What Oprah Knows for Sure

Oprah is one of my heroines. Recovering from abuse to be the confident, absolutely fabulous, powerful woman she is today is an inspiration. When I began reading her column, “What I know for sure,” it made me think and realize I also had my own wisdom. Oprah said, “Since the day the late Gene Siskel asked me, ‘What do you know for sure?’…I've never stopped asking myself that question. And every month I must find yet another answer. Some months I feel I hardly know a thing, and I'm always pressed to make the deadline for my column.” From the November 2008 issue of her magazine she lists 25 things she knows for sure, some of them are: “What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what. (This is my creed.) You define your own life. Don't let other people write your script. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.”

I know how Oprah feels. Sometimes when I sit down to write this column I feel like I hardly know a thing. How can I possibly share any wisdom? The blank screen in front of me can be overwhelmingly blank. Sometimes I have to browse the internet for inspiration, and sometimes I get hit with a “knowing” and have to write about it. Oprah’s column resonates with me because there are many things I actually know for sure. I know that each of us is an example of Oprah in our own ways. We all have had our own traumas in life, been resilient, and then bounced back from them. We all have our own wisdom, sometimes learned from the sweat of our brows, the pain in our backs, and the salty tears we have shed. We have wisdom from the joy in the small things of a child at play, a bluebird’s song, or the sun on our face. However, can we also thoroughly embrace the joy we feel at accomplishing big things on our lifetime list?

I whole heartedly agree with all of Oprah’s above statements and attempt to practice them daily in my life. One of the things I know for sure is that when I let someone else manipulate me through my codependence or caring, I stop liking myself. I also know for sure that when I look for the return in whatever I put out rather than in the joy of giving, I fall into fear of the world around me. Because I do know what I put out returns in kind, loving does generate more loving. I also know for sure that when I am caught up in reacting to my past while living in the present I have fractured myself, and there’s no way I can move wholly into a healthier future.  

This week’s exercise is to write your own list of what you know for sure. Maybe the first line of what you know for sure is that you don’t like making lists? One point of this exercise is to help you realize that you have your own wisdom. Maybe you are someone who can easily write your list of what you know for sure?

Another point of this exercise is to sit with your list and really ask yourself, do you know those things for sure in your whole body-mind and soul? Or are you too quick to respond and need to exercise an open mind? What we have been taught by society and our parents may not be our own truth. This exercise is your opportunity to write your truths and empower your life with them.

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