Living Beyond Limits: Amy Purdy on Miracles, Bouncing Forward, and Choosing Love in a Near-Death Experience

Summary

Podcast Summary

Overview

Episode Title: Living Beyond Limits: Amy Purdy on Miracles, Bouncing Forward, and Choosing Love in a Near-Death Experience
Podcast: Everything Is Energy with Cathy Heller
Date: April 27, 2026
Guest: Amy Purdy
Theme:
This episode delves into the journey of resilience, surrender, and miracles through the extraordinary story of Amy Purdy. As a Paralympic medalist, speaker, and author, Amy shares the wisdom gained through near-death, staggering setbacks, chronic pain, and radical acceptance. The conversation centers on living beyond limits by cultivating presence, purpose, and connection to the Divine, especially when facing life’s most profound challenges.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Genesis of Amy’s New Book: "Bounce"

• Amy’s Motivation ([03:46]): Amy describes how the adversity of her recent injury led her to intentional reflection, eventually crafting “21 things I know for sure” on a napkin during a turbulent flight, which became the basis for her new book.
  • Quote:
    “If this plane went down right now, what did I learn here on Earth?... These are things I know for sure that I’ve experienced in my life, that I have to share with other people.” — Amy Purdy [05:14]
• She emphasizes everyday practices to move through personal “David and Goliath” moments with courage.

2. A Soul-to-Soul Conversation

• Mutual Admiration & Spiritual Gifts ([05:52], [06:46]):
  • Cathy reveres Amy’s soul and views her as “one of the wonders in the world,” highlighting Amy’s impact on others by embodying the light of the Divine.
    • Quote:
      “You and God are such good dance partners that He’s so close, He’s so woven into every aspect of you...” — Cathy Heller [07:29]
  • Amy reflects this reverence back and insists everyone has intrinsic greatness—if only they allow themselves to tune “their instrument.”

3. Amy’s Original Near-Death Experience and Aftermath

• The Initial Event ([09:32]):
  • At 19, Amy contracted bacterial meningitis, losing her legs, kidneys, spleen, and much of her hearing, and was not expected to survive the night.
  • Describes childhood resilience: “I didn’t really know how I did it… I just put one foot in front of the other.” [12:28]
• Conscious Choice to Live ([15:40]–[25:31]):
  • Details her near-death experience, where she was asked what she believes in and replied, “I believe in love.”
    • Quote:
      “…Right in that moment…I told [myself], I believe in love… Love is our Creator, it is that creative energy…” — Amy Purdy [19:13]
  • Experiences a mystical choice to return to life, waking up repeating, “It will all make sense in the end.”
• Lifelong Impact ([25:31]):
  • This experience transforms her perspective, fueling her resilience, presence, and ability to channel miracles.

4. The Hardest Challenge: Chronic Pain and Loss of Identity

• The Recent Injury and Years of Uncertainty ([29:27]):
  • Amy explains that her recent leg injury was even harder than her initial illness; more devastating was the loss of identity and extended duration.
  • Chronic pain robbed her ability to envision the future, forcing presence in the moment.
    • Quote:
      “…Pain puts you right in the here and now… There’s a blessing in that presence, but you cannot escape what you’re going through.” — Amy Purdy [30:46]
• Purpose as Antidote to Suffering ([32:55]):
  • Amy reframes suffering by asking, “Maybe I need to go through this so I can help others.”
    • “The opposite of depression is purpose.” — Cathy Heller [32:55]
  • Shift in perspective offers a glimmer of hope and opens the heart to light.

5. Techniques for Moving from Victimhood to Empowerment

• Accepting What Is ([34:30]–[38:56]):
  • Amy recommends extreme presence and radical acceptance, using nature and gratitude for small things as daily anchors.
    • “Whatever we focus on grows… Focus on the little slivers of light… it’s just enough to sometimes let the light in.” — Amy Purdy [36:56]
• Meditation, breath work, and noticing beauty in the everyday are suggested as immediate tools.

6. The Miracle of Amy's Leg: Divine Timing and Surrender

• The Unexpected Healing ([40:14]–[51:47]):
  • After failed surgeries and “fighting for years,” Amy’s leg appeared doomed until her body—aided by surrender—miraculously formed a brand new artery, saving her limb.
    • Quote:
      “As soon as we basically gave up, it saved itself…The miracle did come, just not on my timeline. And it didn’t come until I surrendered completely to the situation.” — Amy Purdy [51:03]
• Cathy Parallels Spiritual Traditions ([52:34]):
  • Compares Amy’s miracle to the Splitting of the Red Sea—reminding listeners that miracles come when we surrender and become vessels for Divine light.

7. Dancing with the Stars: Embracing the Impossible

• Reflections on Dancing with the Stars ([56:29]-[59:44]):
  • Amy recounts performing with prosthetic feet, inventing new feet for each dance, and overcoming self-doubt on national television.
    • “Our greatest challenges are also our greatest teachers…Challenge and opportunity go hand in hand.”—Amy Purdy [58:02]
  • The show empowered children and adults watching to recognize possibilities beyond their limits.

8. Living Beyond Limits — Universal Message

• Core Takeaway:
  • Amy’s message is that anyone can access miracles, meaning, and fulfilment—not just those with “superhuman” stories.
    • Quote:
      “We all have the power to live an amazing life. Not just an amazing life, a fulfilled, meaningful life…Even in the midst of adversity.” — Amy Purdy [62:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I believe in love.” — Amy Purdy [19:13]
• “Miracles don’t always come on our timeline. They come when you surrender, when you allow the Divine to do its work.” — Amy Purdy [51:03]
• “You and God are such good dance partners… you are an extension of that Divine energy.” — Cathy Heller [07:29]
• “Pain puts you right in the here and now… There’s a blessing in that presence, but you cannot escape what you’re going through.” — Amy Purdy [30:46]
• “Whatever we focus on grows…Focus on the little slivers of light.” — Amy Purdy [36:56]
• “When God wants to make you David, he sends you Goliath.” — Cathy Heller [59:44]

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Important Timestamps

• [03:46] – Amy explains how her new book was born from adversity.
• [07:29] – Cathy reflects on Amy’s embodiment of the Divine.
• [09:32] – Amy recounts her meningitis, amputations, and fighting for her life at 19.
• [19:13] – Amy’s near-death experience: the choice to believe in love.
• [30:46] – The spiritual trial of chronic pain and living in the moment.
• [36:56] – Advice for shifting from victimhood to empowerment through presence.
• [51:03] – Amy describes the biological miracle after surrendering attempts to control the outcome.
• [56:29] – Dancing with the Stars: Making the impossible possible.
• [62:21] – Universal message: Any life can be meaningful, even in adversity.

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Final Takeaways

1. Believe in love.
2. Miracles are always present—even if not on our timeline.
3. Pain often leads us to help others—purpose can lighten suffering.
4. Presence and acceptance are powerful tools in adversity.
5. Our greatest challenges unlock our greatest growth and joy.
6. Living beyond limits is for everyone—miracles and meaning are available when we become clear vessels for the Divine.

