| Photo: George Burns |
Today's Thank You Game challenge is to thank someone who has
helped you be brave.
I most want to thank Maya Angelou (who's in the photo above) for helping me to be brave. In my most fearful moments, she has been the one I relied on most, and called first.
Years ago I phoned her complaining about what I've now long forgotten. She shared these words, "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, without it, you can practice no other." It takes courage to be kind when others are not. It takes courage to be truthful when a lie might suffice. It takes courage to keep moving forward, when you'd rather quit. I've learned that courage, or opting for bravery, is feeling the fear and still doing what is necessary to overcome it. And in the very act of bravery you don't feel brave but just feel what is true and most real.
Ironically one of my most desolate moments, barely being able to speak in between sobs of despair, I called Maya looking for comfort and sympathy. Instead she sternly chided me, "STOP IT" she said. "Stop your crying right now and say THANK YOU!"
"Why would I say thank you for this?" I said. "Say thank you because you know God, and you know He put a rainbow in every cloud. The rainbow is coming. Say thank you even though you can't see it. It's already there."
So in the worst of times, I still remind myself of that great lesson and say "Thank you"...and then prepare to see the rainbow.
Today's rainbow was Mastin Kipp's post on The Daily Love. I took the dogs out at 6am. Sat quietly under the oaks I call the Apostles, (because 12 of them together form a beautiful canopy). It's my favorite spot to Be.
Came back inside read The Daily Love and found the rainbow.
It was exactly what I needed to hear and be reminded.
Thank you Mastin Kipp for helping me be brave.
—Oprah
| Photo: George Burns |
Today's Thank You Game challenge is to thank someone who
brings beauty into your life.
My life is filled with so much beauty. I'm surrounded by it.
First and foremost I thank my friend, and brother Bob Greene. He brings beauty in every way and makes everything better. I thank his wife whom I call my sister, Urania. Her attention to supervising every detail is unparalleled.
I'd like to thank Andre Walker (that's him in the photo), who for 27 years has nourished and taken care of my hair and is himself a beautiful person inside and out. Never a diva moment, not even a complaint, never late, and never missed a day of work in TWENTY SEVEN years!
I appreciate beauty in all forms, especially nature. Trees make me happy, so does baby grass (the color of green apples). And no matter what kind of day it is, the sky is always beautiful to me. Look up!
—Oprah
Today's thank you game challenge is to thank someone who is having a hard day or difficult time right now.
I would like to thank my Co-Presidents of OWN Sheri Salata and Erik Logan working hard to build a network and consistently make the next right move. I would like to thank Alex, a young woman I met at the vet at midnight 2 months ago. Her house had burned down and her cat was burned in the fire. She was there to put her cat down. I was there because my dog had eaten chocolate. The day before her mother had wrecked her car. So she was homeless, car-less and without her beloved cat of 8 years. And yet had the wisdom to say "the Universe must really want me to release attachment to things."
I would also like to thank my friend and younger big brother Tyler Perry; his backlot studio was damaged by fire last night. His attitude in the midst of it all was calm and feeling blessed no one was injured. Real Grace under fire.
—Oprah
Jump start your gratitude by playing our Thank you game. Today's challenge: thank someone who gave you an opportunity. For me: QUINCY JONES who discovered me for the COLOR PURPLE. "Alllll my life I had to fight "! :-) :-)
| Photo by George Burns |
Dear friends..
I hope after watching NEXT CHAPTER: India, parts 1 and 2, you feel what I felt..a shared humanity with those women, the widows, the mothers, the families--they're all our sisters and brothers. And as Deepak Chopra so profoundly explained in our talk on Super Soul Sunday: "We live in each other." (You can see highlights from the Next Chapter episode here.)
I appreciate you watching, experiencing another culture, seeing that we have different ways of doing things but in the ways that really matter--our hopes and heart's desire--we are more alike than different: "We live in each other."
—Oprah
India was everything+++!
I loved it so much already trying to figure out when I can return. You'll get a glimpse of why this Sunday at 9/8c on OWN, but here's a sneak peek at some of my photos from that trip:
Greetings from As Hot As You Can Stand It, South Africa. Whew, is it a scorching summer. I'm lunching today with the 12th graders from OWLAG, our last outing together before they graduate and go their separate ways to colleges all over South Africa and the U.S. A bittersweet day to bask in all the memories of the past five years. Then Friday night a big pajama party, and Saturday graduation. It's not a custom to have graduation ceremonies here, so this will be the first for a high school.
The girls are nervous and excited. I am one proud mama.
Thank you for your support of NEXT CHAPTER. You all helped us make headlines last week. I hope that you will continue to share your Sunday nights with me, beginning at 9/8c on OWN.
This week, Governor Chris Christie and I talk about what it's like to be fat in the glaring spotlight of other people's jokes.
He was honest. So was I.
Afterward, my favorite show on OWN -- Master Class. This week Goldie Hawn shares her joy. She's actually studied it, being joyful.
Blessings to you all. I'm just trying to stay cool. It's only 82 but feels like 102 in the sun.
Oprah
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| Photo: Cliff Watts |
Can you believe it's August already? Hot August nights and the leaves hanging down and the grass on the ground smelling sweet...thank you Neil Diamond. I always want to play that song this month.
I am digitally, technically, challenged but learned a great new thing yesterday.
Please don't LOL, but I did not know that you could play music wirelessly through the speakers in your house directly from your iPad. And can upload movies directly to your TV screen, and the movies maintain their HD quality.
I still think that iPad is a magic box.
I spent my first full week at OWN merging new staff with Harpo folks. Alignment is the first step in getting anything to work. We all had a great week. Although if you saw my tweet, you noticed I could use some better office furniture.
| Photo: Ruven Afanador |
I haven't written lately because my technically challenged self could not access this email account. So many barriers were put in place to protect the account, I ended up barring myself from access.
So here we go...last week was at the Allen Conference with all the movers and shapers of our world. Met some fascinating people, like Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. Dynamo woman. So exciting to see women crack that glass ceiling and burst through it. Came home inspired to work harder and do better.
Started out the week taking swimming lessons. Moving beyond my amateur doggy paddle. Learned the breaststroke today.
Over a year ago, I pulled a picture from O mag of a woman gliding through water. It was such a striking image of freedom and possibility, I put it on my vision board (which I've still not completed). Today, when I finished my swimming lesson, I passed the vision board lying on the table where it's been since 2009. I had an aha! moment.
