I am a newbie to the world of podcasts, but my cup already runeth over with listening in. Before needing an even bigger boost of positivity and inspiration during these COVID-19 times, I had been listening to Oprah’s podcast series while driving as a means of inspiration for talking points during the yoga classes I teach. Now, I have the series playing as I cook, clean and hangout within my home. Entitled, Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations, each podcast features only one celebrity and conversations are raw as they talk about their own journeys of health and wellness with life lessons they have learned. I feel at this time, it is of utmost importance to flood our ears with information that can inspire positive change. The more we hear it, the more we will gravitate that way, instead of towards worry or fear.
I am still making my way through all of Oprah’s episodes and she continues to add new ones. There are some poignant take aways that will stick with me from what I have listened to so far.
In her podcast with Bishop T.D. Jakes, he teaches us that we think we are mostly only capable of what has been modeled for us. We are what we see, what we read, and what we hear.
He tells a story of a beautiful mama dog who was injured in a car accident while pregnant. Her back legs became paralyzed, but absolutely no harm at all came to her puppies. The accident caused her to drag her legs behind her as she moved around. As the puppies grew and began to walk, they all dragged their legs behind them and only walked using their two front legs! They didn’t even know what they were capable of. What are you capable of that you haven’t even discovered yet?
Photo on left courtesy of Karel Van der Auwera via Unsplash.
In Oprah’s Supersoul Conversation with Luptia Nyong’o, Lupita speaks on making space for abundance. We do such a good job at being sad, feeling negative, expecting rejection, preparing for “No’s” we will hear in our life, but we need to make space for light in our lives. Prepare for the “Yes’s” we will hear, for the positivity, and success.
A much needed listen at this time is the podcast with Eckhart Tolle, appropriately titled, Acceptance of Troubled Times. He explains that stress is something that arises when we want whatever is happening in that moment to not be happening. Stress arises in the gap between ‘what is’, and what our mind says ‘should be’. He feels we spend a great deal of time arguing with life and protesting our situation and this distracts the situation from changing. We must find acceptance in order to start achieving change.
Accept this moment as if you had chosen it.
Eckart Tolle
Eckhart encourages us to become friendly with the present moment. He feels that we add excess baggage to a situation by involving our own narrative. If we remove the dialogue we are telling ourselves of things like, “This is awful”, “This is ridiculous”, we can see a situation in its neutral state, in its true form.
I will leave you with this quote from Joy Harjo, America’s Poet Laureate, whose podcast with Oprah reached me deeply, especially in these times where we rarely sit still with our thoughts and feeling, but rather distract with social media, the internet in general, and television.
You must be friends with silence to hear.
The songs of the guardians of silence are the most powerful –
They are the most rare.
Joy Harjo
