The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life's Direction and Purpose(26)

ELLEN DEGENERES


I’m in a relationship now where I have equal love. I love her and she loves me. We respect each other. We’re kind and gentle to each other. And, as someone once said, it’s wonderful to be loved, but it’s profound to be understood.





SHAWN ACHOR


OPRAH: You all have heard this question, “Is the glass half-empty or is the glass half-full?” I beat myself up because some days I look at it and I say, It’s definitely half-empty. And some days, It’s half-full. But what you’re saying is, what does it matter if you have a pitcher nearby? I love this. So it doesn’t matter if the glass is half-full or half-empty.

SHAWN ACHOR: That’s right. We get so focused on the glass, whether it’s half-full or half-empty, and we can argue forever between optimists and pessimists. Both can say the other is being unrealistic. But it wouldn’t matter if we looked at more of the world and saw that there’s a pitcher of water that’s sitting next to it.

OPRAH: Life is the pitcher.

SHAWN: Life is the pitcher and we’re missing the pitcher when we’re so focused on that one element. It doesn’t matter if your glass is half-full or half-empty if there’s a pitcher of water right next to you. And we need to look at the full picture to see the full pitcher.





JEAN HOUSTON


I believe that we are here with deep purpose to become all that we can be. I believe that we are headed ultimately in the right direction. I believe that we have been given sufficient stress, crisis, complexity, and consciousness to do things that are just beyond our imagination. Larger than our aspiration. More complex than all our dreams. I believe in love. I believe in you. I believe in me. I believe in this, the most potent moment in human history.





JANE FONDA


I’ve done a lot of things in my life. There are a lot of parts to my life. I have thought very deliberately and intentionally about my life, and why certain things happen and what they mean. I learned that the goal is to be whole. To reside inside your skin. I don’t want to die tomorrow, but if I do, I’d go out happy. Because I’ve worked hard at making the most of what I’ve been given. And the lesson is: It’s never too late.





GARY ZUKAV


OPRAH: It’s just like the moment when the Wicked Witch of the West is trying to get to Dorothy. And Glinda says, “Oh, rubbish! You have no power here. Be gone…” The goodness and the light is so strong that the Wicked Witch of the West has no ability to affect that territory.

GARY ZUKAV: That’s right. The Universe doesn’t look in terms of good, bad, better, worse, success, or failure. It looks in terms of limitation and opportunity. The more the loving parts of your personality are the ones you’re cultivating, the more opportunity you have. The more fear is controlling you, the more limitation you have. Because what is failure? We can’t possibly know what failure is. We cannot.

OPRAH: Some people think they do.

GARY: Most people think they do. But that’s because they’re judging how they feel their lives should be and what they need to be. A success. Who is to say what’s a success or what’s a failure? Do your best. Trust. Relax. Enjoy yourself.





EPILOGUE


Nourish what makes you feel confident, connected, contented. Opportunity will rise to meet you.

—Oprah




Some of the most meaningful experiences on The Oprah Winfrey Show happened when it was perfectly still, just a single person on the stage sharing a story so intimate you had to hold your breath just to hear it.

Years ago, I interviewed a grieving mother whose adult son had died after a long illness. You could have heard a pin drop in the studio when she so beautifully told the story of their final moment together. The mother had climbed into bed with her son. She could barely hear him, but her head was on his chest. As he took his last breath, he whispered, “Oh Mom, it is all so simple. It’s so simple, Mom.” He then closed his eyes and died.

I got chills when I heard that. I realized then, just as it resonates with me now: We allow life to get so complicated—when it’s really so very simple.

From that day forward I resolved to continually ask myself, How am I making things more difficult than they need to be?

Your answer to that same question is the next step in your path. It’s that simple.

Imagine what lies just around the bend.

Can you see it? I can.

Love,

Oprah