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Where to Find Amy’s Book

• Direct from Amy: amypurdy.com — preferred for supporting the author.
• Also available through select bookstores and Amazon.

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This episode is a testament to the power of surrender, faith, and choosing love amid impossible circumstances. Amy Purdy’s path teaches us that being cracked open can be the very thing that lets in the light—and that miracles are found where presence, surrender, and the Divine intersect.

Transcript

[Kathy Heller]

With that good, good feeling.

[Podcast Host]

Hey, it's Kathy Heller. Welcome back to Everything is energy. Today is such an absolute gift. Today I'm sitting down with someone I absolutely adore who is really one of the greatest expanders on the planet. The incredible Amy Purdy. You probably know her because she is an Olympian, she's a Paralympic medalist, she's a renowned speaker, she's a best selling author, she's a co founder of adaptive sports. And one of my favorite facts about her, she was actually a finalist on Dancing with the Stars. What blows me away more than all of her accolades is her soul. It's who she is, it's the way that she resonates in this world and she gives people so much faith. The way she keeps choosing love and possibility in the face of the unthinkable challenges that she's gone through. We're going to talk about the near death experience that she had. The decade long journey of surprises. What actually recently happened that was a literal, another miracle in her life that happened with her leg. And the truth that became the heart of her new book. It's called Bounce 21 Tools to Live a Life Beyond Limits. This is such a beautiful book. This should be required reading for every single person that I know that you know. It's all about how to rebuild after life's most challenging moments. Amy shares everyday practices for moving through your David and Goliath. For the moments that really test you. Reconnecting with your inner strength and rising into a more fulfilling life. This courageous one step at a time. You will definitely want to go get a copy and probably get one for everybody that you love. This conversation is going to move you. It's going to awaken you. It's going to remind you just how supported and powerful you you really are. So I'm so excited to get into this. Without further ado, please welcome the extraordinary Amy Purdy.

[Kathy Heller]

Hi. You look so beautiful. Oh my gosh.

[Amy Purdy]

Oh, look at you. It's been so long.

[Kathy Heller]

I know. You look so beautiful. How are you too?

[Amy Purdy]

I'm great. I feel like we could talk about so much stuff. Kathy, I know you're looking like our vibes.

[Kathy Heller]

I literally think about you. I. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say I think about you either every day or every other day. And I'm just, I'm just so aware that you are such an expander in this world and so genuine, so stunning, so brave and just such a way shower. So Amy, I'm so happy that you're back. I wish it was in person because I started filming my show now and you happen to be so gorgeous that it would be so fun to shoot you live in camera. But we're going to go with this because your book is so great and I just got myself copy last week and it's already out, and we need to just get this podcast out to the people. So. Okay. I can't believe every day I'm like, I don't understand. You're so prolific. There's. There's never an end to what you are going to create next. And so I'm really, like, blown away you wrote another book. Like, writing a book is not for the faint of heart, but this was really something you wanted to say? Like, really, there's a lot in this book and I cannot wait to get into it. But what made you really be up for. I. It's worth it to me to go through writing a book because I really want to say this. Like, what. What's the piece of this book that felt like it was worth going through the year and a half to write the book?

[Amy Purdy]

You know, there were quite a few things that made me want to write the book. I mean, first of all, the book follows this story, this journey that you were actually a part of quite a bit, because we were in touch during that time when I injured my leg and went through this major. All these surgeries, 10 surgeries in, I think, two or three years, and not knowing if I'd walk again. And it was all during COVID and life was changing, and life was changing for me, and I was learning so many things along the way. I was realizing, like, I was very profoundly aware of what was helping me along the way, what was helping me get through moments of grief, what was helping me get through moments of anxiety. And I would write those moments down. And I thought, I've got to share this. You know, I've got to share this. Somehow I've got to share this in a bigger way. Of course, I was sharing on social media and podcasts and stuff like that, but I knew at some point that I would put it into a book. I just didn't really know, you know, those types of things. Books take time to. They. They kind of. They write themselves right there, you know, that you want to write something, but it's just kind of creating itself, and then eventually it comes together. And the way that it came together for me was I was on an airplane a couple years ago, and there was all of this turbulence and like lightning, thunder outside and it's not like I thought the plane was actually going to crash, but when it did calm down, I thought to myself, you know, if this plane went down right now, what did I learn here on Earth? What did I learn while I was here? What do I have to actually leave behind? And right then, I grabbed a napkin and a pen, I wrote down. It was like a little airline napkin, and I wrote down 21 things that I knew for sure. Like, these are things I know for sure that I've experienced in my life, that I've learned over and over that I have to share with other people. So I wrote those 21 things down, and I thought, oh, my gosh, that is it. And those 21 things ended up being the framework and the chapters of this book.

[Kathy Heller]

Well, it totally just brought tears to my eyes. I feel like. I know that this might make you uncomfortable, but I do this with you a lot. But I, I, I have to do it for my ability to, like, have reverence for what God creates. You are such a masterpiece. I feel like a lot of people, you know, I've had the experience of, like, going to the Grand Canyon, and you, like, start to cry because it's so awesome, or you're in this distinct chapel and you have to whisper because it's so beautiful. I just feel like. I feel like you're one of the wonders in the world. And. Just whatever God did when he made your soul was just very extra special.

[Amy Purdy]

Kathy, that is how I feel about you. You're making me cry. I mean, I appreciate it. Thank you. But I feel, I feel like. I honestly feel like we all have this. I just. I really do. And that's. I think that's what I want people to know, you know, Because I think it is easy to sit back and go, that person has it. Kathy, I do that to you. I actually, I'm always like, man, Kathy Heller just has it. She is connected to the divine. It just flows through her. I'm like, I don't got what she has. Like, that's why I don't.

[Kathy Heller]

I think in your case, it's like you and God are dance partners, and we all saw you and Derek and, like, that was pretty next level. But, like, you and God are such good dance partners that he's so close, he's so woven into every aspect of you and how you show the world what's possible, that maybe you don't see it, because it's literally like you are an extension of that divine energy. Like, so clearly. I think the reason why I'm just so moved. I agree with you that everybody comes to the world with the capacity to find and unlock the greatness in themselves. That is true. And not everybody tunes their instrument, let's just say. But the reason I'm really particularly moved by this story is because in what you just said, I think a lot of people, when they find out about you and they see you snowboarding and they know your story, they're like, oh, well, you know what? I don't even need to necessarily put myself in the how can I learn from her category, because she's just a unicorn. And the reason why I think this is so powerful is because when you were going through those surgeries, I remember you being like, you know, guys, like in Notting Hill, when Julie Roberts is like, I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love me. Like, you were like, you guys, like, I know you think I'm fearless and limitless, and I've done all of these things and I've been an Olympian and all of these things I've done. And yet this is hard. And in a way, it was even harder. You said that the initial. I don't even want to call it an accident because it was like you were ignited. You were knighted. So much happened on your soul contract journey. But I remember you saying, you don't understand. Like, this is harder. Can you explain why those surgeries and those two years, like that density of that time, why was that harder than your initial accident?

