Oprah Winfrey

Everything Ain’t for Everybody

December 16, 2014 by cam

Whenever I’m in a car by myself, I sing. It never fails. I sing – HARD! You would think I’m in concert. For the longest time, I thought I could actually carry a tune. So much so that I considered recording myself and posting it on YouTube. I was singing a gospel song and wanted to share the inspiration I was feeling.

There I was, on the road to San Jose. I was headed to see Oprah and I was rolling solo. No husband, no kids – just me time. I was singing my heart out. So, I hit record. Then I played it back. Thank the LAWD I played it back and wasn’t so bold to immediately post it. Oh my goodness, everyone I know would have judged me. Yes, I had a cold and sounded all kinds of nasal – but still. I was shocked that I sounded so not good. Here’s a shot of me singing my face off.

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A Weekend With Oprah…

November 18, 2014 by cam

“We are here to turn up the volume on your life.” – Oprah Winfrey

The volume on my life has been cranked – way up!

With anticipation running through me, I drove to San Jose this weekend. I was excited for a few reasons. I had been invited to cover Oprah’s Life You Want Weekend AND I was going to get some alone time. I looked forward to loads of inspiration, resting and getting work done. The only thing I managed to accomplish was being supremely inspired! Once I hit the road to come back home on Sunday, I felt nothing short of transformed.

With more than 10,000 people in an arena, the whole event managed to feel like an intimate gathering. A gathering of people who shared one goal – holding the pencil that writes our life stories. The energy was electric. There were dance parties like this all weekend.

It was amazing to be around so many people who all greeted each other with smiles and hugs. So what that we’d all just met. It was like some alternate universe that we all wished flowed from the arena and permeated our cities.

I had many “aha moments” and just moments of confirmation.

Oprah started things off on Friday night by sharing her life story. There were many things I hadn’t heard before and it was awesome to get those details straight from the source. Her message was looking for the thread that connects the dots of your life.

“The thread is your spirit seeking expression. Your thread is that which connects the dots and experiences of your life and allows you to become who you were meant to be. Everybody has their own thread. What is your thread? What’s your purpose? Why are you here? What is that which connects the dots of your life? Your job is to pay attention to whatever that is.”

As she spoke, all around me I saw tears, hands were raised in affirmation and one woman even let out a shout. You know the kind that only happen in church. It was definitely a spiritual experience.

On Saturday, class was in session. We were all handed workbooks as we walked in. It was clear, this is where the real work was going to begin.

Deepak Chopra was the first to take the stage. He talked a lot about spirituality and how to find that connection for yourself. “Religion,” he said, “is believing in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is believing in your own. If someone’s pointing at the moon, you should be looking at the moon, not worshiping the person’s finger.” His talk led to him leading us in meditation. I had never meditated before. It was a great experience for me. I plan on incorporating it into my life.

Elizabeth Gilbert of “Eat, Pray, Love”was up next and she talked about going on a quest of self-discovery. She talked about dreams and knowing when it’s time to change your life. We were reminded that change isn’t painless but it’s so necessary!

Pastor Rob Bell spoke of living RIGHT NOW. He used the example of saving the good china for special occasions when none of us really know if we’re going to be here tomorrow let alone for that special occasion. All we really have is right now. Use the china now, live the life you want now.

Once Iyanla Vanzant took her turn we were all worked up, on fire and brimming with excitement. She definitely kept it going. Her whole talk was about life and the ups and downs that come with it. She asked that we all remember that life really is on our side. Those things we go through are for a reason. There are lessons in all of it to get us to the next level. We have the choice of repeating those lessons or learning and growing from them to move toward the life we want.

The common them for all that spoke is that they had been knocked down by life. They had experienced real stuff and were able to bounce back to gain the life they wanted. Once they day was over we were all emotionally drained and full at the same time. I exchanged information with all the people that sat near me.

Rrachelle , moi + Stephanie

A few of us even made a pact to not lose what we’d gained that weekend. We have promised to hold each other accountable to going, full force after the life it is that we want. The first step, is embracing the life you already have.

*Oprah photos Courtesy of Harpo, Inc. / George Burns

When it’s Oprah, Just Hit SUBMIT

November 11, 2014 by cam

You ever have an opportunity to do something really good? It’s definitely a life changing opportunity but the questions in your head start swirling. Before you know it, you’ve talked yourself out of the opportunity. You’ve built a pretty convincing case against yourself as to why you won’t get it.

That was almost me a few weeks ago. When I first heard about Oprah’s Life You Want Weekend, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I immediately went online to see where the tour was going. I thought for sure, it would be making it’s way to L.A. To my surprise, there were no stops in or around L.A. The closest stop was going to be in San Jose. I gave it a lot of thought and figured I’d see how I could make that happen. It can be pretty hard for me to get away during the week because we don’t have back up child care for our children.

