Tag Archives: Oprah

Oprah and Dr. Maya Angelou

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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On yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, Oprah sat down with Dr. Maya Angelou. At age 85, this gifted literary mother, grandmother and great-grandmother is still taking the world by storm.

Her latest memoir, Mom & Me & Mom, focuses on the deep spiritual connection between Dr. Angelou and her beautiful mother Vivian Baxter. A spitfire with a larger than life presence, Baxter loved and encouraged her daughter throughout her life. Dr. Angelou is grateful for the love she received from her mother, grandmother and son. She strongly believes that kind of love heals the wounds left by a larger society.

Best advice she received—Forgive

Best advice she gave—Have a pristine place deep inside that no one else can touch

Definition of God—All

Definition of Soul—The spirit that longs for All

Quotable Quotes…

Nobody makes it alone.

I had a lot of clouds, but I have had so many rainbows in my clouds.

Thriving is elegant.

Religion is only the map. Spirituality is surrender.

The caged bird sings because it must.

Oprah and Dr. Brené Brown–Part II

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

brene2I’m glad Oprah decided to spend another Super Soul Sunday with Dr. Brené Brown. Yesterday’s show focused on shame and fear and how they rule our existence. A joy-filled hour packed with aha moments, so many that I will probably watch the telecast several times to make sure I haven’t missed one.

When Dr. Brown started to study shame, she discovered that the decision to study shame had led to the death of many academic careers. No one wants to talk about the most human and primitive of emotions, one  that Dr. Brown so aptly described as an intensely painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging.

She also differentiated between shame and guilt, demonstrating the power of our words.

I’m bad vs I did something bad.

I’m a mistake vs I made a mistake.

I was particularly impressed by the response Dr. Brown’s daughter gave the teacher who commented: “You’re messy.” Displaying a healthy dose of self confidence, the child replied, “I may be making a mess, but I’m not messy.”

As I listened to the telecast, I thought back to my own cancer experience. During those ten months, I discovered who could and who could not bear the weight of my new story. I will always be grateful to the five angels who called me that first weekend and offered specific help. No pity parties or flying debris from those wonderful friends. Thankfully, I did not have to endure too many insufferable comments: “Oh, you poor thing!”; “Bless your heart.” I was moved by the friend who approached me a year later and apologized for not being there for me.

Quotable Quotes…

Unused creativity is not benign. It gets metastasized as rage, judgment, shame…

Calm people are breathers. They breathe and ask questions.

Cultivate laughter, song and dance. We need to let go of control and cool.

Cool is an emotional strait-jacket.

If there is secrecy, silence and judgment, shame grows exponentially and creeps into every corner and crevice of life.

Shame is the #1 classroom management tool.

Shame can’t survive empathy.

Shame depends upon us buying into the belief that we are unworthy.

Keep the shadow up front because it can only take you down from behind.

Share with people who have earned the right to your story.

Some people confuse connection with the opportunity to one-up you.

Love and belonging are irreducible needs.

Oprah and Dr. Robin Smith

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

robinsmith2She was on top of the world. Psychologist. Bestselling author. Ordained minister. Thirty-five appearances on the Oprah show.

And then life happened to Dr. Robin Smith.

She was in a serious car accident. Her home was flooded and later burglarized. Her beloved pet died. She lost her money.

She lost her way.

Yesterday, Dr. Smith sat down with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday to share her experiences and reveal how she found light after the darkest of days.

In a very moving hour, Dr. Smith described the hunger or “emotional anorexia” that permeated most of her life. This state occurs whenever people call themselves full while living off the crumbs of life.

Throughout the telecast, Oprah and Dr. Smith referred to the following quote from C.S. Lewis:

Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

At first, Dr. Smith wondered why God had to get so loud, but eventually realized that a megaphone was needed to rouse a dying Robin. The universe did not want her to settle for emotional crumbs and call it a meal.

While healing, Dr. Smith started writing her book, Hunger: The Truth About Being Full. The experience was a cathartic one that helped her reclaim parts of herself. She was only able to release the book  once she was shackle-free.

Quotable Quotes…

Universe is on time and on point, every moment.

