Who's Oprah???? ~ Day 4

This may sound CRAZY for most people today when I say; I don't own or watch TV since 1998!  

Why that year?  It was the year of my divorce at the age of 32. I was ending an unhappy marriage and starting my life all over again! I was getting ready to turn the page of a new way of life.  

I am not against TV for others! I get mixed reactions on this subject. I get "Woo, are you kidding me?" or "Well, good for you, I should do that too!" and that's the end of our icebreaker small talks! Soooo, on to the next person across the room for them to chat about their favorite movie stars and the latest Reality TV shows!

  

For me, I just made a conscious choice to live without it and to mindfully CUT OFF all the noises in that black square tube.  That black box in the middle of the room, over time has fed my mind with so many mixed signals about life, love, success and happiness!  I grew to mistrust TV for its false sense of reality and it confused my mind & my heart out here as I struggled to find my own place in this world.

Granted, it also was a very useful tool to help me learn my English at a younger age.  For that, I am very grateful!

Television played a HUGE part in my life. It has influenced my growing up years to assimilate and adapt to America, with the good & the bad in my transitions to become the All- American girl.  But, I took it to heart and thought life in America was supposed to be like what I saw on TV.  I also lived many parts of it in real life with my “well -to- do" but dysfunctional adopted family too. 

 Some people even have a TV in every room as a part of their lifestyle. Watching TV is like eating and breathing for them. It's a way of life.  It can be your best friend, your entertainment resources, and your white noise on a lonely night. I totally GET it!  But somehow, my life wasn't any better because of it and it didn't align with my soul until I grew up, matured enough to find my own inner voice to make a stand. 

With the hyperactive social media maniac world we live in today, millions of people CAN'T live without their TVs and all kinds of other entertainment tubes out there as a vice.  It's part of our American culture! I am clueless and NOT up to date with it all but I do get sound bites of what's happening in the world through the Internet as I pick and choose those sound bites. So, I am not so unaware or completely out of the loop!

My commitment to "No TV" in my life was still strong when I met the love of my life in 2003. I was getting ready to get married again!  I made a gentle but strong stand that I wanted US to live without TV in our marriage.  "Is that okay with you?" I asked my husband to-be. 

Okay, so it wasn't going to be a deal breaker if he said. “No, that's not okay." But, I was prepared to work something out BEFORE we walk down the "forever, I do" lane, AGAIN, for both of us! 

But he said, "No problem!" So, still today, we do not own a TV!

Anyway, all this to say, with no TV in my life, I also missed one of the most "inspiring" great shows on Television!  But perhaps, for the past 12 years, I wasn't ready!  It wasn't the right time for me or the right path to reach me! 

I was too busy putting all my broken pieces together. I even had to travel across the world to go find my many lost & found pieces to put my little life together first! Life spurred me on to "Go find who you are at this junction in your life".  And in that junction, I discovered "writing" to help me find me!  Eventually I  had to published my painful "autobiography" as my way to let it go in order to heal before I could move forward with my new life. 

I do believe strongly in this phrase "When the student is ready, the right teacher will come."

It was this year, 2011 that my husband's job took us back to the city living, part- time; away from my hidden little cottage in the woods, without a TV to Westlake, Ohio; a suburb of Cleveland. We lived in a city apartment above my favorite shopping hub of Crocker Park and in this small one bedroom apartment, they furnished us with 2 TVs, as if it's an automatic requirements of daily living! lol haha 

Whenever I travel to be with my husband in the city, I have no weeds to pull, no dogs to walk and no chores like at our cottage, in the woods, that require of my time. Apartment living in the city gave me more "dead time" to be curious enough to turn on a TV to see what's in there nowadays. 

There was a lot of hype about Oprah's Final Farewell Show.  Even on my FB postings! Many sound bites as I read from friends I respected and care for to say, "You must watch it!" And so I did...  I loved it!  WOW! I was amazed with all the Superstars that came to Surprise Oprah in her Extravaganza Show. Great entertainment for sure and I got many nuggets from her show and posted on FB in real time that week!  She made me think, how am I contributing to the world?  I can only response with a big humble swallow of disappointment for myself.

Turning off the TV, I was still in awe! I was inspired of what one life (Oprah’s) can do and to give back to the Universe with her bright lights and positive vibrations in waves throughout the world.  God granted her many blessings! WOW! WOW!   But then, I discounted it with a thought, she's a legend in that black tube box they called television. 

It's not so real-to-real life or for us common folks.  So, it wasn't the TV that impacted me the most about the Oprah Show. It was seer entertainment during my "wasting" time in the apartment! 

One day, at the Atlanta Int'l Airport, while waiting for my husband's plane to land, I picked up the Oprah's " Official Commemorative Edition " magazine with a title  "Behind the Scenes of 25 Incredible Years." on a magazine rack.  I fondly enjoyed the review of what I saw on TV that day but I brought it home with me because there were so many sections of "looking back of the 25 years" that I missed so I wanted to catch up on who's Oprah and what is she all about? 

I took it home with me and it lays there, like so many other reading materials to read on another day. This week, I finally open it; I read page-by-page, underlined, and highlighted, put stars by so many, nuggets that spoke to me. I tended to skip the movie stars parts but soaked in intensely about Oprah's humble beginnings of realness and the inspiring stories she shared about the average folks that I can relate to. 

What spoke to me from where I was sitting are these words...

~ " You are 100% responsible for your life" (that stayed with me LOUD and CLEAR from that TV black screen in the apartment!)

~"All of life is about growing to your personal best- and that means continuously taking new challenges"

~"... I use my stage only for that which uplifts and brings lights" ~

~ " I've always believed that life is sweeter when you share it"~

~The most important lesson of all: that we are all worthy of love and happiness, you alone are enough."

~Finally, her last sentence in her "My Love Letter to You" with a call for ACTION!  

" Everybody has a calling and your real job in life is to figure out what that is"

Oprah SPURRED me forward to be here in blogging to the world!    I am here to take on a new challenge, to share, to hopefully uplifts and contribute my vibrations because I AM enough to make a difference in the world.

 So, BLOGGING and SHARING my thoughts, experiences from my own journey, not afraid anymore of exposing my "not so perfect" English to "uplifts & brings my lights" from a small corner of my world to those who will read it as I put it out there into the Universe. 

Thank you for allowing me to at least trying to do my part to figure out what is my calling in my writing to you.

Thank you, Oprah for coming into my life when I needed you most, but only AFTER you left that square black box! :)

May each one of us take a brave step toward finding your calling! You are enough!

With Love & Light,

Hai