Gratitude, Purpose, Persistence and Seizing the Day, lessons from our inspiring talk with Dr Dinesh
Our incredible trainer Vasalia organised a special guest speaker for her class and the team at FYI Education & Training.
We spoke to the Queensland Australian of the year Dr Dinesh Palipana and hear his story first hand. Below are quotes from the inspiring talk.
CELEBRATING QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
“This year I had the huge privilege of being Queensland Australian of the Year.
I grew up in Sri Lanka til I was 10 years old to and then came to Australia with my family. The things I think about often is how lucky we are to live in this country.
I know that millions of people around the world don’t have the opportunities that I do. They don’t have the ability to enjoy the lifestyle that I do. Even things like finding their next meal, or having clothing and having shelter, these are things that not many people have. So I consider myself extremely lucky to have these things.
This is also a part of why I am so grateful everyday.
Gratitude is big part of happiness.
And a big part of my happiness.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GRATITUDE
“Recently I was told that in positive psychology, people who are grateful tend to be a lot happier and tend to be a lot more productive.”
“I am so grateful for the list of reasons I mentioned. Everyday I have food, shelter I have a great job that I love, I have my mum, safety, and comfort… so I always think how can I not be happy. Because billions of people in the world don’t have these things. Some of the kids I grew up with don’t have these things, so I need to make the most of what I have.”
ON FINDING YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE
“When I graduated high school though I wasn’t really this person. I don’t think I really appreciated life as much as I do today. Those days I didn’t have a spinal cord injury, I had a good life, all the resources. But still I didn’t really appreciate life for what is was. The other thing was, I didn’t really think I have a purpose.
Why do we wake up in the morning?
Why do we have the energy to do things?
What makes us push just that little bit more?
It’s purpose - It’s the other magic ingredient that gives us happiness.”
STUDYING LAW BEFORE MEDICINE
“When I graduated high school I didn’t know what I wanted to do a lot of thinking and soul searching and decided to chat to my mum. Mum said, you’ll probably make a good lawyer, so why don’t you go to law school? And I went to law school. My thinking those days, I didn’t really appreciate law for what it is today, a tool for justice, human rights, to build out society and create progress. Everything is fundamentally built out of the law those days I thought would be a good job.”
DEPRESSION
“So I started studying law and I slowly became depressed.”
“Depression is the thing that effects so many people.”
“Over the last year during the pandemic, I have lost so many colleagues to suicide and depression, in the medical profession now.”
“Depression is something that is insidious and it sneaks up on us.
And often we don’t really know it is happening, we don’t realise til it’s too late and for me that was the case as well. Over a period of time I became flat and then low sad and then anxious al the time, and then panic attacks. I had depression, anxiety and panic disorder. It got so bad that I was too afraid to go outside the house and this is called Agoraphobia.”
“Right now I am in my car, looking at the rain, it’s a wet day, but beautiful. I can smell the rain here, right now, falling on the glass of my car. I can see tress and their colours. Everything is beautiful.”
“But when I had the depression the world wasn’t like this through my eyes. Everything was dark and grey. There was no colour and sound.
Everything was flat and everything was sad and sometime everything was scary.
Depression is like that and I think so many people are effected by it.”
FINDING YOUR PEOPLE
“One of my friends told me: When someone is going through depression, their inside their world and inside themselves and it’s a hard thing, it’s an incredible different thing. And for the people around them, it’s an incredibly difficult journey to take with them. Because it can be frustrating and hard.
But the most important thing in this journey is people. People that can walk with us through this dark world toward the light. But they have to keep turning up and walking, because it’s a marathon not a sprint.”
“I was lucky to have people like that in my life, and that is how I got through my depression.”
HOW IT CHANGED MY WORLD
“Now I see the world so beautiful - even when its raining - I see the beauty in it. The people around me and the doctor all changed my world.”
My mum says that “By helping one person, you might not change the world but you can change the world for them.”
“That is an opportunity we have every single day, not just in our jobs but in our lives.
“That philosophy had a deep impact on me and I decided to become a doctor because - what if I can could change someones world?”
