Jessica Cox: Pilot born without arms on flying with her feet

Jessica Cox was born without arms as a result of a rare birth defect.

That has not stopped her from living her life to the fullest. In fact, Ms Cox has experienced and achieved more than most people do in a lifetime.

She can drive a car, fly a plane and play piano - all with her feet.

In 2012 she married Patrick, her former Taekwondo instructor (she has two black belts). They live in Tucson in the US state of Arizona.

Ms Cox, 30, travels around the world as a motivational speaker, using her own life as an example of what one can achieve if one wants it enough. This month she visits Ethiopia to help promote disability rights.

Additional video footage courtesy of Nick Spark, director of an upcoming documentary on Jessica's life.

Culled from www.bbc.co.uk

9 Lessons from 9 Inspiring Quotes

Today I want to share nine inspiring quotes that changed my life.  I’ve listed them below along with supplementary lessons I’ve learned about each one over the years.  I hope they inspire you just as they have inspired me.

1.  Intuition

“At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.”  -Alan Alda

Your intuition is a gift.  It is your third eye – a way of seeing with your soul.  Pay attention to what it shows you.  More often than you realize, you have the answers you seek already inside you.  Your unconscious mind is the greatest source of your genius; you just have to pay attention.

Trusting your intuition is trusting your true self, and the more you trust your true self, the more control you have of making your goals and dreams come true.  Read 1,000 Little Things.

2.  Responsibility

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Don’t blame your parents, your friends, your teachers, your boss, or anyone else.  Blame yourself and then do something about it.  If something isn’t right and needs to change in your life, you’re the only one who can make that change.

The trajectory of your life is directly proportional to the strength of your choices.  To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of all the responsibility and control you have over your life, which is another way of saying, “I don’t care.  I give up.”

3.  Expectation

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”  -Alexander Pope

As you get older you will find that life isn’t necessarily any easier or harder than you thought it was going to be; it’s just that the easy and the hard aren’t exactly the way you had anticipated, and don’t always occur when you expect them to.  This isn’t a bad thing, it makes life interesting.  With a positive attitude you will always be pleasantly surprised.

When you stop expecting things to be a certain way, you can appreciate them for what they are.  Ultimately you will realize that life’s greatest gifts are rarely wrapped the way you expected.  Read The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

4.  Small Steps

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”  -Desmond Tutu

All the skills and understanding necessary for achievement is not going to be fully available to you when you first start a new endeavor.  But once you start, you will build the necessary skills and understanding as you need them.

Do not overwhelm yourself by thinking about the entire project.  Instead, focus on the one particular action step you can take right now.  Give your best to the task at hand.  Build what you can with what you have, and as you acquire additional resources, build upon what you have already built.  Read How to Get What You Want.

5.  Questions vs. Answers

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”  -Voltaire

Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to ask enough of the right ones that ultimately leads you to an understanding of yourself and your purpose.

You can spend your life wallowing in sorrow by asking negative questions like, “Why me?”  Or you can or you can be grateful that you survived – that you’re still strong enough to breathe, walk and think for yourself – and then ask, “Where do I want to go next?”

6.  Focus

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want.  No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”  -Paulo Coelho

Raindrops falling gently over a wide, sprawling area will always yield to the obstructions present in the landscape.  Yet when these raindrops are concentrated into the mighty force of a river, they have the power to cut through nearly any obstruction imaginable.

In the same way, when your thoughts, feelings and actions are concentrated on a clear and consistent purpose, nothing can hold you back.  The roadblocks standing in your way are no match for your focused, unwavering purpose.  Give your life a decided advantage over all the obstacles you encounter by living each moment in the service of a meaningful purpose.

7.  Relationships

“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”  -J.K. Rowling

When it comes to relationships, be careful not to continuously doubt the positives and ignore the negatives.  You likely do this more often than you think.  For instance, you will say to your partner dozens of times:  Do you really love me?  Are you sure?  And ask similar questions that doubt the existence of their love.  But you will rarely ask:  Does this upset you?  Are you sure?  And similar questions that have the potential to resolve conflict before it starts.

