I Spent My Weekend With Oprah!

As soon as tickets for “Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend” went on sale – I snagged two tickets for my mother and me. I knew we had to be in the audience and I’m still beaming from our experience. The tour visits eight cities including Newark, NJ, which is where we were this past weekend. We were given workbooks, which you know I love! And special bracelets that lit up with inspiration. The tour included Oprah and her handpicked trailblazers: Mark Nepo, (who btw also published a book with my publisher, Viva Editions!) Rob Bell, Elizabeth Gilbert (remember Eat, Pray, Love?) and Iyanla Vanzant. Stedman and Gayle were there too of course.

Courtesy: Oprah’s Instagram http://instagram.com/p/td1QgEyS0X/

I’ve always been an Oprah fan. I used to watch “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with my mother from the time I was a little girl. She helped to shape my career – I wanted to be a broadcast journalist like her and Barbara Walters. I was fortunate enough to sit in the audience of one of her last shows in Chicago and have been following her new venture, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN,) very closely. I’ve attended her live “Lifeclass” tapings and now “The Life You Want Weekend.”

Oprah’s Best Lessons

The weekend was all about finding your true purpose and living the life you want. For many people – they still weren’t sure what they’ve been called to do and wanted to learn what is possible. Others were laser focused and already had their eye on the prize of happiness, fulfillment and abundance.

I was live tweeting like crazy so some of you may have come across some of this wisdom on my Twitter feed. But there were some really powerful messages from Oprah and her trailblazers that I want to share with you.

“No matter how dark it gets, the sun will always rise.” — Oprah

“Luck is planning meeting opportunity” – Oprah

“You become what you believe, you don’t become what you wish.” – Oprah

I created a Storify story of social media that I shared and borrowed from others who were also at the event. It will give you a great look at what the weekend was really like.

Oprah & My Mom Are Twins!

It was really fitting to be at this event with my mother because she’s been my biggest teacher. She didn’t just teach me to read and to go after my dreams but also how to live a happy and purposeful life. These are the lessons that everyone in the audience was looking to learn too. We were on all different spiritual levels. My mother is definitely in the advanced group. At one point I turned to her and said “Why aren’t you on that stage? You’ve been saying this stuff for years!”

“I aspire to be full until my cup runneth over” –@Oprah #stuffmymomsaystoo! #LifeYouWantNJ @LifeYouWantTour pic.twitter.com/N0A7Lv4CE6 — Paula Rizzo (@ListProducer) September 27, 2014

“What you put out is coming back, all the time.” – Oprah

As a big fan of “The Secret” I agree with this wholeheartedly. If you give out negativity, you get negativity back. If you give out happiness and positivity…guess what’s coming your way?

I’m Thinking Oprah Loves Lists

She mentioned lists a few times throughout the weekend. She told a story about when she was in kindergarten and the class was working on their ABC’s.  She wrote a letter to the teacher and said she knew much more than ABC’s and didn’t belong in the class.  She made a list of all the words she knew and got moved to the first grade that very same day!

“Put yourself on the #list. Top of the list” –@Oprah #LifeYouWantNJ @LifeYouWantTour — Paula Rizzo (@ListProducer) September 27, 2014

Fresh clean sheets, shower pressure, fresh figs, sun set, a safe flight – @Oprah‘s #gratitude #list #lifeyouwantnj @LifeYouWantTour — Paula Rizzo (@ListProducer) September 27, 2014

I’m a Sucker for Homework

The entire weekend was a big workshop/class designed to help you think through what you really want your life to look like.

Love that @oprah is giving us homework! Here’s my #lifecircle #LifeYouWantNJ pic.twitter.com/jjfTiDsPAc — Paula Rizzo (@ListProducer) September 27, 2014

Oprah and her team have done a good job of keeping the momentum and great energy going long after the arena cleared out. The official “The Life You Want Weekend” app sends friendly reminders and motivational quotes. If you have a chance to get tickets for the tour, I highly recommend it. You won’t be disappointed.

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” —Oprah