This was originally published April 17, 2012. Enjoy.
I went to see Oprah’s Lifeclass tour today in Toronto. It was an amazing experience on so many levels. The taped episode was about gratitude. It will air in a few weeks as one of the last episodes. I bought myself a ticket for my birthday a month ago. I was thinking about how great it would be to see her live and happened to be home sick one day and saw an email come through on my AMEX front of the line advertisements. I phoned and when I finally got through there was one ticket left. I quickly snatched it up and reserved a hotel room for the day before. I really wanted to make a getaway for myself. Turning 40 for me was very hard and I aspired to get some meaning and perspective back.
I arrived at the Royal York Sunday afternoon and had a few hours to pass before going for a massage. So I walked around the Toronto Convention center to see where I would be going the next day. I enjoyed the massage immensly and then went for dinner to a great restaurant called the Sultan’s tent. The Sultan’s tent offered a unique taste of middle eastern foods along with a show of belly dancing. The food was great, the atmosphere was lovely, the company priceless.
The next day started at 5a.m. when the alarm went off and I had to gather my things to walk to the show. Shortly after 7a.m. the doors opened and we were hearded into the convention hall. You have to understand that there were 8000 people coming for the show. They had two sessions, the first being at 8a.m. and the second at 4a.m. The show I attended was being taped for a later air date while the 4p.m. show taped for a live airing this evening.
I quickly got my seat which was in the executive seating area one section back from the front and others were in the general admission and then there was festive seating. I had great seats (front of my section). Show didn’t begin until 9a.m. First up was Deepak Chopra. He talked about our soul being there if we are quiet and just listen for it. It is an extension of the universe and part of the universe. We are contracted when we live in fear, resentment and other negative emotions. We need to find awareness so that we can live in the now. As gratitude was the topic of the day he discussed how gratitude sets our soul free. Life is not something that is done to us but rather that we are a being that has experiences flow through us. A vessel for life. To be one with life and aware and pure.
Next was Iyanla who is a spiritual leader as well. She talked about the truth setting us free. If we are able to tell ourselves the truth of matters then we are on our way to an awakening. Free ourselves from what others say about ourselves and define our own existence and definitions of who we are.
Next was TD Jakes the preacher. He was charismatic and talked about getting our heads out of the dirt and stop feeding ourselves excrement (he used an analogy of chickens eating their feces) and instead soar like an eagle above the clouds.
Tony Robbins was just amazing. He had us laughing and crying. He talked about how we need to change our story and then we could change our strategy. Using one word definitions about ourselves was pigeoning us into something we don’t need to live. Most people when failing blame things, others. In essence if we change our story we can be creative enough to make what we need happen. We are people made to make decisions and not have life happen to us but to make life happen. During the taped show he had us do an exercise in gratitude where he played music and we closed our eyes and did some imagery of things that were extremely happy in the past and thought about them and then layered other things one by one on them. He talked of how our body language defines the outcome of our outlook. Similiar to change your attitude and you can change your life. It was very powerful.
Once the class sessions were done, they went into the taping of the episode. It was an amazing experience. When Oprah came on stage she was calm and so well controlled. She knew when to be funny and when to cry and when to move the story along. I have to say she was gracious to the large crowd and tried hard to see as many people as possible. At one point she went to the back of the room and walked up to greet as many people as possible. She took questions and had a woman’s story highlighted who was in the audience. It was powerful to watch the crew of the 4 of them problem solve her issues.
I left with a sense of purpose and renewed strength in my humanity and awareness. I strongly recommend going to see some of these people live if you have the chance. It is not like watching it on t.v. even though that is good as well. One of the big things Oprah kept saying is that people should have a gratitude journal or some way of getting that out. Deepak strongly recommended some ritual. The message was really that finding the gratitude is first but then how you become an agent for others is what counts. Taking your learnings and experiences and seeing how you can give to others with it will make the difference.
I always like to bring it back to my children. One lady asked how do you teach children this lesson especially those that are disadvantaged in some way. Tony said that the most powerful way is to show them with an experience and not by telling them. Having them give back to someone else will bring the message home. I started a gratitude journal with my kids recently and I can see their wheels turning. Tony said that affirmation, appreciation and love will always see children through.
I can’t wait to see the episode airing so I can remember the words from today. Such an amazing group of experts and life lessons to learn. Life is our teacher. It is what you do with your experiences that count, not what’s done to you. Many of the lessons are not knew things that I heard but they were framed in ways that made you expand your thinking and reflect. It is through reflection that I believe you will gain a less contracted life as Deepak put it and expand your awareness into the purest form of yourself. Free from all boundaries and assumptions. Deepak also mentioned that there is but one truth in the world and it is that we as humans have all the potential in the world. Imagine if that was the only thing that you believed, what you could do with that belief in your story.
I will close this blog by listing a few things I am grateful for:
This blog site, my friends, my family, my children especially, my significant other, my health, a sense of purpose, the ability to change things for the better, gifts to share, my experiences good and bad, life here on earth, spirituality, God, community, choice, freedom, being Canadian, my history, my warm bed and food to eat, my strength and faith. There are many more and for that I will continue to write my gratitude journal with my children so I never forget.