This imbalance creates tension on both sides of the equation.  The positive things become more burdensome while the negatives fester in the background, unresolved.  Bottom line:  Have faith in the positives as you work on turning the negatives around.  Read The 5 Love Languages.

8.  Humility

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”  -Michel de Montaigne

If you become impressed with your own importance, you will cease to be impressive regardless of how successful you are.  Anyone who must announce that they are great rarely is.

True greatness and admiration is earned when you spend your time listening and learning rather than boasting and preening.  Let go of the need to be better than anyone else.  Humility is a virtue that will carry you far.  When you free yourself from the crushing demands of your ego, you free yourself to be your very best.

9.  Life Experience

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”  -Rita Mae Brown

Experience is what you get when your plans don’t go as planned, and experience is the most valuable commodity you own – it builds your strength.

You have the power to turn your wounds and worries into wisdom; you just have to do something about them.  You have to accept what has happened and use what you’ve learned to step forward.  Everything you’ve experienced has given you the upper hand for dealing with everything you have yet to experience.  Realize this and set yourself free.

Culled from www.marcandangel.com

10 "Makes Me Think" Inspiring Stories

Today, my 8-year-old son hugged me and said, “You are the best mom in the whole entire world!”  I smiled and sarcastically replied, “How do you know that?  You haven’t met every mom in the whole entire world.”  My son squeezed me tighter and said, “Yes I have.  You are my world”. MMT

Today, my dad turned 91.  He barely has enough strength to speak.  But every time my mom (she’s 84) walks into the room to check on him, he says, “Hello beautiful”. MMT

Today, I sat down with my two daughters, ages 4 and 6, to explain to them that we have to move out of our 4 bedroom house and into a 2 bedroom apartment for awhile until I can find another job that pays well.  My daughters looked at each other for a moment and then my youngest daughter turned to me and asked, “Are we all moving into the apartment together?”  “Yes,” I replied.  “Oh, so no big deal then,” she said.  MMT

Today, as I pulled into my apartment complex I noticed my neighbor, who’s about 8 months pregnant, struggling with her groceries.  I stopped and helped her bring them up the stairs into her apartment.  This evening, when I got home from the gym I found a freshly baked apple pie sealed in Tupperware sitting on my doorstep with a note that said, “I used the ingredients you helped me carry to bake this.  Enjoy!”  MMT

Today, my 12-year-old son, Sean, and I stopped by the nursing home together for the first time in several months.  Usually I come alone see my mother who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s.  When we walked into the lobby, the nurse said, “Hi, Sean!” and then buzzed us in.  “How does she know your name?” I asked.  “Oh, I swing by here on my walk home from school all the time to say hi to Grandma,” Sean said.  I had no idea.  MMT

Today, on our 10th wedding anniversary, she handed me a suicide note she wrote when she was 22. It was dated the exact day we met each other.  And she said, “For all these years I didn’t want you to know how foolish and unstable I was back when we met.  But even though you didn’t know, you saved me.  Thank you.” MMT

Today, at 8AM this morning, after four months of lifelessness in her hospital bed, we took my mom off life support.  And her heart continued beating on its own.  And she continued breathing on her own.  Then this evening, when I squeezed her hand three times, she squeezed back three times.  MMT

Today, the homeless man who used to sleep near my condo showed up at my door wearing the business suit I gave him nearly 10 years ago.  He said, “I have a home, a job, and a family now.  10 years ago I wore this business suit to all my job interviews.  Thank you.”  MMT

Today, when I opened my store at 5AM there was an envelope sitting on the floor by the door.  In the envelope was $600 and a note that said, “Five years ago, I broke into your store at night and stole $300 worth of food.  I’m sorry.  I was desperate.  Here’s the money with 100% interest.”  Interestingly, I never reported the incident to the cops because I assumed that whoever stole the food really needed it.  MMT

Today, a week after I donated three bags of clothes to a local homeless shelter, I saw a homeless woman sitting on a park bench wearing a tye-dye shirt I made when I was a teenager.  I walked by her and said, “I love your shirt!”  She smiled and said, “Thank you!  I really do too!” 


