5 Inspiring Things Oprah Teaches Us
Once upon there was this little girl born to a extremely poor, teenage single mother in one of the rural villages of Mississippi. She was raped at the age of nine and became pregnant at the young age of fourteen. The son she gave birth to, died while he was still an infant. Today she is one of the most popular women in America and one of the most influential women in the world. She has also been ranked first as the richest African American of the 20th century. Her self-named show become one of the highest-rated show of its type. She is none other than Oprah Winfrey. What made her so popular among people? Because the common man could easily relate to her. Let’s learn some inspiring things that Oprah tells us.
1. ‘Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough’.
`
So true! In life, all of us are so greedy that we are just never satisfied with what we have and keep craving for more and more. In the process of wanting more all the time, we never really get a chance to enjoy and relish what we already have. Being greedy is truly the worst thing you could do yourself. Instead, if you forget about what you don’t have and concentrate on what you have, you will watch your life change magically. After that, whether you gain anything else or not, you will gain one thing for sure and that is happiness. Look at Oprah Winfrey. You will never see this woman without that contagious smile on her face. She has always been contented with whatever she had, and the world has seen the way she has been blessed.
2. ‘Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not’
Most of us are very conscious about the image that we have in front of others. We want others to think high of us all the time. It doesn’t matter whether we are nice human beings inside the doors of our homes or not. It is more of what others think about us, that matters to us today. Oprah tells us that true integrity lies in being great even when nobody is watching. A person of true integrity is someone who is a nice person even when he knows that no one is going to come to know about it. The philanthropist that Oprah is, she never stepped behind to help others in need.
3. ‘My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment’
We are always so worried about the future that we forget to live in our present. This makes our present all messed up, which in turn also messes up our future. What we don’t seem to realize is that our present is simply what makes our future. So unless we work on our present, we cannot be assured about a good future. But if we quit worrying about tomorrow and concentrate more on today, we can be certain that a great future lies ahead of us. As for Oprah is concerned, she always believed in taking life as it came. Probably that is the secret of that wonderful smile on her face.
4. ‘Success is putting the past behind you no matter how terrible’
Just as important as it is to not worry about your future, it is also equally important to put the past behind us. A person can never go ahead in life if he always has his past haunting him. If one wants to move ahead in life, one needs to leave back all the things that pull him behind including his past. As stated previously, Oprah herself has had a dreadful past to look back to. Hence she chose to focus only on her present. And all of us are a witness to the lovely present that she has been introduced to.
5. ‘Success is having the power to influence’
“United you stand, divided you fall”, this saying explains how important it is to have people supporting you. When you have people standing by your side, you will naturally be able to achieve your goals better and faster. Hence it is important to be able to influence and work your magic on people so that you can gain their support. Once you are able to convince the people around you, success is only a few steps away. Take Oprah, for example. She has got such magnetism that the support she extended to Barack Obama at the time of the elections caused him to get about a million votes by Americans. If she promotes any book on her show, it automatically becomes the next bestseller. If she talks against any industry on her show, it suffers financial losses.
The best thing about this lady is that even after all that she has gone through, she has no bitterness in her heart. In fact, she wants to help others who face problems like her because she understands their pain more than any one else. She has taught us that our life is of no use unless we do something about it and make a change in someone’s life. As for Oprah is concerned, she has touched more lives than she even knows. But as Oprah says, true success will come to her only if she is able to bring an honest change in someone’s life. It is now your turn to bring about a change someone else’s life. Ready, set, go!
