The Oprah Effect

Have you, along with the other several million people, been watching Oprah? Not the show – the woman? Something has happened to Oprah in the last few years. She has gotten bigger – not her body, but her spirit. And along with her incredible spirit, she has truly embraced her social responsibility as a woman with considerable power to shape modern culture. I used to think Oprah was merely remarkable, now I find her remarkable and inspirational!

I want to take a closer look at the ‘Oprah Effect’, which refers to the ability to combine one’s drive to achieve goals with personal humility. Drive and humility are 2 important qualities in successfully achieving goals. They work together to cultivate social support and acceptance for you as your move towards your goals.

Oprah really gets this.

If you are not already watching her interviews with Eckhart Tolle as they discuss his new book A New Earth, you are not too late. They are available on itunes, and can be downloaded in a number of formats, for FREE.

The ‘Oprah Effect’: Making Friends While Making IT Happe

What is it that Oprah really does? Well, along with being a media mogul and the poster child for the American dream, Oprah embodies the movement away from organized religion, and towards a self-directed, spiritually-based, community-focused world where personal values and actualized intentions create the New Earth. Whoa. What the heck does this mean? Lets take a deeper look.

More and more, Oprah’s spiritualism challenges the limits of traditional religion by focusing on the importance of personal choice in each and every daily action. Being moral isn’t about following the rules of the church, rather it is about following your own inner path.

And this inner path leads towards greater contributions to your community. Oprah is humble about her contributions, because she believes that these contributions are not about her, rather they are merely the way that God works through her. And God has provided the resources Oprah has needed to build her network, her schools, and the largest on-line learning community in history.

Humility is a helpful state of being when going about your life mission. Humble people generate greater support networks, and setbacks do not indicate some personal failing.

Rather, they become minor speed bumps that cause you to slow down your journey and reflect on the process. Speed bumps provide wonderful learning opportunities. It is up to us to figure out what that learning is by developing our self awareness, and to incorporate the learning into our approach. Coincidently, this is exactly what Eckhart Tolle’s message is. Perhaps, there is great truth to the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher arrives.” Go Oprah.