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah. So just for the listeners as well, just to kind of share what initially happened to me and it wasn't an accident.

[Kathy Heller]

I don't want to say it. Your initial.

[Amy Purdy]

It wasn't incident. No. When I lost my legs when I was 19. Yeah. And so when I was 19, I. I lost my legs, my kidneys, my legs below the knees, my kidneys, my spleen, the hearing and my left ear pretty much all at once. I was in a rush to the hospital, thought I had the flu. Ended up being meningococcal meningitis is what it's called. I went into septic shock, had no idea how I got it. Fought for my life for a couple of months, was completely pieced back together. Like, absolute miracle that I survived. Shouldn't have even survived the night going into the hospital, had a near death experience. Everything, you know, had to come together just miraculously and perfectly to survive, and it did. And then I went on to not just walk in my legs, but to snowboard and compete at the highest level and obviously go on to do these great things and Dancing with the Stars and become, you know, a Paralympic athlete and be so healthy and. And a lot of times people would ask me, how did you do those things? How did you do those things? And I think I was just so young. And when you're just. When you're young and resilient and you have your whole life ahead of you, it's easier to be resilient. So I think, you know, I didn't really know how I did it. I used to say, I don't know how I did it. I just put one foot in front of the other and I just, you know, and it led me to where I'm at today. Like, I didn't exactly know how I did it. It wasn't until this injury happened, which was seven years ago. So I went 20 years doing great, you know, thought, oh, this is my story. I've done it. I've made lemonade out of lemons. Like, this is where I'm supposed to be and how I'm supposed to live and what I'm supposed to teach. Then all of a sudden, I got knocked off my feet again when I severely injured my popliteal artery and my femoral artery in my left leg. So my prosthetic pushed into my popliteal artery. The carbon fiber of it. Yeah, pushed into the popliteal artery, completely shut down the entire arterial system of my left leg. I ended up just. All of a sudden, it just came out of nowhere. I ended up with a blood clot from my hip down every artery of my left leg. And suddenly it was like, you know, we don't know if you're ever going to walk again. We don't know if we're going to save your leg again or be able to even save your leg if you'll be able to be in a prosthetic again. It was. It was a traumatic, out of the blue, sudden, massive injury that was absolutely devastating and life changing. And it made me question everything that I had been through before. It made me question everything. I had so many little miraculous moments early on in my journey that came together that helped me survive what I went through. When I was 19 years old, I had doctors that stepped in at just at the right time to save my life. I had other people who stepped in to help pave the path for me or open doors for me. And this time I just felt like I was on my own. There was a lot of moments where I thought, where are my angels? Like, where are the miracles like, did I make all of that up all those years? Did I just romanticize that I had all these years of miracles? Because this is so hard. I ended up going through 10 surgeries. This is all during COVID I was by myself a lot of the time in the hospital because it was Covid and not knowing if I'd ever walk again. I was in chronic pain. I had no, you know, because I have a prosthetic leg or two prosthetic legs. I didn't have anyone else I could look at to say, well, they got through it and they're fine. I was in a very unique situation. I was in, like a worst case scenario situation. And so it was just so hard. And I also felt like everything I worked so hard for got completely ripped away. And it just makes me think about attachments. Like, that is where I think our suffering has got to come from. Just being attached, right? To who we think we are and the way we think we're supposed to live and the way. And who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to do. And. And I was attached, you know, after all these years, I was attached to. No, I'm Amy Purdy, who's an athlete, who does all these things, who figures out the possibilities in two prosthetic legs. That's been my whole, like, goal and dream and what I've shared for all these years. My, my, you know, my motto is live beyond limits. It's like, that's what I do. And now I am off my feet, no clue if I'll ever walk again. And, and just completely broken down. So it was, it was the hardest experience of my life. And it extended for years. When I was 19, it was like I lost my legs. And the illness that I went through, it was done and over with. I survived what I went through, lost my legs. Everything was in the past and I could move forward with this. This has challenged everything for me about resilience because it's been this extended process of continuing forward every day. And what is it that helps me and that can help us continue forward every day through the big and the little challenges. And so it has been a journey.

[Kathy Heller]

It makes so much sense, everything that you just said, because the initial moments of your story, it's like the movie Rocky. It's like, okay, can she or can't she? And then you do. And then you had this consciousness. I mean, you also had a near death experience where you felt like you were choosing. I don't know if you want to share that, but like you were like, I'm coming back down. I think that they said to you, it's going to be hard if you go and you say, I'm going, right?

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah, yeah. And yeah, so I did. I had a near death experience when I was 19, when I was in the hospital. The first, it was the first week that I was in the hospital with meningitis. There were so many, actually, there are just so many miraculous, beautiful things that happened at that time and that was one of them. But it was during the hardest time, right? So I had entered the hospital full septic shock. They gave me less than a 2% chance of living. Blood pressure completely crashed. And they told my parents she has maybe two hours left to live. My parents were like four hours away. So they rushed in to try to see me before, hopefully before I died. The doctors said we have never seen anyone pull out of kidney failure this bad before. So I was in full kidney failure when I entered the hospital. Meanwhile, by the way, the day before I was perfectly healthy. So it just came out of the blue. I even saw blood work recently that I had had the day before. That was just random routine blood work and it was perfectly fine. So to go from even, like my white blood count was completely normal, like 8,000 the day before.

[Kathy Heller]

That's a detail I've never heard. That's insane.

[Amy Purdy]

Isn't that crazy?

[Kathy Heller]

Yeah, it's very hard to understand.

[Amy Purdy]

