Oprah Winfrey Harvard Commencement Speech and Developing an Internal GPS for the Soul
It is no secret that Oprah Winfrey has been an inspiration to millions of people worldwide for the past 25 or so years. Her ongoing transparency regarding her issues with food, weight, sexual abuse and her self-development and spiritual journey makes her someone – regardless of her wealth and success – that many of us connect with and look up to as a role model.
Her half-hour long speech at Harvard this week has been noted as being humorous, self-deprecating, inspirational but not perfect (thank goodness for that!).
Oprah touches on some key themes that we can all relate to
- living from the authentic-self versus the false-self
- hope and despair, light and darkness
- failure and success
- connectedness and separateness
- acknowledgement of our sameness and acceptance of our differences
- acting with empathy and kindness to ourselves and others
- living a meaningful, soulful and purposeful life
One of the most important takeaways is about how we need to develop what she describes as an internal, moral, emotional GPS that can tell us which way to go. Ultimately, that requires us to listen to that quiet voice inside that just ‘knows’.
Check out her Harvard address here:
