Oprah Winfrey - The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations

OVER THE COURSE of her esteemed career, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As host and supervising producer of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show , she entertained, enlightened, and uplifted millions of viewers for twenty-five years.

Her accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most influential and admired public figures in the world today. You can sign up for email updates here.

I believe three of the most important words anyone can say are not I love you, but I hear you .

Oprah

At this moment in our history, there is a painful divide separating the human experience.

As I grow more deeply in my spiritual practice, I know the common thread we all share is a mutual desire for connection and contentment. It is up to each one of us to begin the work to renew and repair that bond.

I like to visualize the communi-cation in any relationship as a dance. One person takes a step forward and the other steps back, two energies moving in harmony, aligned and uniteduntil there is a misstep or a break in the connection. If the breakdown is not addressed and corrected in the moment, both people wind up in a tangle of confusion.

When spiritual teacher Adyashanti joined me on Super Soul Sunday , he described that rhythm we create between one another as the intuitive presence in one soul recognizing the intuitive presence in another. His lesson is that every day, in every moment, our energy is seeking a way to connect with every other energy we encounter. And when we feel that, it means that we have fully aligned, presence to presence, to the Source that exists in us all.

Everything we do, every relationship we have, succeeds or fails based on our level of true spiritual connection.

So how do we get back in step when we find ourselves disconnected and retreating to separate corners of the dance floor?

I have learned over the years that the most effective method to find common ground is to approach the person with heartfelt compassion and ask, What is it that you really want?

If you allow them the quiet space to respond authentically, most people will often answer with a variation of the same idea: I want to know that you value me.

By fully embracing the spiritual principle that what we focus on expands, you will discover that giving your full, uninterrupted attention to one person can change the intensity with which that person shines their light on another and so on and so on and so on

The power of collective energy was most profoundly explained to me by Harvard brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. After suffering a devastating hemorrhagic stroke, the function of the left hemisphere of Jills brain was wiped out. The right hemisphere, which focuses only on the present moment, remained intact. With no memory or language recognition, Jill became acutely aware of the energy surrounding her. As doctors, nurses, and visitors entered her hospital room, Jill determined that there were only two types of people in the world: those who bring energy, and those who drain it away.

The request Jill made of every person who came in contact with her throughout her recovery resonated so deeply with me, I posted it in the makeup room where I meet with producers before every show:

Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space.

I realized that for every relationship, not only do I have to be accountable for the energy I bring, but I also have to take responsibility for the energy that I allow from others. I understand that strengthening the bond in any situation is impossible if youre not surrounded by energy that lifts you up.

Now, lets expand that idea to the greater good of the world around us. As Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and best-selling author Elie Wiesel so beautifully explained to me:

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

Elie often said his favorite Bible verse was from Leviticus: Thou shalt not stand idly by.

We know humanity is in need of the healing power that comes from love in all its forms. Use your life to serve the world and you will discover the myriad ways the world offers itself to serve you.

Only we hold the power to transform our collective consciousness. As a spirit dwelling in the ever-evolving human experience, I know that I am no better or worse than any other being.

I simply am.

You simply are.

We are connected.

Oprah

Dr. JILL BOLTE TAYLOR

OPRAH: So was the entire left hemisphere bleeding?

DR. JILL BOLTE TAYLOR: Mine, yes. It started relatively small deep inside, but it was a hemorrhage, so it got bigger and bigger over the course of the morning.

OPRAH: And the left hemisphere does what for us?

JILL: Its our language, its our ability to think sequentially, to think methodically, to think linearly, to be able to know A plus B equals C. Its our ability to communicate with the external world.

OPRAH: And the right hemisphere is the big picture?

JILL: The right hemisphere is the big picture. All the information. It gives us the context of everything. Its our intuition, our witness or observer. Its our ability to experience peace, deep inner peace. So the two hemispheres are very different in their function.

OPRAH: And the entire left hemisphere went quiet?

JILL: Yes, it went totally silent.

OPRAH: Which means you lost your ego.

JILL: I lost my ego. I was essentially an infant in a womans body, and I didnt have any of her recollections of her life.

OPRAH: So what did exist then? You lost the ego. You lost the sense of I am , and your sense of context I am a PhD at Harvard. I am

JILL: I wasnt any of that anymore.

OPRAH: But what you had, though, was a sense of oneness and a sense of peace, and a sense of connection to humanity in a way that you never had before, because all of that other stuff had been quieted.

JILL: Exactly. When I look at people who have had any kind of trauma, I ask, What have they gained? What I gained was this incredible knowingness of deep inner peace and excitement of realizing everything was interconnected. And I lost the boundary of my body, so I felt that I was enormous, as big as the Universe, because I no longer defined that this is where I began and this is where I ended.

Sister JOAN CHITTISTER

I was about twelve and we came home and my little parakeet was gone. I was an only child. This may have seemed strange to people, but that little bird was my companion. I didnt go home to playmates, I went home to Billy. Right? And Billys now missing. My father moved every piece of furniture in that apartment. My mother looked under every chair. The company came, and then family went to bed, okay? But my heart was breaking. And I got into bed and I put my face down in the pillow and I sobbed. I knew I had to be quiet. I couldnt disturb anybody. But I was crying, my little body heaving. And the next thing I knew was I felt somebody on the floor beside me, and then an arm on my back, and I realized it was my mother. And then I felt somebody on the floor on the other side, and I realized it was my father, and they had their arms around me like this, saying, Thats all right, darling. Thats all right. We understand. Thats all right. And, as I look back over the years, thats when I learned that humanity is about identifying with somebody elses pain, with being there. With somehow or other knowing that you cannot pass on the road because its not your bird and its not your child and its not your pain. Humanity is the ability to hurt for the others. Because thats the only fuel that will stop the injustice. You must know people as people, and you must do what they need in the middle of their pain.