But when I entered the hospital, I think my white blood count was over 200,000. So just overnight that was just suddenly something took hold, right? Was I had this massive blood infection. It came out of nowhere. And so when I entered the hospital, it was absolutely dire. They told my parents to gather friends and family because I wasn't going to make it through the night. I. I remember everybody around me praying for me, not being able to breathe, not being able to catch my breath because my lungs were collapsing. I was immediately, well within like a day of entering the hospital. I was put into an induced coma and put on life support. And while I was in that coma, my abdomen was getting bigger and bigger. And they didn't know what was going on, but they assumed that I was probably internally bleeding. But I was so weak that they couldn't really take me into CAT scan to see what was going on. They ended up being able to do that, but it took something like 13 hours and a room full of doctors and nurses to move me onto the CAT scan table. They lifted just like finger by finger, as slow as could be because I was so unstable. If they would just move my finger a little bit too much. My heart rate would shoot up, my blood pressure would crash. I was in something that was called dic, which is a very complex name to say, but the nurses say that it stands for Death Is Coming because my blood was so thin that it would also shoot off all these microscopic blood clots that could go to your heart, your brain, anywhere at any time. And so all of this was happening. I was in the process of dying, and I finally was able to get into CAT scan. And this is a few days now after I entered the hospital. And they saw that my spleen was about ready to burst and that it was 10 times its normal size. And so they had to rush me into surgery, emergency surgery. My parents, I mean, I can only imagine what my parents went through. You know, just at that point, definitely had no idea if they'd ever see me again. And so anyways, I got rushed into emergency surgery. I remember being in that surgery. I remember, you know, here I'm in a coma and on life support, but I remember the doctor being there, knowing that they were trying to help me. I remember my heart was beating so fast in my chest. It was just absolutely quivering in my chest. And I kept thinking I was in heart surgery because I felt them. I felt the doctor cut me open from my sternum down to my belly button. And it wasn't painful at all. I just knew that it was happening. I could feel kind of the pressure of it. And I thought I was in heart surgery because my aunt has the same scar. And I was feeling my heart just beating so fast. And I remember thinking, you know, these guys better hurry up, because I am going. I am going right now. And I felt like I was just hanging on by my fingertips, like just on the edge of a cliff by my fingertips. And right then I remember the doctor, his name was Dr. Abby, this amazing Indian doctor. And his whole journey of coming to save me is actually a miracle in itself. But he. He whispered in my ear, he said, amy, whatever it is you believe in, I want you to think about that right now, Amy. And right then I. I thought to myself, ooh, Kathy, this is making me teary eyed. I haven't told this story in so long. But right in that moment, I told. I thought to myself, I believe in love. And, you know, and I thought love is. I mean, it is our creator, right? It is that creative energy. It is what makes us creative. Like, it makes us give our art to the world, give our voice to the world. Like, give our Music to the world, whatever it is like that is love. And I just thought, I believe in love. And, you know, had you have asked me that when I was awake and aware and before all this happened, like, Amy, you know, right now, I want you to think of what. What is it that you believe in? I don't know what I would have said. I don't know if I would have gone to that. So to be in that moment, to know that is my absol.

[Kathy Heller]

Truth.

[Amy Purdy]

That the last question that I'm asked before I die, like that I believe in love. And it completely, you know, knowing that totally changed my life. But going a little bit further into the story, I. It was in that moment that I remember feeling my last heartbeat. And I remember I suddenly. I was just pulled out of my body. I was suddenly in this space and where it was dark, but I saw a light in front of me. It was a very. It wasn't like this bright light at the end of the tunnel, but it was enough of a light to see three beings that were standing in front of me. And they were silhouettes, and I. So I didn't recognize them, but they were going like this with their hands, and they were saying, you can come with us or you can stay. And I remember just getting so mad, so mad. And that I was even in this situation, I thought, no, no. Like, every bit of energy in my body, I just. I screamed, no, I'm not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere. And then I started thinking about all these little things that I love about life. I started thinking about, you know, first of all, I haven't even fallen in love yet. I was 19 years old, and I was like, I haven't even fallen in love yet. But then I also thought to myself, I love the smell of a campfire. And I love. I even thought, I love the taste of hose water. Like hose water when you're a kid, that metallic hose water. I thought, I cannot give that up. I just thought of all these, like, all these sensory little things that we call little things, right? But in that moment were so profound to me and just so important to me. And I thought, there's no way I can give these things up. And right then I remember there was a bright light, the brightest light ever on my shoulder. And it basically was saying to me, or communicating to me. It was saying, like, you made a good choice, but just know that your life is going to be different and that life is going to be challenging, and there's going to be ups and downs, but just Know that it's all going to make sense in the end. And so when I woke up from this coma that I was in, I was actually. I had this breathing tube in. I was actually wording, I was wording that because I didn't want to forget it. It was like waking up from a dream when you don't want to forget what you learned in a dream. And so I was saying it to myself, it's all going to make sense in the end. It's all going to make sense in the end. I have this breathing tube down my throat and I remember my mom saying to the doctor, why is she doing that with her mouth? Why is she doing that? And the doctor said, oh, patients do that because they're trying to get the tube out. But I was thinking to myself, no, I'm saying that it will all make sense in the end. Like, I just had this whole experience of my mom. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and I wrote down, I wrote down that I had a choice to. I had a choice and I chose to live. And, you know, so that moment impacted my entire life. I'm so happy we're talking about it because it's even a reminder for me right now of just how much more is going on that we don't see that is just so. That's guiding us. That's there always. And just the beautiful, like, miracle of life that we tend to forget when we just get caught up in our day to day. Right.

[Kathy Heller]

I mean, it is such a profound honor to sit here and get to hear this firsthand. And what you just said was living Mozart. I mean, you are like a walking Van Gogh. It is like everybody should hear what you just said and listen to it every morning. Because what you said about love and what you said, every detail of what you said, nobody would choose to want to go through such a horrific experience. And yet you lived more in that experience, in this deaf experience. You lived with a capital L more than most people live in their entire lifetimes. What you received, what you saw, what you perceived, that if only we could have that.

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah.

[Kathy Heller]

What would we do to have that? What mountain would we hike? What, what journey would we go on to? To be able to meet with God and meet with the truth and meet with love and be completely filled with the essence of what this whole thing is about. And so it's like everywhere you go, your resonance, your frequency, your field, what you broadcast into the field, I say this about you all the time. I'm like, when Amy steps into a room, she makes all problems disappear. And it's not just because you've overcome significant challenges. It's your consciousness. Your consciousness. And so moving it into. I mean, thank God you were willing to share that story. Honestly, like, it's such an incredible. It feels like a miracle every time you say it to just even get to hear it, that there's a person walking around this earth that has ever thought those thoughts or ever said those things, it feels biblical. Like, it really feels next level. And the fact that you knew to write it down. And your mom's like, here you are 19. You're like, no, no, I had a choice. I chose to stay. And so it's amazing. I've been taught the sages say that we choose. We sign on the dotted line, we're shown the movie of our life, and we sign up for the assignment. And all the more. So why. It makes sense that this last set of surgeries and what you went through in those seven years and those 10 surgery was. It makes sense that that was harder in a way because you had already, you thought, passed the biggest test of your life. And then there were all of the fireworks and you were in flow state. You were literally just moving from a higher state of consciousness, which is, of course, how all of those things are always going to come. You're a magnet for them. So then all of a sudden to be thrown into. Wait a minute. But, but this doesn't make any sense. And, and it's not, it's not, it doesn't have, for lack of a better word, it doesn't have the movie glamour of the initial incident. Because now I'm just explaining arteries and I'm. And it's, it's really, really painful and it's going on and it's chronic and it's day after day. Like, this is hard. Like, this is really hard. And people are not understanding it in the way that they did when things were more dramatic. Let's say it's almost like the nuances of it. People fail to grasp how painful chronic pain is. And we don't have. We in our society, honestly, we don't know how to hold that. We know how to be there for someone when, when, when, when there's a major, major thing that goes down. But when it's your day to day life, people are like, amy, Amy, I heard that already. You know, like, you know, they kind of want you to just like, let's move on now. And you're like, well, this, this is my reality.

