A new year for Oprah Winfrey Begins...
Oprah Gail Winfrey, one of the most successful women of our time, has started another year in life as she turned 59 yesterday January 29th.
The television personality, philanthropist, producer, actress, and
all-around inspiration to millions was born in poverty to a single
teenage mother in Mississippi, she was taught to read by the age of 3 by
her grandmother Hattie Mae. Oprah credits her grandmother for giving
her a “positive sense of [herself]” and encouraging her. Her
grandmother once said that as soon as she could speak,
Oprah was on stage and “interviewing” her dolls and animals!
She had a rough childhood, but as a teenager moved to live with Vernon
Winfrey, whom she calls her father, and became an honour student, joined
the speech team, and won the superlative “most popular.” She won the
Miss Black Tennessee pageant at
the age of 17, and was invited to do part-time news coverage locally.
This was all Oprah needed to capture the hearts and minds of many, and
start to work her way up the ladder.
After nationally launching
The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986, the
mega-mogul has continued to blow us away, year after year. Oprah’s
show is the highest-rated program of its kind in history (no big deal),
and has created its own genre of intimate confessional conversations.
The media proprietor owns her own production company (Harpo), co-founded Oxygen Media, created
O, The Oprah Magazine in
one of the most successful magazine launches in recent history, shares
her opinions with her book club, which is the largest in the world,
and has
formed her own channel, OWN. She has starred in and done voice-overs
for movies, co-authored five books. To say she’s kind of a big deal is
the understatement of the century. This woman has almost literally taken
over the world.
Thismost
influential woman in the world is an inspiration to many people, and
there's no other television host who can move people to action like she
can. Below are some of the tips she has passed on that can turn your
life around.
Believe in Yourself
"If you're not looking at the shadows, at what is subconsciously
running through that tape in your mind. Telling yourself that you're not
good enough, you're not worthy enough . . . if you're not conscious of
that, then you end up acting out of that belief system and not out of
what you know to be the truest or want to be the truest of yourself."
Be Brave
"The only courage you ever need is the courage to fulfill the dreams of your own life."
You Become What You Believe
"Your life is a reflection of the way you think . . . you are
creating your own reality show every day, in every experience and every
encounter . . . what you believe is what you become, and one person can
make a difference and that person is you."
Respect Money
"If you disrespect money, it slips through your fingers."
Success Takes Work
"It doesn’t just happen. There is a process [for success]. . . .
It’s up to each individual to figure out . . . what that process is in
their life."
It Is Never Too Late
"It's never too late to achieve [what] you believe. . . . It's never
too late to have a wake-up call. All life is about growing to be who
you are most meant to be, the best version of yourself and that even if
it takes a disaster in your life, there's always time until you take
your last breath, to recognize that you have the power."
Let Go of the Past
"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past can be any
different. . . . And I know many of you, you think forgiving means
accepting what has happened to you. Well, it is accepting that it has
happened to you. Not accepting that it was OK for it to happen; it is
accepting that it has happened and now what do I do about it. Forgiving
is giving up the hope. Not holding on, hoping, wishing that it could’ve
been any other way than it actually was. Giving up the hope that the
past could be any different. And when I got that, I think it took me to
the next level of being a better person, because I don't hold grudges
for anything, any situation, and neither should you. It's letting go, so
that the past does not hold you prisoner, so that it does not hold you
hostage
If you allow the past to define your present, then you never
actually really get to live the life that you were meant to live,
because you're always holding on to what was and always holding and
defining yourself by what was or what should've been or what could've
been."
What Goes Around, Comes Around
"The energy you're putting out is coming back all the time. . . . For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
When You Know Better
"When you know better, you do better . . . you know how freeing
those words are? How freeing they can be for you? What it means is, you
don't have to hold yourself hostage to who you used to be or anything
you ever used to do. Because who has lived and hasn't made mistakes?"
Slow Down
"Slow down, because the only moment we can really live is now. Being
in the present moment, if you can learn to do that, begins to change
your whole life. Just staying focused on what is happening now. . . .
When we're truly present, we recognize that the ordinary moments are
life's greatest gifts."