OPRAH

Wow, what a night!!!! Well, I didn't meet Oprah in person but I was sitting in Row 6 so no complaints from this girl! I didn't have to look on the big monitor during the interview because she was that close and it was amazing!!!!! This lady is beyond inspiring!

The evening interview started off with Oprah joking around about how receiving the Montecito Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for her body of work (in film) - which surmounts to three movies - was a bit of a stretch. She also joked about how she was just getting the award because she's the girl next door. 

A columnist from the LA Times interviewed her and throughout the two hour Q & A, she was so casual and light. Well, the guy attempted to interview Oprah. I mean, come on, it's Oprah! He asked a couple of questions and while she answered them they were in her Oprah way with a sophisticated and humanitarian reply that offered glimpses of her life and inner world.

She talked about the backstory of how she got the role of the Color Purple and it was incredible. Essentially, in her oh-so-very-Oprah-way it all came down to surrender. She spoke about how once you give something your ALL and do everything in power to make it happen and then you completely surrender and let it go that it will happen. 

She spoke the power of intention and how it fuels the results of your actions and that she does nothing without intention. Intention. Intention. Intention. It's everything.

At this stage of her life (she's 60!), she told us that she only does what matters. That really stuck out for me. Do what matters. It's related to intention and focussing your energy on what matters. 

{ What matters? }

The other thing that really touched my heart was when she spoke out to the audience about how gifted we all are. The interview guy from the LA TImes brought up how in 2013 film there was a strong presence African Americans. He mentioned that if Chiwetel Ejiofor (the male actor from 12 Years a Slave) wins he will be the first African American to win that award. Oprah talked about slavery and how her mom and grandmother were maids and her great grandmother was a slave. When she was working on Beloved she asked her crew to blindfold her and take her to a field where the slaves used to work and intended to be there alone for a few days. She only made it over night because she had a spiritual awakening:

It was 1988 and the Oprah Show was going for about 2 years and she was getting tired of doing it. Through that time on the farm she realized that she didn't know what tired was (compared to what slaves had to endure) and she also realized that the Oprah Show was so much bigger than her and that she had to keep doing it for that reason: it was bigger than her. And even though she felt tired, she had to keep going.

At that moment, she looked out into the audience and told us that so many people had made sacrifices for us to be here in this moment in time and that it was a blessing. That we are all blessed.