McSpirituality?

I thought this was hilarious and had to share it with you. Earlier this year, I followed Oprah's directive to sign up for text updates to my cell phone. The night before almost every show, I get a text message on my cell phone that tells me what the show's subject will be the following day. I already know what's coming up each day since I see the previews and check out Oprah.com regularly, so the texts tend to be useless fodder in my mailbox and I pay them very little heed. However, this season, the missives have also included an ad from a sponsor. For today's show about our spiritual growth and health, I got this message: "On the next Oprah, Brought to you by McDonald's. Enjoy a McCafe Specialty Coffee Today: Best Life Week: Finding Your Spiritual Path."

I worry about the Pavlovian impact this message could have on me. It's quite possible that every time I sit down to meditate, I'll want Chicken McNuggets. Great. There goes the diet.

Maybe there could have been a more appropriate sponsor to support this week of health and personal growth?

Regarding the show, I thought it was interesting that Oprah didn't address her inability to put her own health and happiness first (these are her paraphrased words, not my speculation) as a spiritual issue on today's show. I know everyone says that it's "brave" that she's discussing her weight. But frankly, her weight is out there for everyone to see. It's not a secret. A much braver thing to admit might be the need for clarity in her own life. It still feels as if she's addressing the weight as a separate issue that she hasn't conquered yet, while she behaves as if she completely "gets" spirituality. As she teaches us, everything in life is inextricably connected, so aren't these issues intertwined?

It struck me that on today's show she kept teaching us that beauty is really an internal attribute, while on Monday's show about her weight, she mentioned something along the lines of all her power and celebrity not meaning anything if she "can't fit into the clothes." So, which is true for Oprah? Does she really think our beauty is internal, or is it just the right thing to say? I get stuck in this battle. For me, I can somehow find beauty in other people, but sometimes look at myself and only see what's on the outside.

I am always confused by Oprah's absolute certainty about the issue of spirituality. I might be in the minority, but for me, it comes across as prideful. Especially since the most deeply spiritual people I've had the good fortune to meet are humble, open and more likely to listen, learn and admit that they are still students on the path of life - even as others attempt put them up on a pedestal. Why do you think Oprah points out other peoples' struggles to be true to themselves (like the stay-at-home mom on today's show) without allowing us to see the cracks in her own spiritual armor? Now, this is not to say I think that she's a bad person at all. I admire so much of the work Oprah does outside of herself to help other people. But, I think we all have a personal route of spiritual growth that we're meant to be on throughout our lifetime and I worry that people who behave as if they've crossed the finish line of their spiritual path are in for a painful fall.

I noticed that for most of the Skype'd in viewers' questions, Oprah did A LOT of talking and teaching, as if she were the spiritual expert, not her panel of guests. I wonder whether Oprah is as spiritually evolved as she seems to believe. Maybe she is! Personally, I've always just thought of her as a really smart, talented woman, not as a sort of evolved or transcended spiritual guide. Luckily, it's not my business to decide and I get to make my own choices this year.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that Oprah is more evolved spiritually than you are? Do you look to her to develop your own spiritual path? If so, I'd really like to understand why if you have the desire to share.

Or, do you feel otherwise?

Tomorrow, Suze Orman addresses our finances. Quick, everyone get out your dunce caps! If she's in her usual form, we're in store for a humiliating spanking. You know - the kind of embarrassing emotional pain that only a McFlurry can ease.

Well, my work on this planet is done

I have been emailed my Best Life Certificate of Completion. I feel oddly empty about this as the current Best Life Week seems to insinuate last year was broken because Oprah wasn't onboard. Also, the certificate is slightly suspect, as aside from my initial registration, there was no check-in to see if I was actually doing a single item on the checklist. Still, I know I did it: I committed whole-heartedly to the food/exercise advice listed on the contract for the BLC. Most importantly, I was completely consistent with these areas of my life this year. While I'm a relatively healthy eater and an active gal, in the past, I have had long periods of time where if I ever got off my couch, it could be seen to bear the deep, accurate imprint of my butt. This year? Ok, there's an imprint from having to watch so much Oprah, but there's also an imprint on my butt from my bike seat, as I spent countless hours pedaling away. I also have a very committed, more deeply challenging strength training program that I implemented because of the urging in my BLC Contract to "focus on challenging my abilities in the pursuit of elevating my physical performance." Wanna feel my bicep?