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Then, I saw a thread in a Facebook group I’m in. There was talk of opportunities being available for the media. Even though I’ve been a part of the media for nearly 20 years now, I questioned myself. I asked myself a million questions and had started to convince myself that I wouldn’t make the cut for media for this event. After staring at the form for a few days, I finally filled it out. I remember the moment I hit “submit”. I was nervous, excited and hopeful. I wondered if there was anything I’d left out that I should have said. Then, I decided to just let it go, say a prayer and know that whatever is meant to be is what will be.

I’m happy to say that I was approved! I’ll be attending the Life You Want tour stop in San Jose! I am equal parts excited and hopeful! The whole message of the tour is the message I try to drive home in this space. We are all worthy of the life we want. Even as moms – especially as moms! I say especially not because we’re entitled as moms to be any happier than anyone else. As moms though it can be tougher to pursue those things that bring you the life you want. I am going to soak up the knowledge and I’ll be bringing it right back here to you!

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The next time you get that feeling of , “am I ready?”, “can I do this?”, hit “submit”! Submit yourself, submit to the process and be open to the life you want!

These Three Words – Game Changer

October 7, 2014 by cam

Recently I was watching Oprah’s Lifeclass. There is always an interesting discussion happening on that show. Oprah has a guest on and they talk about their ideas and viewpoints on life topics. It’s usually someone who has positioned themselves as an expert and has a book to promote. I always find little helpful nuggets from this show. The way they get the audience involved, in studio and through social media, is really cool.

One day in particular, I was watching and Steve Harvey was on. Personally, watching his transformation from a standup comedian to actor and mega entreprenuer has been amazing. I can usually take something from his thoughts and advice. This day was no different. He was talking about his new book “Think Like A Success”. During his time on the show, he took questions from the audience. One mother asked about her kids. Her children are all adults ranging in age from their mid-20s to 30 years old. She was still supporting all of them financially in some way. This “support” was putting a strain on her relationship with her husband. She pretty much wanted Steve to tell her she was right for taking care of her “babies”, as she called them. Oprah and Steve reminded her that her children were no longer babies but instead had babies of their own.

Steve told her that he and his wife regularly say these three words to their kids:

As soon as he said the words, “Your wings work!”, I smiled. I think that’s perfection. For our kids, we want to give them the world. The issue with the woman on the show was knowing when to pull the plug. We can’t hold them so tight that we break their wings. At some point, we have to let them test those wings and just be there for the shifts in the wind that knock them off their path.

The truth is,we all need to know that we are fully capable of the life we want. We could all use a reminder here and there to keep flapping. Sometimes we don’t use our wings at all and wonder why we’re not moving. If a bird attempts to leave the nest without attempting to fly, you’ll find it still near that tree. The bird will either be at the foot of the tree injured and upset with his position in life or dead because of his lack of effort. The same is true of our dreams. If we don’t try our dreams will be stuck. They’ll remain a dream, but a dormant one.

The other alternative is they could wither and disappear because we gave them no effort. The solution is to START FLAPPING! You may not immediately soar out of the nest but you’ll be moving. You’ll begin to soar in due time. Promise!

You CAN’T be what you want!

September 17, 2013 by cam

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“The biggest fallacy on earth is that you can be anything that you want to be. You can only be what you were meant to be.” ~Oprah Winfrey

When I first read that quote, I had a big question mark on my forehead. Then I read it again and it totally made sense. Everything I want isn’t always good for me. That goes for relationships, food AND ambitions.

When it comes to relationships, sometimes people show us who they are from the beginning and we have the choice and the chance to walk away. At other times, we learn who they are the hard way. It’s not always easy to know that some relationships just weren’t meant to be.

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Growing up I wanted to be a singer, a supermodel and a writer. Well, I don’t have the nerve to get up in front of people and sing. I’m too shy that way. I did, however, have the nerve to get up in front of people sometimes half naked and walk a runway or take photos. Even still, I’m no supermodel. That industry wanted more than I was willing to give and I gracefully bowed out. So I guess one out of three ain’t bad.

I am a writer and have been for what seems like forever. Writing is what I was meant to do though. Motivating people, is what I’m meant to do. Still, getting to that place of figuring out what I want and if it’s what’s meant for me took some trial and error. It took me auditioning for a choir and realizing my voice refused to meet me at the audition for me to finally accept that as much as I love singing, I wasn’t meant to do it on that level. Sometimes it takes having jobs that make us miserable to realize it’s time to do something else. Whatever the case, realizing we have the choice and the chance to be EXACTLY what we are meant to be is exciting and worth the journey. What do you think about Oprah’s quote?