Photo courtesy of Virgin Radio Vancouver
You don’t usually find a pair of $700.00 French country nightstands at a garage sale, but Oprah Winfrey’s garage sale isn’t your usual garage sale. She is selling off many of her former favorite things in Santa Barbara this weekend, to fund a college education for girls at a school she set up in South Africa.
When Oprah came to Vancouver last January, she spoke to us in the audience about the underprivledged girls, many of whom had lost one or both parents, and many of whom were staying at Oprah’s house with her until they went off to college in the United States. Here is a re-post of my blog about the day I saw Oprah in Vancouver last January.
My sister and I were fortunate to count ourselves among the 16,000 fans at Rogers Arena in Vancouver last night, who gave Oprah Winfrey a standing ovation, to thank her for being an inspiration in our lives for the past 25 years.
She started the evening’s show by asking the audience: “Why are You Here?”
She says we all have a calling, and our job is to figure out what that calling is. To figure out our calling, she says we have to look at the common thread that runs through our lives. What have you done for yourself and others that makes a difference? She says we must use our purpose in life to help ourselves first, and then to serve others, as the ultimate purpose of life is to serve others.
– Getting Paid:
Oprah says we must answer our calling, to realize our potential and to help others, even if we don’t get paid for it. But, if we CAN get paid to do our calling, that’s even better.
– How Do You Know When To Act?:
Listen to the whispers in your head, as they are telling you what you should do. If you ignore this inner voice, it will become like pebbles hitting your head, and if you continue to ignore it, it will eventually become a tsunami. Your thoughts create what you become, and you are responsible for your thoughts and your own life, so don’t wait for others to make things happen for you.
– How To Paint The Canvas That is Your Life:
She says your thoughts are creating who you want to become. To become what you believe you must work hard, to prepare yourself to grab opportunities when they arise. Oprah believes there is no such thing as luck – everything happens for a reason. You create your life with your thoughts, actions, and intentions.
Oprah entertained the crowd for two hours by taking them on a guided photo, video and speaking tour of her life, which was sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, and mostly inspirational. She described how she discovered her life’s calling – “talking to crowds”, as a child, by speaking to the congregation in her church.
She said she always saw her calling as being a “teacher”. But her classrooms, are not your usual classrooms. In Vancouver, her “classroom” held 16,000 of us students.
For Oprah’s garage sale info: http://www.kaminskiauctions.com/