Have a lovely weekend.

Culled from MarcANDAngel.com

Sports Kid Of The Year 2012 : A True Brother and Sportsman

Check out this inspiring video and see the power of love.

Standing Strong Years After Polio

29 year old Kelechi Uhegwu is from Abia State. The oldest child of 3 kids, Kelechi’s passion for life and her zest has made her story more a miracle than anything else. Diagnosed with polio when she was a little over a year old, Kelechi has had to pull herself through life despite all the difficulties that are associated with disabilities in Nigeria. Besides having a degree from the University of Lagos, Kelechi loves art and she expresses it through make -up.  BN enjoyed chatting with Kelechi and we hope that you enjoy reading her story.

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Kelechi Unveiled
I was born in Agbor in Delta State and then we moved to Lagos and stayed in  Ojota and later, Satellite Town. I had my primary education at Mictec International School in Ojota, Lagos and at Holy Child International School in Satellite town. I had my Secondary School at Navy Town Secondary school in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos. A little after my 1st birthday, my parents travelled to Lagos, leaving me with my grand mum in Agbor. I fell ill and was admitted into the General Hospital, Agbor in Delta State where the doctors thought I had malaria or measles. I was injected for some days and this led to pains in my legs after which I could stand but was unable to walk and then I could not walk anymore. I had poliomyelitis (paralytic scoliosis).

My Childhood Post-Diagnosis
My parents were informed and only returned to meet their beautiful and first child paralysed. Naturally, they were devastated, but they had to take the next positive step which was to have me treated in Lagos.
Polio limited my ‘movement’ but it didn’t limit ‘the person in me’. I learnt how to walk with leg braces and crutches. I played like every other kid, I had my fair share of being bullied too.

All my life was school, home, church and the hospital. I was over-protected by my parents as a child. I was not allowed to play outside with other kids because they thought I was fragile but for the adventurous person that I am, when my parents go out, I would device a way to get out of the house with my younger brother to play with other kids, even with the knowledge of the punishment that awaited me.

Kelechi with her mom and sister

Constant Hospital Visits
I had a minimum of two visits a week to the hospital and each visit was hell. I mean ‘Physiotherapy’. I was always in the hospital and it was extremely painful.  I had my treatment at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos. The experience wasn’t an interesting one, trust me.

Highs and Lows so Far
My highest moment in my growing up years was when I could ask for ‘anything’ from my parents and they didn’t say ‘No’. Everything in the world seemed to be at my beck and call. My lowest moment was on the 8th of March, 2000 when my dad passed on from renal failure. It was the final year of my secondary school and that was when I understood the meaning of the Word – ‘Responsibility’.

A life changing experience was when one of my friends Jane Ogbe wrote a story about me and I was nominated for the ‘Survival Against All Odds Awards, by the Aart of Life Foundation in 2006. It was featured on-air, people voted for me and it was a really exhilarating feeling. I came 1st Runner up eventually. It also helped me become a stronger person because people kept stopping me to say they watched the program and they were inspired by my story. I felt good that I was an inspiration to someone.

University Life
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of Lagos in 2008. My entry into the University was a miracle. I had battled with JAMB for two years so I struggled and bought a Diploma form in the University of Lagos, passed the entrance examination and though I did not have the money to pay my school fees. Another challenge was transportation to school from Satellite town to Akoka because Diploma students weren’t given accommodation in school.

Being the very optimistic person that I am, I took the risk of waking up every morning without a dime and then I would get a ride by strangers to half way my journey or directly to school. I met the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academy) of my time to tell him about my challenges. When he met me, he was pleased with my zeal to be educated despite my physical and financial challenges and he gave me an approval to write the exam. I eventually wrote the exam and came out with good grades with which I gained admission by Direct Entry to study a degree course in Zoology and my debt was erased. How I made it through Diploma was amazingly miraculous.

Getting about without Proper Infrastructure for Disabilities
My everyday experience in school got so tough over time as my classes were held at third floor and underground at the Faculty of Science. I couldn’t go for all the classes as my human energy couldn’t carry me. So, I either stayed for all the lectures that would be held at third floor or downstairs throughout a day. I couldn’t shuffle going for classes but ‘I still made it to class’.