FINDING PURPOSE
“When I got that purpose I had so much energy. I was like a new person, I was reborn. So I finished school, sat my exam, managed to get into medical and loved it from day one. But life was still not going to be straightforward.”
SEIZING THE DAY
“Another important thing I learnt, tomorrow is never guaranteed.”
“I see so many people coming through the doors of the energy department with a stroke, cardiac arrest, critical illness that changes their lives. Some of them don’t make it. I often wonder whether they wake up that morning, knowing that it’s going to be their last day on earth. Think about it - what if it was your last day on earth- how differently would you live it? I encourage you to live you like everyday as if it were your last.”
“I had a car accident not far from where I am sitting right now in 2010. I woke up in the intensive car unit, I couldn’t move my arms, I couldn’t move anything below my chest, I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t breath, talk, eat. I was on a ventilator, I didn’t know if it was day or night, and my physical, my social self and world was falling apart. I felt like a prisoner in my body. The person that I have become - I can tell you right now, comparing depression and the spinal cord injury, it was far worse to be a prisoner of my mind than it is to be a prisoner of my body.
The depression was a lot more paralysing than the spinal cord injury.”
FINDING LIGHT THROUGH THE DARK TIMES
“The other thing I learnt in the dark times that came 8 months in hospital learning how to do the most simplest like talking.. then another 4 years putting my life together before medical school again.
Strength- not came not from the amount of money, because had no money. It didn’t come from any titles —it didn’t come from any of this things that we sometimes think are valuable. It came from memories.
It came from knowing I seized the day before the accident. From knowing that I lived everyday to the fullest. Knowing that I took that last minute trip with my friends. And it was knowing that the last thing I did standing up was to give my mum a hug.”
“So seize the day and hug the people you love, because those are the things that will give you strength in the darkest times.”
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS
“I never lost the dream of wanting to be a doctor and I never lost the idea of wanting to change peoples words.”
“And so in 2015 I came back, got back to medical school. The funny thing is, a lot of people said how are you going to be a doctor if you can’t use your fingers, how are you going to be a doctor in the wheelchair and if you are will the patience take you seriously.”
THE POWER IN PERSISTENCE
“I was doing some reflection with friend thinking - What is the most powerful thing on this planet?
Is it talent?
Is it resources?
Is it intelligence?
Is it the physic?
What is the most powerful thing that will get you to your gaols, I can tell you right now it’s none of those things … what will beat all of those is persistence. Persistence will get you so far.”
FINDING YOUR VOICE & EDUCATION WILL EMPOWER YOU
“So I decided to be persistent. I figured out how to do things, I figured out how to hold my stethoscope even though can’t use my fingers, I figured out how to examine a patient, I figured out how to get around the hospital, I figured out how to do all these things. I studied a lot! I got up at 3am I went to the hospital, then I stayed up in the library til 11pm most days 6 days a week.”
THE PRESENT DAY
“And then in 2016 I graduated, I am now in my 6th year as a doctor.
I work in the busiest emergency department in Australia. Today I have a voice. Because I have my education. Education is the single most powerful thing you can have. Something that no one can take it away from you. The reason I am talking to you today is because I have the education to get me where I am.
Fight for your education because it will empower you.”
“Don’t ever give up on dreams and always persist.”
“There were a lot of people told me I couldn’t do it, there were a lot of people that told me its ridiculous.
GREAT ADVICE
“One of my friends said to me, “Life is not a reversal, the show it on right now” it is happening in-front of us - right now.”“Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can’t do or how you should live your life because at the end of the day their not going to be there. It’s easy for the spectator but hard for the gladiator in the arena, that’s the true hero”
“Keep people around you that support you and believe in your dreams.”
“When you do make it, make sure that you support the people that want to follow your path. Celebrate the people that helped you. People are do damn important in our journeys. It’s because of the people around me that I’m here today.”
“Don’t bow down- be the master of your fate and the captain of your soul.” Inspired by the Invictus Poem below.
“Fight for people, be a hero and when you make it be there for others. And always celebrate the people that value and care for you.”
Invictus
William Ernest Henley - 1849-1903
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Thank you so much to Dr Dinesh for sharing his story and being so open to us. We are so inspired and moved by your experience.
Thank you from the whole team at FYI Education & Training.