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah, I mean, it completely opened my eyes up in a completely different way than I had experienced before. In fact, right before this injury happened, somebody reached out to me. A follower on Instagram reached out and said, amy, I love what you have to share about resilience and overcoming obstacles and using your challenges, but what do you do when you're in chronic pain? What do you do when you're in chronic pain every single day? And to be honest, I didn't know how to answer because I had really never experienced it. I think people oftentimes think that having prosthetic legs because you go through an amputation and all of that, that you live with chronic pain. I had never had much pain at all in my life. I mean, my legs, if I walk on them too much, just like walking in a tight pair of high heels, if you walk in those too much, you're going to get sore. Right? But it's very, like, circumstantial like that. But no. Chronic pain I had never experienced in my life until this moment. And so that was actually one of the little reframes. And one of the things that I wrote about in the book was how to kind of reframe our thoughts. Because there were moments where I was dealing with these. With chronic pain, you cannot get inspired for the future. You cannot even think about the future. Pain puts you right in the here and now. It brings you right into your body right now, and you can't escape it. I mean, there's, you know, there's a blessing in that presence, but there's also, you cannot escape what you're going through. You can't just get lost and daydream of, oh, my gosh, I'm going to do these things. And that's what I've always been so I think good at is being able to just daydream and visualize and think about the future and create new projects and create new things. And I absolutely could not do it because of the pain that I was experiencing. And so I had to lean on something else to get me through that. And what helped me through those moments of pain is all I could think was, okay, now I can help answer this lady's question. Like, maybe I need to go through this so that I can experience things in a way that I can help. Help other people a little bit better who are going through their challenges instead of just, oh, be positive and happy and move. It's, how do you get through these tough moments? Now I'm experiencing them, and I don't have the answers, but I was Very open to trying to figure them out and trying to figure out what the answers were for me so that I could help other people. And so that's a little bit of a. You know, that in itself is. Is like a mindset shift tool when going through challenges, which is, how can I take the situation I'm in and maybe look at it in a little bit of a different way? That can open up something, right? So I'm not stuck. It's like, I don't have to just be stuck in pain and my life is over. Wait a second. Maybe I can help other people because I'm experiencing this. Maybe I can help other people in a better way because I'm experiencing this. Just that reframe is enough to kind of give you a sliver of hope and, you know, and help you feel like, okay, there is a little glimmer of light that maybe could come out of this. And that's. Sometimes that's all you have. Have. Have to lean on.

[Kathy Heller]

I mean, once again, what's very, very consistent about you is you have a way of reaching for the highest possible consciousness, highest possible. You're like, okay, God, I got it. Like, and I have heard it said that the opposite of depression is purpose. And so when you gave yourself. Well, you know what? This woman's question brings me into purpose around this. And I want to serve. I came to the world to serve, which is so gorgeous. And you serve constantly just being you. And in the book, you talk about how to move from this feeling of being helpless to feeling empowered, how to move grief to hope. Very often our mind, and I don't think it's our soul that does it, but I think our mind very often looks for the evidence that we are a victim of our circumstances. And I think time and time again, you were here to tell a different story. But we. We can definitely litigate against ourselves and say, but wait a minute, you don't understand. You don't understand, Right? So when that happens, there's nothing good that can come out of that. Litigating against ourselves and looking for the evidence that our circumstances are. Are. Are a fait accompli. So what's your advice? Because you talk about this in many different ways in the book. When we're feeling that way, how do we pattern interrupt, and how do we get back onto the flow of life where we are empowered and we're no longer now going to be a victim to whatever the cards that were dealt?

[Amy Purdy]

So, I mean, first of all, I think we all have moments where we Feel like a victim. So I certainly, I cannot say that I took this and went, you know what? Okay, I'm going to do something with this. I had, I had those dark moments. I lost my identity. I felt dark moments of grief, dark moments of anxiety. And I did not. I missed myself. I missed the Amy that was positive, that could get through everything. So I say that because I think people just assume that if you get through these hard times, that that's you. You're just a strong, resilient person. And I can't do that. No, I, I went through those moments as well. I think that sometimes it just goes back to the most simple of things. And one of those things, the thing that I, the only thing that I felt like I had in that moment, in those hard, hard moments, was presence. Like being really, really present and like, present with the pain. Like present with the moment and literally just looking out the window. KATHY I laid on my couch because we have a three story house. I could not get up to the top story of my house. I mean, I slept on that couch for a year. I'd have to scoot up my butt on the couch, sorry, off the couch, scoot up my butt, up the stairs, crawl around on my knees if I wanted to go to my own bedroom to get dressed or something. I ended up living on this main floor of our house for an entire year because I. It was just too hard to navigate. And what could I do? I was in so much pain. I was laying on the couch, but I would look out the window and just look at the leaves on the trees blowing in the wind. I'd look at the bird that's on the branch. I would look at the snow falling beautifully. I would look at these moments around me that would just help me be really present in the moment and just grateful for even those little things, right? Like just in awe of life a little bit. Like I don't know what my mess is all about, but I know that that out the window is beautiful and that is miraculous and that makes me feel grateful. And so I think that sometimes just going to the most basic things of presence versus like, instead of resisting what is. Because that's what makes things so painful. It's like, this is what it is. And I have to just embrace and accept where I'm at. Today doesn't mean forever, just means today. And then paying attention to the little things that do feel good, that's what grows, right? Whatever we focus on grows. So if you sit there and focus on your problems, your problems are going to grow. That's all there is to it. But if you focus on the little slivers of light, whatever they may be, and literally could be the bird that's sitting outside the window that you think is beautiful for a minute, just focusing on those things, it does something right. It opens you up, it opens your heart, it gives you, reminds you of possibility or hope or beauty. And it's just enough to sometimes let the light in. And so one of the biggest things, and I think one of the biggest tools from this book and the biggest thing that I find myself talking about, especially lately, really is presence. Because when you can be present and you know, and there's a lot of practices, you know it with meditation and breath work, but gosh, you could be present just by taking a deep breath and just being in the moment and focusing on one little thing that's in the moment, I think that's where we find our power is like in that pause. And so if you're feeling like a victim and like the world's against me and everything's against me, it's like, okay, we've got to get really quiet with ourselves and really look at what we're dealing with here. But also instead of trying to change it, instead of trying to resist it, for sure, it's got to be a level of acceptance of where you are today and being present with the moment and finding the little glimmers of light. And that's those glimmers are what can light the way.

[Kathy Heller]

It's absolutely so beautiful. And I love that you've always had continuous, like you live in nature, all your Instagram stories, you know, you and your dog outside, but there's like a deer and there's a moose and it's like to think of you like fully even choosing to live up in the mountains, in the snow, in a three story house. Like even before this new injury, it was like you have prosthetics, but you're so available for fully living. And I love you looking at that little bird on the branch and you just help me to see it. And every single day do we stop and see the 19 shades of green outside our window. And therefore how many times are we going through a season where nothing's wrong? But how much of it are you available to receive? How much of it are you saying one of the miracles, you use the word miracle and all these little things are miracles. But I don't know if you want to share. I mean, what happened? What wound up happening with your leg, with your Arteries and the smaller artery. That. That story, again, it's one of those inside baseball because it has so much to do with these, you know, sinews and ways that the body is so miraculously taking care of us. But that was the biggest miracle stories I've ever heard. Do you want to share what wound up happening with your leg?