My Friends
I have loads of friends who are extremely supportive. I’m someone who’s very vibrant and energetic so I always have positive people around me. I have admirers like every regular girl. Walking with crutches has not influenced my relationship with anyone, people are attracted to my personality and relate with me as a ‘Person’, not as a ‘Challenged Person’.

Ray of Hope in the Horizon
I found a hospital in Nottingham, England where I could undergo corrective surgery. It is an anterior surgical release and posterior stabilisation with rods and screw as well as fusion of the spine with a 2-stage procedure and have an opportunity to walk unaided again. It costs way more than what I can afford as an individual considering my present financial status.

Surround Yourself with Positive People
I write poems, read books, listen to good music, invite friends around. That’s what I do to keep the fire burning. If you have a disability and you live in Nigeria, this is what I’ll say: stay strong, look good, smell good, surround yourself with positive people, dream big, take a Leap and you will achieve your goals!

Culled from BellaNaija.com

Marriage Is A School

Marriage is a school where you get the certificate before you start.

A school where you will never graduate.

A school without a break or a free period.

A school where no one is allowed to drop out.

A school which you will have to attend every day of your life.

A school where there is no sick leave or holidays.

A school founded by God:
1.On the foundation of love.
2.The walls made of trust.
3.The door made of acceptance.
4.The windows made of understanding.
5.The furniture made of blessings.
6.The roof made of faith.

Before you forget, you are just a student not the principal. The Almighty is the principal.

Even at times of a storm, don't be unwise and run outside.

Remember this school is the safest place to be.

Never go to sleep before completing your assignments for the day.

Never forget the C-word, communicate, communicate, communicate with your classmate and with the Principal.

If you find something in your classmate (spouse) that you do not appreciate, remember your classmate is also just a student not a graduate. The Almighty is not finished with him/her yet, so take it as a challenge and work on it together.

Do not forget to study, study, study the Noble Book (the main textbook in this school).

Start each day with a sacred assembly and end it the same way.

Sometimes you will feel like not attending class, yet you have to.

When tempted to quit find the courage and continue.

Some tests and exams may be tough but remember the Principal knows how much you can bear.

Still, it is one of the best schools on earth; joy, peace and happiness accompany each lesson of the day.

Different subjects are offered in this school, yet love is the major subject.

After all the years of being theoretical about it, now you have a chance to practice it.

To be loved is a good thing, but to love is the greatest privilege of them all.

Marriage is a place of love, so love your spouse but remember: "This class doesn't involve a person who is not permitted into it"! If you invite your mother or father or your friends to this class, or anyone who is not allowed to be there, you will fail the exam.

It is you who should attend and it is you who will pass.

Its your choice today: "Build it or Break it"

May the Almighty bless us all. Amen

Its Not Always How It Looks

Two Angels were on a long journey and decided to rest when they got tired. They stopped at a rich man's house to rest, they were given a bad hospitality and sent to the basement to spend their night.
At night, the older Angel repaired the broken walls in the basement, and younger one didn't like it. The next day, they continued their journey, they happened to rest again, but this time it was in a poor man's house who was a farmer, they rested in. But this time, they enjoyed the hospitality and was given a better place to sleep.
At night the farmer's cattle died and the farmer wept bitterly. But this confused the younger Angel as He asked; "Its quite unfair that the man who didn't welcome us properly you repaired the holes in his basement and now you didn't do anything about this man's cattle who treated us well." To this the older Angel answered;
"Its not always how it looks. I sealed the walls in the rich man's basement where he stored his wealth, he can't reach them anymore. But in the farmer's house, the Angel of Death came in the night to wipe the entire family and I diverted it to the cattle." 
...... 
In every bad situation, just believe that God has prevented a worse situation.
....... 
I know, why didn't He prevent it with a good situation, could be your question.
...... 
But my question is, "How would He know the size of our Faith in Him, if we are not tested?"

Hope Your Weekend Was Blissful? Have a lovely week ahead!