You actually do get to transform the world everyday by your actions.Small steps lead to big accomplishments.And i am going to tell you that your life is in some big break.Like everybody think it is they are waiting on the big break.It's actually about taking one significant life transforming step at a time. So you can pick a problem literally any problem.The list is long because there's gun violence and economic inequality and there's media bias and the homeless need opportunity and the addicted need treatment.And the dreamers need protection.The prison system needs to be reformed.
The social safety net needs saving.Misogyny needs to stop.And the truth is you can not fix everything but what you can do here and now is make a decision because life is about decisions and the decision is that you will use your life in service.
You will be in service to life and you will speak up.You will show up.You will stand up.You will sit in.You will volunteer.You will vote.You will shout out you will help.You will lend a hand.You will offer your talent and your kindness however you can and you will radically transform whatever moment you are in.
Which leads to bigger moments because the truth is,success is a process.You can ask anybody who's been successful and so service is not just about when you are getting served.Its truly everything.So I started to ask the question.How can i use this show to not just be a show but to allow it to be a service to the viewer.
And that question of how do we serve the viewer transform the show and because we asked that question everyday from 1989 forward.
With the intention of only doing what was in service to the people who are watching it is why no matter where I go in the world on any given day someday comes up to me and says I watched your show.It changed my life.I have been watching since I was 5 years old.Until I went from DVR to VCR is to now streaming.People watch and were raised by that show.
I did a good job of raising a lot of people I must say.And that happened of an intention to be of service.So I live in this space of radical love and gratitude.Truly I have I feel the most beautiful life that you can imagine.I sit around trying to think of who could have a better life.
And I will tell you imagine my life to be like "I wonder what Oprah's doing right now?".Its always ten times better than whatever you think.Its true.And its because not I have wealth which is great.Money is fabulous,I love it. And I get a lot of attention that's also good sometimes.But its because I had appreciation for the small steps.The seeds that were planted.
The map and flow of my life that unfolded because I was paying attention.You have to pay attention in your life because it is speaking to you all the time. And the bumbs in the road and the failures that pointed at me in a new direction and led me to a path made clear that is what I am wishing for you today.
Your own path made clear.And I know that there is a lot of anxiety a lot about what the future holds and how much money you are going to make.But your anxiety does not contribute one iota to your progress.
I am here to tell you it does the opposite.Look at how many times you worried and you are upset and you didn't think you were going to make it through the block.I got the text a couple months ago,And here you are today.You made it and I am here to tell you that you are going to be more than OK.So take a deep breath with me right now,and repeat this Everything is always working out for me.
That's my mantra.Make it yours.Everything is always working out for me because it is and it has and it will continue to be as you forge and discover your own path.Your purpose is to do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.
So here is the truth for years I had a job and through that job doing a lot of things that I actually didn't want to do.I got demoted,and discovered my life's calling.
I got demoted,and discovered my life's calling.So I was on the air as a reporter.My job ended when i was 28 years old.But I'd been working in radio got my first job in radio at 16 was hired in television at 19.
And it was a job because every day I felt like I don't know if this is really what I'm supposed to be doing. But my father was like you got to keep that job.So,when I was 28.
It wasn't working out for me on the news because I was too emotional.I'd go to cover stories and cry because people lost their houses or lost their children.I was told that I was going to be taken off the evening news and put on a talk show. That was a demotion for me at the time.
That actually worked out for me.I would like to say that many times there are things that look like failure in your life and I want to clear up.Because for years at every graduation I've said.There is no such things as failure.
Well it is.I have said it's no such things as failure.Its just life pointing you into a different direction.It does.It indeed does.But in the moments when you fail it really feels bad.And its embarrassing and its bad.
And its going to happen to you if you keep living.But I guarantee you it also will pass and you will be fine.Why?Because everything is always working out for you.
So I realized this when I was in the struggle of my life.I tried to build a network at the same time I was still trying to do a show.And I did not have the right leadership.
Everything is about having people in the right positions to support you.And so I had to take a good long look at myself.Because all of my mistakes are on the evening news of the CNN crawl.I can't do anything privately.
So in every news story when every story is about Struggle,Struggle,Struggle.I had to have a talk with myself.And say what is this really about?What is this here to show up?My favourite question when in crisis.What is this here to teach or show me?
Jeff Wiener one of my friends and founder of LinkedIn says that failure is what is going to humble you.It helps you realize how fleeting success can be.At least traditional measures of success because you realize that to some extent.
How it is just beyond your control.And you invest less in it in terms of the way you define yourself.Success in terms of achieving objectives.In terms of manifesting a mission.In terms of manifesting a vision,that's all good.Especially if what you do can create good in the world.
But to the extent that you start to define yourself through traditional measures of success.To the extent that 's your source of self-esteem.
You are destined to be unhappy because you cannot control it.Jack Canfield,Chiken Soup For The Soul.Another one of my thought leaders that I admire.Says,the greatest wound we have all experienced is somehow being rejected for being our authentic self.
And as a result of that we then try to be what we are not to get approval.Love,protection,safety,money,whatever that is and the real need for all of us really is to reconnect with the essence of who we really are.
Re own all the disowned parts of ourselves.Whether its our emotions our spirituality whatever.We all go around hiding parts of ourselves.He says he was with a Buddhist teacher a number of year ago.And that teacher said,here is the secret.If you were meditate for 20 years.
This is where you'd finally get to.Just be your self.But be all of you.So,I have made a living.Not a living but a real life.From being true to myself using the energy of my personality to actually serve the purpose of my soul.
And that purpose I am here to tell you gets revealed to you daily.It is not just one thing.It is the thread that is connecting the dots of everything that you do.So,when I first started television at 19 as I said I was just happy to have a job but later through experience,trial,error,some failures.
Recognize that my true purpose was to be an inspiration.And a force for good.To allow people to see the best of themselves through the work and the stories that we are able to tell.And so that becomes my legacy.
Your legacy is every life that you touch and that I repeat everywhere because its true.Its not one thing.Its everything.And the most important thing is how you touch other people's lives.Everyday you are carving out the path.Even when it looks like you are not.
All your actions are creating equal and opposite reactions. Which is the 3rd law of motion physics.What you put out is coming back how you think and what you do.
Is already being done unto you.That is my religion.I live by that.You have to act as if it is possible to radically transform the world.And you have to do that all the time.
0 Comments