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah. It is very amazing. And let me tell you, too, Kathy, because you are such a part of it. Like, you are a part of reminding me as well of the miracles that are, you know, and the miracles that we all experience, but also the divine. And when I was going into one of these surgeries, and I write this in the book, I don't know if you saw it, but when I was going into one of these surgeries, I was telling you, I said, you. I think you reached out to me to see how I was doing. And I was like, gosh, I'm going back into surgery. And, you know, this time I'm really scared because I definitely. I had to be in there by myself for, like, nine days because of COVID and all the shutdown and regulations and stuff. And you said, well, you said, well, looks like you just need another divine download. And eventually that's how you're going in. Yeah. What a perfect reframe for me. I thought, oh, my gosh, absolutely. Yes. Because when you are so. Not only under anesthesia, but also just so challenged, that's when you're closest to God and. Absolutely. And it was a divine download. Let me tell you. It was a very spiritual experience for those nine days sitting in the hospital, looking out the window. I didn't turn on the tv. I didn't pick up my phone. I literally just had this feeling and energy and light. I felt so creative. I felt excited for the future. There was so much beauty that happened in that moment. It was absolutely a divine download. So you set me up for that.

[Kathy Heller]

It's such an honor to even receive any of those words. I. I'm just blown away. Thank you. That's just.

[Amy Purdy]

I was just so, so amazing. But again, just another little reframe, right. Of, like, I could go in thinking it's the end of the world, or, wait a second, maybe I just need another divine download.

[Kathy Heller]

I remember you. You were in Boston, right? For that.

[Amy Purdy]

Yes.

[Kathy Heller]

And I remember you saying, I think this is correct. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this was another one of the 10 surgeries, but there was one of them. You were like, I wasn't in as much pain.

[Amy Purdy]

I had zero. And that was it. And When I tell you zero pain. And the thing that was crazy, they re amputated my leg. Like, they took off, I think another. I don't know, maybe just like another two inches. Because this was part of these surgeries. We're trying to get more blood flow. So they took off bone and muscle and totally redid my leg. I felt absolutely zero pain to the point of where I mean, even just looking at my leg like it was, you know, totally bruised and all these stitches and black and blue and all this. And the nurses could not believe I had zero pain at all. It's almost as if my body just did not get the memo that I was supposed to be in pain. It was incredible. So that was just another miraculous moment. It was just fascinating to me. But that was. So that was one out of 10 surgeries. All these surgeries were either like that, where they were kind of external surgeries trying to shorten my leg or reconstructing my leg, which I did have this whole experimental surgery that reconstructed the muscles of my lower leg just to try to get more blood flow. But then some of the surgeries were also internal surgeries where they would go and I would be awake for them. I think I had this done maybe eight times. But they would go into my right leg, into my right femoral artery. They would go up my artery all the way across my body, and then down the artery of my left leg, and they would go in there, and they would stretch out the arteries because they were so injured that they got really, really small and blood wasn't getting through them. So I was awake, and I felt every single part of it. And, you know, I had to go through probably eight of those. And so. So we were doing everything we could to get blood flow to the bottom of my leg so that I wouldn't lose my leg above the knee. And we had. I mean, we had done everything, and. And I ended up having the surgery that we were just talking about, and everything went fine. I got through that surgery really well. But I think it was maybe two or three months later. I suddenly just had this morning where my leg felt cold, and I was like, gosh, why? Again? Like, I have been going through, at this point, years of this, and it's like, again, like, why can't I just get some a win here? You know? And I ended up going into my vascular surgeon again. That whole artery had, like, completely blocked up again. So, again, blood clot from my hip down every artery of my left leg. That's what we were trying to clear up and fight from happening again for the last two years. And now it just happened. So he was like, I can bring you into one last surgery. Let's just see what's going on. And. And he did. And I. And that was a hard surgery to go into because that surgery in itself was really painful. They have to drip this. It's called tpa, and it's basically like acid in your arteries to break down. It was. It was a lot. And so. But I decided, you know what? I know I'm not ready to give up on fighting this. Right. I want to try one last thing, and if it doesn't work, then I'm okay giving up with trying. And so we went in to do this whole thing. It ended up being very traumatic. My artery totally collapsed. They ended up putting, like. He calls it a full metal jacket, like, five stents down my artery, and all of this to try to keep my artery open. And I ended up going home from surgery, and blood was flowing and things were okay, but my leg didn't feel right. And I went into him maybe two weeks later just to see what was going on. And he said, you know, your entire arterial system at this point has just collapsed. It's done. It is done. He's like, I cannot do anything else. It is done. I was once again. So I would get moments of relief throughout all this, but I was once again in this pain of. I'm just back to where I was two years ago when all this began. Right. We were doing everything we could to fight this. Now I'm here. Well, there was nothing we could do at this point, and my leg was numb and cold, and I was like, okay. You know, at this point, I had no other choice, really, but to surrender. And it felt so good. I remember coming home from that doctor appointment and feeling this massive relief that there was nothing else we could do. It was really interesting. I thought, wow. Yeah. Like you, I. Here. I've been fighting for two years, but finally I went, oh, my God, I can relax. There's nothing else we can do. And so I gave myself this kind of goal. Not really a goal, but kind of a deadline, where I thought, if my leg is not good. So I think this was March of that year, and I thought, if my leg's not good by November, then I'm just going to amputate it above the knee like that. Is it because I don't want to be in pain. I want to be over this situation. Let's just cut out the problem and move on, you know? That was everything I was trying to avoid in the first place. But at the same time, somehow that became a hopeful option too. Like there is still something I can do. And it seems like so it's the worst case scenario. But I even say this in the book, that sometimes the worst case scenario isn't the worst case scenario after all. You know, you think it is, but in this moment it gave me actually hope, thinking, okay, if this doesn't work, I'll just amputate my leg above the knee next year and I'll be done with all of it. Well, I ended up for those next couple months just trying to heal, trying to relax. My leg was totally uncomfortable, but I really tried to just do a lot of self care, take care of myself, read books, just do what I could to just keep my mental health intact while I was going through this. But I woke up one day in June and my leg felt surprisingly great. And I thought, my leg has not felt this good in years. Like it was warm and everything was good. And so I went in that day to my vascular surgeon, he did an ultrasound and we found something that we did not expect. So if you do the ultrasound down my leg, you'll see this black pipe, which is literally my femoral artery. And that is the main artery bringing blood to your leg. That was still totally black, but we saw this little glimmer of red and then all of a sudden we saw all this red. So basically my body, it ended up creating a brand new artery that goes from my hip all the way down the side of my femoral artery and it branches off into two below the knee. And it's very rare to not only have that, but to have it in that way. So there is something called collateral arteries that your body is trying to get blood. So your body sometimes will create these little squirrely arteries that are so small you can't even see them on an ultrasound. But they're trying to get blood to the furthest part of your body, like to your foot or something. Well, this isn't that. This is actually like a brand new femoral artery. It is this big pipe of blood that just comes off from a whole different artery up in my hip and goes straight down, feeds blood below the knee, which is so fascinating. It's like branches of a tree that were reaching down to feed blood where it's needed. But the really interesting part about that too is being an amputee, the fact that I don't have from mid shin down, why would my body send so much blood down There. And in fact, that was the problem all along was they're like, we can't do a bypass because the vessels get so small down there that, like, there's no place for the blood to go. So the fact that my body created this when I don't even have a foot to feed, but yet it feeds my lower leg completely saved my leg. It was so amazing. And I just thought to myself, you know, like, here we were, doing everything we could to save my leg, and as. As soon as we basically gave up, it saved itself. And it's just really amazing what. What our bodies are capable of, you know, just the miracles that. That can happen. That.