The soul is an unshackled core of energy and light that mirrors back its own beauty.

It only takes two, God and I are enough!

Adulthood is here to address the unfinished business of childhood.

Freedom is being who you are, unapologetically.

Put your vulnerability in the light and it will be embraced and feel warm.

Be quiet enough to hear God’s voice so you can find your own. (Dr. Smith’s parents)

Oprah and Don Miguel Ruiz

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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It was definitely the book that could.

The slim volume written by an unknown writer and picked up by a small publisher has sold more than 1.5 million copies since 1997.

Yesterday, Don Miguel Ruiz joined Oprah on Super Soul Sunday to talk about the extraordinary message of hope and inspiration contained in The Four Agreements.

Born into a family of shamans and teachers, Ruiz originally rejected the ancient Toltec traditions and went to medical school. In his final year, he was in a car accident from which he emerged physically unscathed, but emotionally transformed. He left the medical arena and decided to focus on the psychological aspects of illness and suffering.

Ruiz believes that most of the drama and suffering in our lives is self-created. If we can find inner silence and control our thoughts, we can become happier, regardless of our external circumstances.

In his own life, Ruiz faced a major health challenge at age 49. He woke up one morning with a heart attack and ended up in a coma for nine weeks. He then lived in pain for almost nine years, his heart functioning at only 16 percent. Excited about dying, Ruiz was determined to show people the best way to let go of the physical body. In 2010, he received a heart transplant.

Oprah and Don Miguel Ruiz spent the hour peeling back the layers of the The Four Agreements:

Be impeccable with your word.

Don’t take anything personally.

Don’t make assumptions.

Always do your best.

So many wonderful insights from Don Miguel Ruiz…

Every single cell of our body is a universe.

Humans are the only animals on earth that pay thousands of times for the same mistake.

We are really secondary characters in everyone else’s story.

You are not responsible for what other people understand.

Happiness can only come from within.

Drama occurs when we make assumptions and take things personally.

The first three agreements exist only in imagination.

If we don’t take action, ideas will dissipate.

Stand in your own light and centered in your joy.

Fourth agreement….takes pressure off when you know you’ve done your best.

Religion is just a consequence of the spirit.

You are alive…so take your life and enjoy it.

Oprah and Panache Desai

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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It’s always exciting when Oprah introduces a new spiritual leader to the world. On yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, I could feel her excitement throughout the hour-long telecast with Panache Desai.

Born and raised in London, Panache possessed, from an early age,  an innate kindness and love that allowed him to connect with others on a spiritual level. During his final year at university, he left his life behind and went on a six month intense retreat. Afterward, he decided to move to the United States and connect with other spiritual teachers and leaders.

In 2003, he had a profound and life-changing experience that allowed him to see the infinite potential in everyone. Along with this experience, he acquired an ability to help people move through negative emotions and realize that infinite potential.

He does not consider himself a guru but an “old friend” sent to remind us of how brilliant and magnificent we really are. He urges us to change our energy instead of changing our thoughts, keeping in mind that we attract people with the same energy. We will encounter problems when we are not true to ourselves and move away from our soul signatures.

When asked about handling difficulties, he advises us to recognize that what is happening is not punishment but opportunity. When we embrace and accept the difficulty, it is a pivotal moment in our development.

Articulate and engaging throughout the interview, he was surprisingly silent when asked to define God. Later, he admitted that there is no definition of God.

Quotable Quotes…

We’re not broken. We don’t need fixing.

Emotions are energies in motion.

We have judged ourselves out of our magnificence.

We can only ever be who we are and, at some point, that has to be good enough.

It’s all dairy. It’s just different flavors of ice cream.

Our humanity is the doorway to the divine.

Life is happening for us not to us.

Oprah and Nate Berkus–Part II

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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On yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, Oprah continued her conversation with Nate Berkus.

Having survived one of the greatest disasters of our time, Nate  is not afraid to talk about the massive tsunami that took the life of 230,000+ people, among them his beloved Fernando. Nate speaks eloquently about the man who encouraged him to see life in a different way.

