Oprah’s “See Your Life Today” Circle — 2 Happy Faces for “Contribution to the World,” several Happy Faces for Spirituality/faith/beliefs (which she repeatedly shared is a very significant part of her journey), and too many Happy Faces to count for Financial situation.
Some of the responses I received when I shared that I was planning to attend Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend conference were along the lines of, “Oh, that’s interesting. Didn’t realize you were such a big Oprah fan,” or “How come?” or “What makes you want to go there (cuz the ticket ain’t exactly cheap)?”
All of these questions seemed to be asking me, “Why Oprah?”
One of the most memorable responses I received was, “I would love to go see Hillary Clinton if she ever came to town again.” That made me feel like someone got my heart…even before perhaps I had completely come to understand myself why I was going.
Besides the fact that it was nothing short of a miracle that not only did the dates work (it isn’t exactly an easy thing to “go away” as a mom of 3 young kids), but it was within driving distance, and it was being held in the city where one of my best girlfriends had recently moved to, but whom I hadn’t had the chance yet to go visit, and she happened to be available to house me…
When I had been deliberating back and forth with myself about which seat to purchase (price determined location and/or priority access and/or gift basket), I had had the thought here and there that perhaps it wasn’t worth the $ to attend, or the “stress” since I was having a difficult time making a decision on the seat. That perhaps I could just go see my friend instead, and have more “me” time to be thinking and reading and possibly writing on my own…and have the extra $ for shopping and going out to eat…
Because although the desire to go had been there, life had been so busy and my heart’s desires had never been that loud before to begin with anyhow, and so this “event” was no exception. So it was more of an “inkling” I had that this was something that I would like to do…an opportunity I didn’t want to let pass without at least giving it some serious thought. But I wasn’t 100% sure if that was enough to justify the cost in light of all else that the $ (and time) could be allocated to.
And then I recalled how recently my lovely Norwex recruiter had so helpfully reminded me the importance of remembering our “Why’s”… It was in terms of how to approach my home-based business, remembering my “why” for having signed up for the business was of utmost importance in staying strong in the game yet keeping my priorities straight, and also for being able to genuinely and effectively share about Norwex with people interested in hearing more.
I felt it was important to consider my “Why” for Oprah, for why I wanted to go to the conference as a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Why it felt like such an “opportunity” to me, even if it was just an inkling. So that I could be confident for myself that this was worth investing the time and money and effort into…and so that I could also easily make a decision about my “seat choice” to reflect my “why” accordingly.
So “Why Oprah” for me (and also why I think Hillary Clinton for my friend)?
Honestly, when I stop and think about it, Oprah is someone I look up to not so much as a regular fan who watches her shows (I don’t actually have her channel or much time to watch tv besides the shows I PVR with my husband; but I do regularly buy her magazine as part of the 3 for $10 deal at Walmart to keep up with what she’s thinking and what she’s up to), but as a role model of someone I admire and relate to, someone I could see myself aspiring to become like. Not in the sense that I want to imitate everything she is and does, but in terms of how she strives to lead her life with excellence and grace, to continuously grow as a person and give back to society and other people with whatever is given to her, even when she has already grown and given so much…even at 60, she is still at it!
Of all the celebrities I can think of out there, she is the closest to what I desire to emulate vision-wise with my life, in my own simple ways and in my own spheres of influence. I relate to her mission which she seems more focused on now than ever to help other people grow and find the breakthroughs in life she so graciously attributes her own rags-to-riches success story to. (Perhaps my life “version” would be an emotional rags-to-riches success story, overcoming depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation?)
In light of this, Oprah is also a “Vision” like no other in and of herself to me. Even as she seeks to impart vision through her shows, magazine, and the weekend workshop I got to attend, more than anything she shares, does and says, she herself is a vision…
I had the thought, it could be so easy to write her (or anyone) off as “just another celebrity”–to pass over what she says and does and not take notice because that is the power every individual has to determine whether or not someone is significant or not in his or her eyes.
But what if she had been my good friend, or say my sister or my cousin…How could I not take notice, and be impressed? And blessed?
By who she is, by what she does, and by what she continues to strive for, and by what ease and honesty she has in admitting her own “humanness,” that as high profile as she is, she doesn’t need to be or appear perfect.
As part of the conference she had everyone do an exercise where we drew a circle of our own lives, so we could assess what is important to us, and what’s going well, as well as what we could hope to improve upon. To demonstrate she used her own life as an example, sharing not only what is going well in her life with no air of arrogance or “I’m better than you” whatsoever –see the Contribution to the world and $ categories in the photo, where she joked, “I think I’m doing pretty okay” for these areas =) — but also areas she herself still hopes to improve!
I realize I still haven’t gotten into the content of the conference, but felt this to be an important and necessary first step in my sharing.
The fact that her existence is “vision” for me is one my biggest take-aways from the weekend.
Because without vision we perish, without vision we can lose hope or a sense of purpose…and without vision, we can have no hope for our futures, or simply no real significant direction….not enough inspiration for further aspirations if/when we’ve made it to an okay/good place in life where it can be so tempting to stagnate…
Personally, Oprah challenges any sense of complacency that has tried to set its home in me…while at the same time fueling my ability to find contentment in who I am created to be and the ability to appreciate who I am and what I have already.
She inspires me to recognize that as long as we are still alive, everyday is another opportunity to experience more….there is still always more to become, to be had, to be given, to experience…no matter who we are or where we come from or where we are at…. There is hope for more 🙂