Today's Thank You Game challenge is to thank someone who taught you something.

There are very few life experiences that don't hold a teachable moment. If you care to look beneath the surface of appearances, you'll most likely find an "aha" or two. The greatest learning for me usually happens in times of distress, pain, suffering. So I would like to thank the people who've brought me those dark moments, when I felt most wounded, or betrayed. You have been my greatest teachers. Thank you.

Maya Angelou many years ago shared this profound  wisdom: "When people show you who they are believe them; the first time."

Now, I do.

—Oprah

Today's Thank You Game challenge is to thank someone who spoke up for you.

I'd like to thank David Zaslav, my partner at Discovery who keeps speaking up for me with his unwavering support of OWN.

And Gayle King (who's in the photo above).  She knows all the ways she's stood in the gap, been supportive, spoken up for me. Thanks Gayle friend.

—Oprah

Today's Thank You Game challenge is to thank someone who nourishes your body or spirit.

I'm back with Bob Greene for workouts, so he gets another shout out for helping me nourish my body with his daily truth serum of exercise.

Thank you to the "Foot Nanny" Gloria Williams who takes such good care of my feet, makes my whole body feel better.

Thank you to Donna Richardson Joyner for her gracious outreach to my girls in South Africa and to me. She nourishes my spirit with a constant supply of POTTER's HOUSE dvd's.  And of course to the masterful Bishop T.D. Jakes (who's in the photo above) who can take the WORD and build a story that makes your spirit shout Amen!

—Oprah

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

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

Thanks for watching LIFECLASS finale. Yes, I personally am reading your posts.  So rewarding to know we hit some nerves and opened some people to know their best selves.  I know some of you are starting gratitude journals as a result of last night's class. That is so great. Notice the difference it makes in your day when you're seeking for the good.
 
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
 

Traveling to India was a real Next Chapter dream for me. I've had a picture cut out from magazine of a woman on a camel with the words "Come to India" on my vision board for years now. Finally, I took her advice and fulfilled a bucket list aspiration.

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:

Dear Friends of Summer (Africa) Winter (USA),

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