Ok, so as you probably already know, today was the Dr. Oz installment on Best Life Week. There were copious lists of what we should be doing if we want to live past Thursday. Evertime Oprah said something along the lines of "write this down," I felt my hand twitch toward my pen and paper. But I figure if I did everything I was told to do last year, I really don't need to freak out and create a million new lists. It sounded like the same (good) advice and guidance and I'm already doing it, so I felt ahead of the game. Oh - I disagreed with one piece of advice about stretching immediately after getting out of bed in the morning. I have read studies that say the discs in our backs are too filled with fluid when we first wake up and we should wait an hour before we extend and flex our spines. I know it's helped me avoid a lot of the backpain I had been experiencing when I used to do yoga right after popping out of bed.

Frankly, I really wonder what I'll get out of this week since I think Oprah's experts covered everything in 2008. Although, I always like sex advice. I even signed up for Dr. Laura Berman's newsletter last year. She'll be visiting Oprah's set later this week. As we only saw her twice at the end of last year, I'm holding onto the hope that there will be more fun-inducing activities to try in 2009. Oh - except enforced kissing. Y'all know how BORING that got for me. (Sorry Jim. I love you. But let's never kiss for 10 seconds again. 9 seconds? Sure! 11 seconds? You betcha! 10? I might go Clockwork Orange on you.)

I thought it was too bad that Oprah never shared how her thyroid was "fixed." She said she's not on medication anymore. When I got my diagnosis, I was told I'd be on meds from now until pigs fly to keep my hormones sailing smoothly. I also added some alternative therapies to help with symptoms that the meds didn't put a dent in...I use yoga, for instance, and acupuncture. If she's being so transparent about her weight in order to help us know her better, sympathize with her, empathize with her, assist with our own struggles, and allow us to feel solidarity with her, why not give us these details as well?

My guess is that she isn't going to tell us the contents of her bank account during Suze Orman's financial advice, either, though.

AH! We did get what we wished for - some follow-up with people who had followed Dr. Oz's and his diminutive sidekick Dr. Roizen's advice. One thing we were sadly lacking last year was proper revisiting of guests who were given guidance by Oprah's experts. There was a tiny bit, but an absolutely unsatisfying amount for me. So, today we learned that Drs. Oz/Roizen's past victims'...er...I mean patients' weight and real age have dropped to positive levels since the first time we said "Ewwww!" when we learned about their unhealthy lifestyles. I felt really proud of them.

Hey - have you noticed a trend - all women on Oprah who adopt healthy lifestyles also get new hairstyles? I was going to poke a little fun at this, but then realized I cut my hair into a cute little style after I felt I had reached my health goals, too. So nevermind. Forget I said anything.

I'll be asking this all week - are any of you taking advice you saw on the show today? Anything you don't agree with? Has your health been impacted by Oprah's show in the past?

ON ANOTHER NOTE: Regarding the weekly assignments I'm following this year, since I've gotten emails from some of you who want to play with me: no, they're not from the Best Life series. Rather, they're issues that came up for me last year while completing the Living Oprah project. This week, I'm attempting to stop naming everything about life as either good/bad, black/white, best/worst....you get the idea. I've noticed the compulsion to do this during lunch today when I wanted to pat myself on the back for eating "good" food. Well, it was healthy, but my problem is, once I start naming food "good"...there's always a flip side of that coin and I'll beat myself up for "bad" choices. So, no more of that! It's just food! It's nutrition! It's fuel! It's satisfying! I like it! Enough said. Food rocks.

I think since I'll be writing about Oprah and discussing her shows, her mags, etc with you AND doing this concurrent detox, I'll come up with another way to layout this website so things don't get too muddy. Please be patient if everything looks all wacky every now and then as I experiment, ok?

Have a great day!