[Kathy Heller]

Exactly.

[Amy Purdy]

So for me, I just. It was just another, you know, here. This whole time I thought, where am I? Where are my miracles? Where are my miracles? And then it's like, here you go. And, you know, that also made me think that we expect miracles to be on our timeline. Like, I wanted the miracles early on, right? Like, something was supposed to be saving me. So I didn't go through all of this. But the miracle did come. It just didn't come on my timeline. And it didn't come until I surrendered completely to the situation. And then it's like, that allowed the divine in to, like, do its work without, you know, us interfering.

[Kathy Heller]

I mean, it's like Chef's kiss. It is like such a gift. Again, just to sit here. I'm like, wow, this is. All. This is. All anybody wants is to have the honor of getting to hear this unbelievable level of life. And it is fascinating. It reminds me because about a month ago, we just celebrated Passover. We talk about the splitting of the Red Sea. And it reminds me of the same story because you were saying, I was looking, where's the miracle? But meanwhile, you were trying to be the steward of it, right? Yeah. And like I was just saying earlier to a friend of mine, like, our job is not to be the sun, it's to be the moon that doesn't have to generate the light. It just reflects the light of the sun.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Kathy Heller]

Just like you. Like, you're so beautiful to look at because it's what's coming through you that's so beautiful. Yes. You're also. God did an extra good job with you. You're actually so stunning. You could be like a total Vogue cover girl, which you are. And also you have what's coming through you, which is what makes you really, really beautiful. But the idea here is that you spent all this time being like, okay, how am I going to figure it out. And what are. What are me and the doctors like? We're looking at the three dimensional reality. We're looking at ourselves. We're putting here. Like, it's on me to figure this out and it's on us to do this. And. And meanwhile, God's like, if you could just hand this over, right? And so, you know, they. They're leaving Egypt and they think, okay, like, we've been through so much already. And then they get literally between a rock and a hard place. They're like, well, there's. There's water, like, what are we supposed to do? And finally they have this remembering that, hang on a minute, we've already been through everything that we've been through, so clearly there is a level, there is a spiritual dimension that is governing our lives that it's not on us to figure out. And so one of them, his name was Nocturne, he just walked into the water and everyone's like, what is he doing? And he walks into his knees and he walks into his hips, and he walks into his shoulders, and finally he walks in till it's totally above his head and they're all staring at him like, what is he doing? Is he gonna drown himself? And it's at that moment when he walks in completely, the C splits, right? Because when we give it over and we say, I came for the miracle, I came to remember, it's not cause and effect that does the heavy lifting. It's the consciousness of remembering. I'm never asked to do this alone.

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah.

[Kathy Heller]

And when I remember that I have the greatest partner, which is the creator of the universe, I hand it over, I lay it at his feet, and then I get the greatest gift. I mean, what's so awesome is that you've been chosen to show people miracle after miracle. And on some level, I'm sure many people look at you and they're like, she's so incredible. And yet they think they would never trade places with you. And yet you experience moments where you're like, oh, my God, I feel bad for you that you've never experience what I get to experience.

[Amy Purdy]

Right?

[Kathy Heller]

Yeah, it's awesome. Like, it's literally like, it's not supposed to happen. So we think because we're so busy looking at evidence in this very narrow place, which is just the three dimensional plane. And then there's everything that actually inspires us about life, which are all the things that have no logic, it makes no sense, except that here you are, right? It's so much bigger than logic. It's Love. It's a blessing. It's grace. It's incredible. I'm. I'm just so blown away. And now I have to ask you. I know that we're, like, finishing up, but. And I know that it's like a totally different direction, but this past year with my daughters, we became obsessed with Dancing with the Stars. And I only had watched it when you were on. I had gone back actually to watch it. And you're so like that. I don't know that. That we've ever spent enough. I know you've talked about it many, many times and everybody knows that you've done it, but it's literally the most miraculous thing I've ever seen. You are moving your legs so fast and I'm looking down going, oh, my gosh. Every week you had to come up with new feet, right? Anyway, I just thought you might want to chime in because there are so many people listening to the show who love you and love that show and love the fact that you were on that show. And my daughter even says, like, she loves Alix Earle and Alex Rowell's runner up this year, but she's like, Amy Purdy was the best person and how did she not win? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how. I don't know how that's possible, but it's all good. What is that memory like for you?

[Amy Purdy]

I'm just curious. It gets even more and more amazing, actually, looking back at what I was able to do, especially with what I've gone through over the last seven years. I mean, I've been in this process of trying to get back on my feet, right, Which I am. I am trying to get my legs comfortable again. Like, the journey has been really long and intense over the last seven years. And I look back at those videos and I'm like, how did I do that? I don't even know how I did that myself. But everything aligned. It was just one of those truly, like, godsend moments where I was physically in the best shape of my life because I was doing the Paralympic Games. And I was also in this really creative space because I had been working on my legs to be able to do the Paralympic Games and then to get this opportunity to do Dancing with the Stars. I've never even danced before, like, you know, besides going out with my friends, but had no idea of what I'd be able to do. And then, you know, just having the opportunity to figure out the possibilities on tv, not knowing what the Outcome was going to be. In fact, I was really nervous a lot of the time that, like, I'm going to fail. I'm going to, you know, show the world this isn't possible. Which that's what I absolutely didn't want to do. My goal was hopefully to show what was possible. And I would think about these little kids watching TV and just, you know, I wanted them to see what was possible and not just what was possible for someone with a disability, but somebody like them, right? Like, oh, if she can do this and she can work through her challenges and get creative with them and actually go places because of them, then I can do that as well. And so that fueled me, even though it was just incredibly challenging, of course, but it was also just so rewarding, and it taught me so much. I mean, I've learned this through everything in my life. But our greatest challenges are also our greatest teachers, right? Our greatest challenges teach us so much, but also our greatest accomplishments are also the hardest things we've ever done. And, like, the two go hand in hand. Challenge and opportunity go hand in hand. And that's what Dancing with the Stars is, for me, an example of. And when I look back on those videos, I'm just so proud and so grateful I have them. And I'm also grateful that that all happened before this injury. And that makes me feel like that, too, is divine timing. I feel like I was meant to do that. I was meant to be on this not only big stage, but where people had to, like, chime in and vote and. Because that allowed people, like, that allowed what I was doing and what we were figuring out to become a part of people's households and conversations and conversations with their kids. And people come up to me every day still and say how much it impacted their lives. And now those little kids are in their 20s, and they'll come up to me and say, oh, my gosh. When I was five years old, I watched that with my grandma, and it helped me figure, you know, feel like I could do anything I wanted with my life as well. Just incredible, powerful stuff. I'm so grateful.

