Introducing...Oprah's Thank You Game! We're trying to thank half a billion people worldwide. Why? When you come from a place of gratitude, you see the world anew. Gratitude even changes your brain, so you're better able to see the good in others. Imagine how that can change the planet! How does the game work? Thank someone—anyone—in real life. Then, click the Thank You button on Facebook.com/owntv and report it. Each day you can record your thank you(s) and participate in the Daily Thank You Challenge. See your gratitude spread across the world. Plus, play for a chance to get a personal thank you from Oprah!
| 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
| Photo: Marla Meridith Photography |
Flower Popsicles: You can adapt this easy recipe from Family Fresh Cooking to any flavor pop, though clear or light-colored liquids will show off the colorful blooms best. Mix 16 ounces water, 1 ounce orange blossom water and 1 tsp. lemon juice, stirring in honey or another sweetener to taste. Pour mixture into popsicle molds. Freeze (without sticks) for an hour, then remove from freezer and add a few rinsed, edible organic flower petals to each pop, pushing them into the molds with a long, skinny spoon or stick. Add sticks and freeze until solid.
Raspberry Ice Cubes: These are fantastic in lemonade, iced tea or seltzer. Boil a cup of water with a half-cup sugar. Add 1 pint of raspberries and let them simmer for five minutes. Turn off the heat and gently mash the berries with a fork, leaving some small chunks. Cool, then pour into ice cube trays; freeze for 6 hours.
Sunrise OJ: Give a glass of orange or grapefruit juice--or a combination of both--a garnet-colored shot (and a dose of antioxidants) with pomegranate juice. Pour the red liquid into the glass last; it will settle to the bottom and create a beautiful sunrise effect on the way down.
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7 homemade fresh fruit ice pop recipes
An edible bouquet from Cristina Ferrare
45 ideas for colorful salads
Every Monday, we'll be letting you know about new releases the editors at O and Oprah.com couldn't stop reading. This week, we've been moved by the Chinese memoir:
The Little Red Guard
By Wenguang Huang
Memoirs are tricky to write, mostly because life just isn't that tidy. Events don't happen in the most compelling order, and people don't realize what they're supposed to in time to save the plot. In The Little Red Guard, however, Wenguang Huang manages to tell such a riveting, well-crafted story that it could be a novel were it not for the subtitle clarifying that erroneous assumption. Huang begins with his grandmother (by family memoir, he really means family; you get to know everyone, not just the narrator). She's afraid of being cremated and insists that her son, Huang's father, bury her the traditional way, complete with plot and coffin. Unfortunately, she lives in 1970s China, and the law dictates that everyone in town must be cremated to save land for the new apartment buildings needed for the new families to work in the new factories. Thus begins a struggle—at times comic and at times heartbreaking—which pits an elderly individual and the people who love her against an entire society. Some of the details of life in China at this period ring familiar (one example: the kids singing catchy tunes like "Down with Confucius, Oppose Old Rituals"), but the book roams backward and forward in time so adroitly that there are plenty of fresh and unforgettable revelations (for example, the description of the 1950s when, lacking a currency, the government paid people in sacks of flour). For anyone who has felt that they've given a bit too much of their comfort to their family, this book presents a new question: Did you spend more than a decade sleeping next to Grandma's coffin? Now that's an act that demonstrates not just respect—or gratitude or the crucial understanding that this will all make a great story much, much later—but also love.