Throughout the hour telecast, I could easily visualize many of the scenes Nate described. The lovingly prepared knapsacks for needy children flying through the air. The mattress that appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around a telephone pole, allowing Nate and Fernando to hang on for a short while. Fernando, clinging to Nate, and then suddenly blown away, never to be seen again.

While grieving, Nate felt raw, insignificant and afraid. But with the love and support of his family and friends, he was able to come to terms with the fact that he was living a new normal.

Quotable Quotes…

If I can get to the light, I can breathe. ~Nate Berkus

All death is a reminder to turn up the volume on your life. ~Oprah

When the worst has happened and you are able to speak your truth, you get a lot done. ~Nate Berkus

Every day is the reason. ~Oprah

Witnessing was a gift. ~Nate Berkus

When people show you who they are, believe them…the first time.
~Maya Angelou

Oprah and Nate Berkus

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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Yesterday, Nate Berkus sat down with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday to share intimate stories about the experiences that have transformed him.

He found his acorn within the oak at the age of thirteen. Getting his own room was definitely a milestone for the sensitive young man who cared about how things looked and felt. Having grown up around design and following his mother to auctions, estate and garage sales on the weekend, Nate appreciated  life in all its layers, textures and light.

While he was fortunate to have a loving and supportive family, he did not come out until his university years. Nate admitted to developing a skill set that made him dishonest and spending most of his adult life trying to get rid of it.

I was impressed and moved by how his step-father handled the situation. After discovering a letter from Nate’s lover, his step-father waited three months before having the conversation with Nate. He wanted his step-son to know that it didn’t matter and he wouldn’t be treated any differently. An excellent example of putting spiritual philosophy into spiritual action.

Nate also shared the lessons he learned from his talk show. While it was the opportunity of a lifetime, Nate realized during the second week of production that a daily program was not a good fit. Throughout the two-year run, he felt overwhelmed and exhausted. When Oprah pressed further, he admitted that ego and money factored into his original desire to have a talk show. Grateful for the experience, he now knows that he needs space and time around his decisions.

Quotable Quotes…

Everyone has the acorn within the oak that is you. (Oprah)

When you confide in your beloveds, give them the space to grieve the dreams they had for you.

If you’re not willing to stand up for who you are, then everything else does not matter.

I want your personality to come through in another language. (Cheryl Storm—French teacher)

If you cannot be authentic and true to yourself, it is hard to function.

I needed the freedom to create and design my own timeline.

Stop and take a beat before you acquire.

Oprah and Ayana Mathis

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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After reading the first chapter of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,  Oprah knew she had found her second Book Club 2.0 pick. On yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, she sat down for an interview with author Ayana Mathis.

Ayana started by describing her experiences at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Grateful for this opportunity to work with Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson and other up-and-coming writers, she talked openly about the hopes, dreams and frustrations that lie behind those hallowed walls. When she arrived at the workshop, she was working on another book, a fictionalized memoir. At one critique session, Robinson suggested that her characters were “insufficiently complex.” Ayana took the criticism to heart, had her ugly cry and then turned to writing short stories. Her first story was a hybrid of the first and last chapters of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.

Inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, Ayana set her book against the backdrop of the Great Migration.  Starting around 1916,  over six million African Americans migrated north to escape the poverty and hardships of the south. The main character, Hattie Shepherd, is a strong but flawed woman who fiercely loves her eleven children but cannot demonstrate that love. While each chapter focuses on a different child, Hattie is the glue that holds the book together.

In writing this novel, Ayana wanted her readers to encounter a fully, fleshed out black humanity. To that end, she got into the soul of each character and spent as much time as possible in their minds.

When asked about her childhood, Ayana admitted that there was little money and she and her mother often lived in neighborhoods where they couldn’t afford to pay the rent. In spite of their limited circumstances, Ayana was given an enormous amount of freedom and chose her own life path.

Extremely grateful for the success of her debut novel, Ayana admits to being permanently stunned. She still thinks of the book as a Word document.

Quotable Quotes…

Our humanity means we don’t have to be completely defined by race.

We find companions and mirrors in literature.

There is an arc of human history that bends toward social justice.

