I found hope, inspiration and comfort…

The first time I saw the Oprah Show on South African TV – I must have been 12 or 13 years old. I’d just gotten home from school after a tough day. As a junior in high school, I was a skinny shy girl who seemed to attract the attention of bullies and often got singled out and harassed. I recall the feeling that seeing the show it filled me with – a sense that I was not alone, that I could find strength to be more and the courage to overcome challenges. Soon watching the show in the afternoons when taking a break from my studies became a soothing balm and source of inspiration right up until the show came to the end.

 

I was overwhelmed with excitement and emotion…

When I sat in an audience of 5000 women at the O YOU South Africa Conference, seeing Oprah live and listening to the wisdom she imparted. It truly was a dream come true. The energy was electric, and the resonance of positivity vibrated so profoundly. If anyone has told the young me that she would be some day be one of the women in crowd in the same room as Oprah, she probably would have laughed it off. Back then life felt hard, the world seemed big and distant, and such opportunities seemed out of reach. I am grateful that life has changed so much over the years and that so many magical possibilities now exist in my reality.

 

Something happens when you are in the presence of Greatness…

It rubs off on you. Sharing a space with incredible women who have lived fully and defied all obstacles has a way of drawing your own inner warrior to the fore. And when these very women – your role models, favoured authors, Oprah and women like the speakers at O YOU SA – stand before you saying that within you lies a beautiful and unique spirit with significant gifts to offer the world, then your inner power is activated. When that happens, excuses, doubts and fears dissolved and you remember the possibilities that are open to you. I came face to face with the beliefs I’ve allowed to hold myself back and suddenly they seemed so small. I saw the dreams in my heart more clear, heard my soul’s whispers shouting out in joy and in that moment I committed to pursuing them with greater passion. It hit home that I hold the very things that I revere in this women inside of me too, we all do. The more you remind yourself that the same power and beauty of spirit that see in your heros is in you as well, the more you activate your inner power, release limiting beliefs and put yourself in the world to dream, inspire, heal and share your gifts in whichever way you feel guided to. As you do, you manifest your own version of greatness by living your life purpose.