Oprah’s Final Show: Inspiration, Motivation, A Call To Action.
The final episode of Oprah aired today. Winfrey spent the hour, almost entirely on her feet, imparting the lessons she has learned over twenty five seasons to her audience. She had no guests.
The show was part inspirational, part motivational. She reflected on the goals she had set for herself in working day to day and the lessons she has learned along the way. (In 25 years, she never missed a days work!)
The ultimate message was to ‘find your purpose’ – acknowledging that while most people won’t find theirs to be a stage on a television show as she did, everyone has a purpose, a message, and that our duty in life is to find it and honor it.
“What I want you to know as this show ends… each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio. Yours is wherever you are. With your own reach. However small or large that reach is… You are showing people exactly who you are… and when you do that you will receive in direct proportion to how you give… You have the power to change somebody’s life… Not everybody gets paid for it, but everybody gets called.”
She also asked viewers to be aware of themselves and others… citing “You are responsible for the energy that you bring yourself and the energy that you bring to others.”
She spoke to her viewers and guests whom, she said, are unwilling to recognize their value and receive the good people give to them, imploring: “You are worthy because you are born and because you are here… You alone are enough.”
While Oprah acknowledged that she has gotten flack in the past for speaking of God, she spoke of her spirituality often throughout the show, saying “nothing but the hand of God has made this possible for me.” She recognized that ‘her God’ was everyone’s God, regardless of denomination. And she spoke to viewers to hear the voice in their lives:
“What I know is – God IS love and God is life. And your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers… and if you don’t pay attention to the whispers it gets louder and louder and louder… it’s like a brick hitting you upside the head. And so I ask you: What are the whispers in your life right now? What’s whispering to you and will you hear it?”
In the final segments of the show, she again reflected on her own journey, recalling that in the past months of interviews about her coming exit, she’s frequently been asked about the good and times… the sweet and the bittersweet. She said it was “all sweet, no bitter.”
And in her final moments she said: “I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I have tried to be for you. I won’t say goodbye, I will just say until we meet again.”
She waved and shaked the hands of some of her audience members, walked through the halls of the studio, hugging and crying with her staff. She shouted, “We did it!”
In the final shot, Winfrey was seen walking away with her cocker spaniel, Sadie.