SuperSoul Session 2…thank you, Oprah.

Saturday I went to Oprah’s SuperSoul Session #2 in Los Angeles – a day spent listening to various speakers. I left thinking, “That was cool, useful, entertaining…” but I’d expected to be BLOWN AWAY and “breakthrough-inspired.”

I didn’t feel blown away though, at least not by anyone other than Oprah herself. (She is amazing in a way I can’t put into words.)  And IMHO some of the speakers’ content was confusing, boring or just okay.

But now I’ve had the most loving, happy time with my kids and family, beyond my normal (relatively happy) experience. Yesterday, I went to the gym, drank coffee, looked for and found the tax papers, did errands, got tired, made dinner, watched a movie, had my daughter get upset – what happened wasn’t especially different or exciting to any other day!  But I worried a lot less, appreciated a lot more, judged myself a lot less, loved more. And it was an extraordinarily lovely, lovely day. The happy, contented state I’m still in feels different.

SuperSoul Session #2 didn’t feel like a breakthrough then, but it does now.

Here are the key messages that I noted down Saturday.

1. See the broken child within the person – connection. (Shaka)
2. Live like everything is figure-out-able (Marie Forleo)
3. Be truthful with yourself stop lying to yourself. (Cheryl, Oprah)
4. Change your dreams/definitions of success if they don’t serve you. (Cheryl)
5. Don’t avoid the pain or negative emotions – own it, it’s telling you something. “Life without pain is a wolf in sheep’s clothes” (Oprah, India)
6. The emotional wounds you carry cannot be filled by money, success, accomplishments. (India)
7. Solve a problem for yourself…then share it with others (Kris, Caroline, Oprah, Shaka)
8. You need to COMMIT to whatever you’re doing. Are you committed? (Oprah)
9. All problems stem from dis-alignment with the source, being disconnected (Oprah)
10. Staying connected is a DAILY PRACTICE, a moment by moment practice. It takes effort! (Oprah)
11. We teach children to look outwards for significance rather than inwards. Parent-child relationships are the main reason children learn they are not enough. We want them to be happy, to succeed, to achieve, to fix them, so we can feel better, so we can be good parents. (Shefali)
12. Inner stillness is the only way to lasting happiness (Eckhart)
13. Stop trying to fix yourself and just start showing up (Kerry)

So personally, to keep this wellbeing alive, I’m committing to:

DAILY PRACTICE.
I need to get a good dose of positivity, inspiration, inner purpose, connectedness. I KNOW how important it is to feed your brain good stuff and limit bad, but I haven’t really FELT how critical this is.  My daily practice will include meditation, writing, and also time spent remembering daily:

• I am not inadequate. There is nothing wrong with me. I don’t need fixing.
• I am amazing and loved
• Everything is figure-out-able.
• The universe is friendly.
• Just show up today.

FACE SOME PAIN. I’m going to work through these  – doing Byron Katie’s Questions on these.

• Look at my definition of success. Create a NEW definition, let go of society’s definition. Let go of my broken record that I have failed to achieve financial/career success and my life should look like someone else’s.
• Look at my aspirations. Are they working for me? Boil it down to the essence of what I must do (outer purpose), then take action and let go of whether succeeds or fails.
• Look at my money/finance relationship. It’s time to face the pain and break through, rather than avoiding it.

COMMIT to my next career/purpose step.

• What is the heart of my education change commitment?
• Am I committed to my www.parentsfor21c.org website/parent idea?
• If not, what am I committed to?
• Time to stop struggling, being unsure, being wishywashy about this.

Oprah, thank you very much for your SuperSoul work. Attending Session 2 has impacted me in such a good way, and has sparked positive action in my life.