My Saturday with Oprah

Okay, I gave you the tease about going to hang out with Oprah and friends this past weekend.  Here’s the scoop.

My mom and I got up well before dawn on Saturday to go to Oprah magazine’s O You event.  We were there at 6:45 am with all of these very excited people.

The crowd was large, but it was so worth it to see all of the wonderful mentors that I’ve watched on her show over the years.

My favorite was first up, Gayle King!  We got there pretty early, so we had great seats.

The keynote speaker was Lisa Ling.  I’m not sure how she covers the stories that she does.  They are such difficult topics.  She told us of girls(children, really) who are basically slaves to their pimps and have no way out. You might think she did this story in another country, but nope, it was right here in the U.S.  She says she has questioned her own faith when doing these types of stories.  Why wouldn’t God do soemthing about it?  Her answer was given in a poem.  God has done something.  He created us.  It was very moving.  It made me question, what am I doing to help?

 

Suze Orman talked to us about valuing ourselves enough to accept money for our work and more importantly, not to give it away because we feel we don’t deserve it.  She siad we must take care of ourselves first!

 

Of course, Dr. Oz was full of great information that made me want to throw out all of our Halloween candy and jump on the treadmill!

 

Here’s Gayle signing autographs.  I so wanted to meet her in person,but remember this?

This is about how many people were waiting in line to see her!  Mom and I were on to see…

Nate and Peter!  I had waited all day for this!  They had so many great pieces of advice.  My favorites were…

“Be a ruthless editor of your home.”  Nate Berkus

“The stuff you own should be helping you create the life you want.”  Peter Walsh

Both of these quotes really hit home for me.  How often do we keep things we hate just because we think we should (Because someone gave it to us?) or we hold onto things because we might need it some day?  Do you do that?  I, certainly do.

Let’s all make a vow today to get rid of those things and only keep the things we love.  Those are the things that help you create your best life!

 

Once I had been fully awed by Nate and Peter, it was on to the main event.  Oprah, herself!  Now, you have to understand, when I bought these tickets weeks ago, I didn’t know that Oprah would be there.  This was a wonderful surprise and as you can imagine, she did not disappoint.

She spoke for almost an hour and everything she said was incredibly uplifting and motivating.  The feeling in the room was electric.   Maybe she’s like this everywhere she speaks, but she seemed so comfortable.  It felt like she was speaking to each of us individually.  Here are my favorite takeaways.

“Stand in the truth of who you are.” – Oprah Winfrey  Identify what you are afraid of and ask yourself “what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”.  This one really hit home for me, as we struggle with what’s next for us on the job front.  There is an opportunity that we keep coming back to, something we’ve always wanted to do.  So I go to this from Oprah, “If God lays the opportunity in front of me, how can I not take it?”  What are we afraid of?  Are those fears founded in truth or simply just the unknown?  Her answer, “All clarity comes from stillness”.  How often are we truly still?  Let’s try it out and see what God has to say.  I am.

“You have always been worthy. You are worthy because you are born.” – Oprah Winfrey  This is not something you have to earn.  You just are.

“Everything that has ever happened is to build strength and give you power.” – Oprah Winfrey  How would you feel if you started every day telling yourself this?

And finally and maybe most importantly.  “God meets you where you are.” – Oprah Winfrey  You don’t have to go and search for him.  He is always there.

What an amazing day!  We were exhausted by the end, but it was so worth it.  If you have the opportunity to attend an O You event in the future, go.  It was a wonderful experience for my mom and I.  I’ll definitely go again!