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

Photo: George Burns/Harpo Inc.

Thanks so much for showing up for Lifeclass. I gotta say, the webcasts are so much fun, a real sweet spot talking to and hearing from you, exchanging ideas about things that matter. How do you know you're in your sweet spot? Whatever you're doing gives you energy instead of depleting it.

Last nite before the webcast I was exhausted and blurry-eyed from Africa jet lag and then became so energized from our conversations with Iyanla and all of the "angry" people. I was up past midnite tweetin'. Every night new insights, but tonight "You Become What You Believe" will be especially helpful I think, to people feeling blocked.

Wishing and hoping and wanting isn't good enough. You've got to believe THEN have your every action move you in that direction. Actions have to be in alignment.

Hope to see you for Lifeclass at 8/7 central, then LIVE on the webcast afterwards. That's when the real party starts.

And don't forget the Daily Life Work on Oprah.com. It's really thought-provoking.

Dear Friends of Fall, 

Mark your calendars! We just learned that this November 15, the intimate, exquisite book The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy will come out from Harpo and Abrams—full of iconic photographs, personal memories, highlights from beloved shows and a foreword by Maya Angelou.

Photo: Cliff Watts

Friends of Summer,

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

Hello, friends of summer.

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.