Read More
Life rules from our favorite heroines
Please don't say this in your book club...please
The Little Red Guard
By Wenguang Huang
Memoirs are tricky to write, mostly because life just isn't that tidy. Events don't happen in the most compelling order, and people don't realize what they're supposed to in time to save the plot. In The Little Red Guard, however, Wenguang Huang manages to tell such a riveting, well-crafted story that it could be a novel were it not for the subtitle clarifying that erroneous assumption. Huang begins with his grandmother (by family memoir, he really means family; you get to know everyone, not just the narrator). She's afraid of being cremated and insists that her son, Huang's father, bury her the traditional way, complete with plot and coffin. Unfortunately, she lives in 1970s China, and the law dictates that everyone in town must be cremated to save land for the new apartment buildings needed for the new families to work in the new factories. Thus begins a struggle—at times comic and at times heartbreaking—which pits an elderly individual and the people who love her against an entire society. Some of the details of life in China at this period ring familiar (one example: the kids singing catchy tunes like "Down with Confucius, Oppose Old Rituals"), but the book roams backward and forward in time so adroitly that there are plenty of fresh and unforgettable revelations (for example, the description of the 1950s when, lacking a currency, the government paid people in sacks of flour). For anyone who has felt that they've given a bit too much of their comfort to their family, this book presents a new question: Did you spend more than a decade sleeping next to Grandma's coffin? Now that's an act that demonstrates not just respect—or gratitude or the crucial understanding that this will all make a great story much, much later—but also love.
Read More
Life rules from our favorite heroines
Please don't say this in your book club...please
Handle things once. Skip the morning news. Plus more why-didn't-I-think-of-that ideas for adding up to 7 hours to your day.
Inspiration for non-gorging uses for leftover candy: Gummy stained glass.
The feeling you get when you have no idea what you’re doing even though it’s somehow working. Expressed in pug form.
Talk about a bad-mood-buster: behold this lovely video of the range of light at Yosemite. Who knew there were so many stars?
The Life-Lifter: "I didn't know what a good teacher was until I saw the way you taught." Two teachers who changed the lives of students from troubled backgrounds. May we all give so much at our day jobs!
Inspiration for non-gorging uses for leftover candy: Gummy stained glass.
The feeling you get when you have no idea what you’re doing even though it’s somehow working. Expressed in pug form.
Talk about a bad-mood-buster: behold this lovely video of the range of light at Yosemite. Who knew there were so many stars?
The Life-Lifter: "I didn't know what a good teacher was until I saw the way you taught." Two teachers who changed the lives of students from troubled backgrounds. May we all give so much at our day jobs!
| Woman in the Garden, József Rippl-Rónai, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
"I still walk around some mornings and look at the world and think, 'Oh my God. This is so fantastic, and there's so many opportunities to do good and to be happy.'"
--Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Anna Quindlen on growing older and living a spiritual life.
 | When the deepest part of you becomes engaged in what you are doing, when your activities and actions become gratifying and purposeful, when what you do serves both yourself and others, when you do not tire within but seek the sweet satisfaction of your life and your work, you are doing what you were meant to be doing. — Gary Zukav |  |
Deepak Chopra hasn't had a family argument in... 30 years. Seriously.
How does he manage it? Tune into Super Soul Sunday on Sunday, April 29, at 11am/10c for his one-hour interview with Oprah and learn his secret for creating harmony in your life. Plus, check out this sneak peek of their conversation to hear what Nelson Mandela taught Deepak about keeping yourself resentment-free.
How does he manage it? Tune into Super Soul Sunday on Sunday, April 29, at 11am/10c for his one-hour interview with Oprah and learn his secret for creating harmony in your life. Plus, check out this sneak peek of their conversation to hear what Nelson Mandela taught Deepak about keeping yourself resentment-free.
Happy Friday, everyone! Here are a few things that made our week.
They grow up so fast, don't they? via Mashable
Satin? Velvet? Chiffon? Nope. You'll never believe what this high school senior's prom dress is made of.
Blue is so 4 seconds ago...Find out what color is big in Milan right now.
Magnetic poetry—off the fridge and onto any website you want.
We like these guys: 6 partners at a venture capital firm pledged to give half their earnings to charity.
They grow up so fast, don't they? via Mashable
Satin? Velvet? Chiffon? Nope. You'll never believe what this high school senior's prom dress is made of.
Blue is so 4 seconds ago...Find out what color is big in Milan right now.
Magnetic poetry—off the fridge and onto any website you want.
We like these guys: 6 partners at a venture capital firm pledged to give half their earnings to charity.
| Photo: Thinkstock |
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