rigorously training with elite athletes

seeking community and growth with hard

work and determination

i learned quickly that gratitude is

inseparably linked with self-discipline

and motivation because when we’re

grateful for all that we have we work

harder

go further and reach for the stars for

me though

i ended up landing on the moon how you

may ask

well in just a short amount of time and

with the right mindset

i made the rio 2016 paralympic games

within that

year

thank you

the experience was remarkable and

incredible

and competing for team usa in the world

stage was absolutely nerve-wracking

it is absolutely nerve-wracking

it was absolutely nerve-wracking

i couldn’t believe where i was at that i

was able to compete for team usa

on the world stage for my own country

it was incredible

what started out for me as a tragic and

terrible accident

at the age of 11 ended up to be a story

of triumph

at the age of 19

because i’m still not done yet

because now at the age of 24 years old i

achieved a bronze medal

at the world championships in 2017 a

year after rio

a gold medal at the pan american games

in 2019

and i’m currently training for the tokyo

2021 games

this year and even amidst the setbacks

of 2020 in relation to kovan 19

i was nothing but motivated and grateful

through every single day of it

why i took last year as an opportunity

to do better

be better and work harder than ever i

adapted

and knew that my mind was trained to

react positively to disaster

because of my choice of gratitude from

my past

with practice and commitment gratitude

can become a natural response to said

disasters

two failures to life’s hardest moments

it’s what can pick us back up on our

feet

or foot

and allow for us to keep going i am

grateful

for my failures for my hardest moments

in life

and i’m even filled with thankfulness

for what happened to me

when i was 11 years old i

i would even go as far as to say that

i’m that i would not reverse

time to have my foot back again because

it’s made me who i am

and i’m grateful for that rejoice always

give thanks in all circumstances i’ve

spent most of my life choosing this

mental attitude and it has continually

defeated the emotional toll of anxiety

pain and doubt it is hard

and most of the time it’s not easy to

choose this perspective

but within the simple act of being

grateful you will start to see your

perception

on life be changed this is the power

of choosing gratitude so

how can gratitude change your

perspective on life

are you going to choose to be grateful

today thank you so much