When Rosemarie speaks, people listen.

“We need to step beyond boundaries we have set for ourselves from time to time,” advises Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D., speaker and writer, in a recent article &#151 sent monthly to subscribers. It is her message of helping people live beyond their fears that resonates with her audience &#151 all lessons available on Rossetti’s Web site, www.rosemariespeaks.com.

Using her own life as an example, Rossetti provides strategies to help others face the challenges resulting from life’s unexpected events. In 1998 when a 3 ½-ton tree crushed her, she did not allow a spinal cord injury to keep her down. Rossetti forged ahead, getting back to her speaking career, authoring a book filled with her inspirational messages (“Take Back Your Life!”) and reclaiming her independence. Because of her inspirational work, she has also been chosen as a “roll model” for Discovery Through Design, an organization celebrating the style and success of women who use wheelchairs.

The articles are “basically pieces of my recovery, pieces of my insight, lessons that I have learned throughout this journey of recovery and they become then my motivational speeches,” says Rossetti. “It’s to keep people apprised of their lives. There’s always a take-away lesson. It’s all about living with conviction, that’s the focus and the nugget that unifies all my articles.”

At a recent speaking engagement with The Ohio State University football team, the team took Rossetti’s lessons to heart. She asked the team to offer their own inspirational messages for recently injured spinal cord patients at Dodd Hall at OSU. Much to Rossetti’s amazement, the team shared some of their treasured quotes and original verses.

Visitors to Rossetti’s Web site will find much more than articles. The site also features video demonstrations of Rossetti’s lectures, including program handouts and testimonials; an online store to purchase her book and motivational signs; a media room containing a library of articles published in various magazines and newspapers as well as transcripts to TV and radio interviews; and information on the Rosemarie Rossetti Spinal Cord Injury Fund, which benefits OSU’s Dodd Hall to advance the cure for spinal cord injury.

To sign up for a free monthly e-mail subscription to Rosetti’s inspirational articles, visit www.rosemariespeaks.com.

Rosemarie’s Lessons to Live By

1. Do something new every day.


2. Focus on a hopeful future, not on self-pity.


3. Believe that the impossible just might be possible.


4. Allow more time to get things done and be patient with yourself.


5. To lower your stress, lower your expectations of other people.