Character development is a process cultivated over time. Reward comes from reworking.

Oprah and Elie Wiesel

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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Holocaust survivor. Political activist. Nobel Laureate. Best-selling author of 57 books. In spite of this outstanding roster of achievements, Elie Wiesel still asks himself: What have I done? Is it enough?

Yesterday on Super Soul Sunday, he sat down with Oprah to talk about his recent open heart surgery and his riveting new memoir, Open Heart, a love poem to his wife, Marion, and his grandchildren.

Throughout the hour-long telecast, the octogenarian spoke of the grace and cruelty he has experienced throughout his life. While at Auschwitz, he found it difficult to understand God’s silence and the world’s silence. At age thirty, he broke his own silence and wrote “Night” the bestseller that was translated into thirty languages and sold to millions around the world. Later, he and his wife began the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

In recent years, he experienced the loss of his entire life savings and $15 million of the foundation’s money because of Bernie Madoff. When he received the news, he turned to his wife and said, “We have seen worse.” The financial loss did not make him pessimistic or desperate. Instead, he spoke in glowing terms about the hundreds of Americans who sent small donations to the foundation afterward.

I was moved by his comparison of Alzheimer’s disease to a book. Each day, a page is torn out until all that remains are the covers of the book.

Oprah described the interview as a prayer and was deeply moved by his takeaway for all of us:

Whatever you do in life, think higher and feel deeper.

So many wonderful quotes…I’m putting Open Heart on my 2013 reading list.

• Every second counts and every moment matters.

• Hadn’t I lived with death, even in death?

• Illness may diminish me, but it won’t destroy me.

• Life is not a fist. Life is an open hand waiting for some other hand to enter it.

• Indifference enables everything which is bad for life.

• I define myself more by my questions than by my answers.

• To listen to a witness is to become a witness.

• Every moment is a new beginning. Every handshake a promise.

• If life is not an offering to the other, what are we doing on this earth?

Oprah and Dr. Eben Alexander

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

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On yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, Oprah sat down with Dr. Eben Alexander to discuss his out-of-the-universe experience.

In November of 2008, the successful neurosurgeon’s luck ran out. In the middle of the night, he woke up with severe back pain that felt like he had been struck by a freight train. Within four hours, bacterial meningitis drove him into a coma that lasted seven days. The prognosis was not a good one. His survival rate was down to 2% and, if he woke up from the coma, the doctors predicted he would need chronic care for the rest of his life.

He defied the odds and when he woke up, calmly told his sister, “All will be well.”

After two months of rehabilitation, Dr. Alexander fully regained his language and memories. At first, he shared his remarkable story only with family, friends and colleagues. Later, he decided to write a scientific report that evolved into the New York Times best-selling book, Proof of Heaven.

Before his near-death experience, Dr. Alexander had been skeptical about God and heaven. In 2000, he experienced a crisis of faith when his birth mother rejected his invitation to meet. That rejection reminded him of a deep and powerful memory of being thrown away at birth. A memory, he claims many adopted children have within the core of their being.

Whenever he heard his patients talk about their own near-death experiences, he assumed there was a logical, brain-based explanation. Afterward, he found himself facing the same skepticism, especially from colleagues who gently reminded him that “his brain was soaking in pus.” Others suggested that the strong medication he was given could have caused vivid dreams and hallucinations. Dr. Alexander countered this argument by reminding people that these drugs work primarily in the neo-cortex, the part of the brain that shut down when he entered the coma state.

I was impressed by his beautiful and vivid descriptions of the other realm…

“I was rescued from the underground by a slow-moving, spinning white light and the most gorgeous melody. As it got closer, it exploded and was a portal into a beautiful, verdant valley.”

“Billowing clouds with different colors”

“Orbs and of light shooting through the sky”

Quotable quotes…

God does not have a face or gender.

We are conscious in spite of our brain.

The boundaries of self are fiction.

It’s a beautiful gift in knowing God, knowing that prayer does work, and just knowing that our lives means so much more.

Death is not an end of anything. It is a transition.

Newborns come in trailing the breath of angels. (Oprah)

Message for all of us…Each and every one of us is deeply loved.