Oprah Winfrey's What I Know For Sure

1. Something happens between me and whomever I’m engaged with: I can feel them and sense that they are vibing right back with me. That’s because I know for sure that anything I’ve been through or felt, they have, too, and probably more so. The great connection I feel with everyone I speak to stems from being aware that we are all on the same path, all of us wanting the same things: love, joy, and acknowledgment.

2. Something happens between me and whomever I’m engaged with: I can feel them and sense that they are vibing right back with me. That’s because I know for sure that anything I’ve been through or felt, they have, too, and probably more so. The great connection I feel with everyone I speak to stems from being aware that we are all on the same path, all of us wanting the same things: love, joy, and acknowledgment.

3. And I’ve learned that sometimes you have to step out of your ego to recognize the truth. So when life gets difficult, I’ve found that the best thing to do is ask myself a simple question: What is this here to teach me?

4. So when I feel overwhelmed, I usually go to a quiet place. A bathroom stall works wonders. I close my eyes, turn inward, and breathe until I can sense the still, small space inside me that is the same as the stillness in you, and in the trees, and in all things. I breathe until I can feel this space expand and fill me. And I always end up doing the exact opposite of screaming: I smile at the wonder of it all.

5. “I go forth alone, and stand as ten thousand,” Maya Angelou proclaimed in her poem “Our Grandmothers.” When I move through the world, I bring all my history with me—all the people who paved the way for me are part of who I am.

6. Appreciate your age. You are more experienced, you age well, you see more things. Don't be afraid or embarrassed about growing old. 

7. Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen; depart, be lost, but climb.”    —Edna St. Vincent Millay

8. How can I realize my potential more fully? That’s a question I still ask myself, especially when contemplating what’s next in my life. In every job I’ve taken and every city in which I’ve lived, I have known that it’s time to move on when I’ve grown as much as I can. Sometimes moving on terrified me. But always it taught me that the true meaning of courage is to be afraid, and then, with your knees knocking, to step out anyway. Making a bold move is the only way to advance toward the grandest vision the universe has for you. If you allow it, fear will completely immobilize you. And once it has you in its grip, it will fight to keep you from ever becoming your best self. What I know for sure is this: Whatever you fear most has no power—it is your fear that has the power. The thing itself cannot touch you. But your fear can rob you of your life. Each time you give in to it, you lose strength, while your fear gains it.

Author Neale Donald Walsch says, “So long as you’re still worried about what others think of you, you are owned by them. Only when you require no approval from outside yourself can you own yourself.”

8. Reaching your potential as a person is more than an idea. It’s the ultimate goal. The wonders we’re capable of have nothing to do with the measurement of mankind, the lists of what’s in and what’s out, who’s hot and who’s not. I’m talking about the real deal: Whose life did you touch? Who did you love, and who loved you back? This I know for sure is what matters.

9. Reaching your potential as a person is more than an idea. It’s the ultimate goal. The wonders we’re capable of have nothing to do with the measurement of mankind, the lists of what’s in and what’s out, who’s hot and who’s not. I’m talking about the real deal: Whose life did you touch? Who did you love, and who loved you back? This I know for sure is what matters.