[Kathy Heller]

You also looked so exquisite. Like, the costumes, your hair, your face. Like, the way you move, like, it just brings me to tears. We went back, and I showed it to my daughters this year because we were watching this season. I'm like, you know, Amy was on, like, no. And so we went back, and I was like, I mean, it's. There are no words. I'm. I'm just like, it is absolutely exquisite to see you Every piece of it. Yeah. And when you were just saying our challenges reveal to us who we are, I've been saying over and over lately, I've been telling my kids, I'm like, when God wants to make you, David, he sends you Goliath. Because the biggest lie is that we don't. We don't understand. We don't grasp our greatness. Yeah. So we. We are just so willing to believe that whatever predicament we're in is bigger than us. And we just forgot. We forgot what actually lives inside of us.

[Podcast Host]

And you.

[Kathy Heller]

This book shows people that you live it. It's. It's the most incredible gift. Every single person, if you're listening right now, not only buy the book, but buy five copies and give them to the people that you want to remind that they should know the greatness that lives in them and that they should live. Available for the miracles. There is no. I mean, there's just.

[Amy Purdy]

Come on.

[Kathy Heller]

Like you. It should be required reading.

[Amy Purdy]

Well, Kathy, thank you so much for that. I also feel that way about you, though, because you are a constant reminder of this, of what's. What's really there that we don't always see that we have to be reminded. You know, we have to be reminded of our. Of our spirit and our soul and how we're connected. We're connected to each other. We're connected to the divine. You are such a. You are such a gift in this space. And, you know, for me, writing this book was. I really just wanted people to know that they can do this too. Like. Like they can figure these things out as well. You come to a roadblock, you think it's the end. You know, this book gives you a way through. It's like, this is how you can do it, not just believing in the possibilities. Here's some tangible steps you can take right now to get through this moment that you're dealing with and where it can lead. And, I mean, it's just. We all have the power to live an amazing life. And we all. Not just an amazing life, more like a fulfilled, whole, meaningful life. That's what it is. Not this big life. Not everybody wants to live a big life, but a meaningful life. That's what it's about. Even in the midst of adversity. And that's what this book is about. In the midst of adversity, this is how you live a good life and a really good life. So I hope that that's what comes across with all of it.

[Kathy Heller]

I'm so grateful that you are here that you walk around, that we get to share the same timeline on Earth like you being here. It's just the most exquisite, gorgeous gift. And I always say words don't teach. Experience does. But when people hear your words, you are an experience. You know, you're being with you, it, it completely. It's a transmission, it's moving, it's. It's life changing. It's. It's one of those moments that you cannot put into words, but you can never unhear it. You're not the same as you were before. So it's a complete honor that you shared the story and we got to go through and re relive and be beside you as you walk through the hero's journey. And may you just be blessed with the most incredible third, fourth, fifth, sixth. Acts like till you're 120 like beaming miracles and possibilities into this world because you're such a blessing for all of us. And I'm just so grateful and I receive every kind Gorgeous coming from you. Any one of those reflections is like the greatest birthday gift, Christmas gift. I appreciate it. I receive it. I am so touched. And where can we buy this book?

[Amy Purdy]

Thank you. I mean you can buy it on Amazon. You can go to my website. Of course we have a landing page my website, amypurdy.com, so you can buy it from a few different bookstores there as well. And yes, I would love. We're actually doing a book club, but this may be playing before or after the book club takes off.

[Kathy Heller]

We can put this out whenever we can rush it. When does your book club start?

[Amy Purdy]

Tomorrow.

[Kathy Heller]

Okay. What starts tomorrow? Well, I will do an Instagram story about that and then we will put this out as soon as possible. I think it's better if they order it from your website, right? Isn't it?

[Amy Purdy]

Yeah, it is. That's the thing. It actually it's way better to order it through the website. I, you know, at least we can

[Kathy Heller]

do is to support these local.

[Amy Purdy]

More Exactly. Much, much better to especially because I, you know, I hybrid published this book which was a whole journey versus my first book which was traditionally published. So hybrid publishing it, you're investing in it yourself and the belief of it and everything to get it into the world. So absolutely go into my website, amyperty.com, you can buy the book there.

[Kathy Heller]

Done, done, done. It's a great gift for kids during graduation season. It's a great gift for your parents. It's a great gift for your best friend, for your spouse. Let's go. Everyone should read. Even. You know, so often people write a book and I. I'm reminded all the time. It's so often that it's just one line. One line alone can change your whole life. It's like that Marianne Williamson quote, we all repeat one line. So imagine based on this conversation, how many of those pages you can circle in that one line. You can just keep coming back to keep it by your nightstand. And you're like, this brings me back to life. So thank you. This was beautiful.

[Amy Purdy]

Thank you so much. Kathy, you are beautiful. I just, I'm so grateful for you and just thank you.

[Podcast Host]

Amy is truly one in a zillion. I always walk away in so much awe for who she is and what God can do. Whenever I speak to her, I am in tears and I am changed. Here are the takeaways. Number one, Believe in love. Number two, there's so much guiding us that we don't see. It's always there. That's the miracle of life. Number three, your pain can lead you to helping others. Just that reframe is enough to give you a sliver of hope and a glimmer of light that can show you the path. Number four, we expect miracles to be on our timeline, but they come when you completely surrender and allow the divine to do its work. Number five, our greatest challenges are our greatest teachers. Our greatest accomplishments are also the hardest things we've ever done. Challenge and opportunity go hand in hand. And number six, live beyond limits. Thank you so much for being here and for listening, especially to this show. This is such a divine conversation. If anything in this episodes really spoke to you, I would be so grateful and Amy would be so touched if you took a moment and follow the show but leave us a review. It's truly the best way that other people can find the podcast is when you leave a review. But you might just want to DM Amy or DM me on Instagram and let us know what about this episode spoke to you. We saw a Beautiful comment on YouTube from Rise Meditate about the episode we did with Krista Williams and the comment was my favorite episode ever. And there's been so many good ones, but this one stayed with me for days and I felt the energetic shift by listening. That is such a beautiful comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave these reviews and these comments. And before you go, if you're ready to stop circling this idea of what's really next for you and you're finally ready to walk into the room where playing bigger is really what you were here and designed to do. I have just released applications for my Mastermind and the most incredible female founders are going to be there and it is officially open. This is a high touch program for 35 women. It includes two retreats at my home and every person gets a private VIP day with me. So if you're saying yes and shaking your head, you can find the application link at the top of my new website, kathyheller.com and you can apply before the early bird rate ends on May 15. We are going to kick this off in August and I am so excited about it. I love you so much. I hope you have a beautiful, beautiful week.