Well, I'm torn

In someways, I found today's new show - the first in Oprah's Best Life Week - fascinating. If you watched the show, did you notice that many of the points we speculated about last year were addressed? From whether or not Oprah walks her talk (she said last year the answer was 'no'), if she's happy (again, last year, no), if she's depressed (Bob Greene said she was), if she appreciates her body (she seems to be working very hard on this, but hasn't been honoring it lately), and the list goes on. My husband walked in the room and said, 'Whoa, do you think someone at Harpo was reading what you guys were talking about? It's like you all wrote today's show." That made me laugh.

What I liked about the show was the honesty. Both Oprah's AND - I'm probably shocking you by saying this - Bob Greene's. You know he's not my favorite guy in the world because I think he keeps repackaging the same info, selling it as new, and making millions from people's deep desire to lose weight. I also have trouble with him stamping his Best Life seal if approval on foods that, in my opinion, are WAY too high in sugar. ANYHOW, he said something on the show that I've spoken about on this site regarding my personal weight history. He said (I'm paraphrasing here) that if we have a deep-seated struggle with our weight, it will be something we have to contend with and manage our entire lives. It's a never-ending journey. That it's not as easy as losing the weight, that we have to constantly stay on top of our addiction to using food as a drug. Go Bob. That's the first time I've ever heard him say this. It's probably not a philosophy that sells diet and exercise books. Guarantees and quick-fixes sell books. The truth isn't always what people want to hear. So, good for him.

Of course, today's show wasn't without it's many references to stuff you can buy with Greene's name all over it. You know what? I got healthy without making a single purchase that bore Bob's grinning, crew-cut coiffed head on it. I really hope this show isn't going to send hoards of Oprah's audience to go out and spend their money on Greene's stuff, but it probably will. Sigh.*

What I found concerning about the show was that I was hearing the same-old, same-old. It harkened back to the topic of everyday reruns we experience in our lives. At this point, unless you're living under a rock in the Sahara (note to self: Google whether or not there are actually rocks in the Sahara) not to know that we need to exercise and what healthy food choices are versus craptastic ones. Why are we drawn like moths to a flame when it comes to repackaging the same messages? Even Oprah's new endeavor to get healthy feels like yet another rerun I've seen many times in the past. I wish her the best of health - it gives me such pain to see people struggle with their bodies and it brings up a lot of old feelings for me. I hope that this time she doesn't allow hubris to creep into her weightloss and that humility helps keep her on a healthy path for the rest of her life.

But here's where I get torn. As strongly as I want every single person on the planet who struggles with their weight, who is beaten down by it, to find their own peace, I'm bored with hearing the same old information over and over and over again. I didn't hear anyone on today's show say, "You know what? Forget Bob Greene's books. You know this stuff. You've already gotten this info from the dozens of mass-marketed diet plans you've already tried. Don't ever waste your money on another magazine or another online diet plan again. Instead, go to therapy and get to the bottom of YOUR personal trials with food and body image and then trust yourself and put your knowledge about diet and exercise to work." HOWEVER - another part of me says, what if this one time, the message makes sense to one more person who manages to save her life with the information. Isn't she worth all the money, energy and time the rest of us will spend on it? I don't know. I feel strongly both ways because I think the addiction we have to repetitive information is mind-numbing and dangerous.

The other worry I have is the packaging of Best Life Week. It is advertised as solving the most important aspects of many women's lives and simplifying our path to success in just 5 days. It slices! It dices! It's our Cliffs Notes to living and all we have to do is watch a week worth of shows and follow every word of advice and we can find our Best Lives just as Oprah commits to finding hers this year. It all is suspiciously colorful and simple looking and I am dubious I'll hear anything I haven't heard before on her show. I'm not doubting it's bad advice, I'm just doubting it's anything but an echo of words with which I've already been saturated.

But it's like a magnet. And like many of you, I'm very curious and will watch each show this week.

I'm curious about your feelings on Best Life Week. Did you watch today? If so what did you think? Or, did you turn off the TV and do something else with your time instead? I'd love to hear.

I don't know about this whole "Best Life" thing. I'm living my ONLY life. I am reminded daily that I must be grateful for every second of it. I know logically that happiness and satisfaction are not quantifiable and I think I have to stop using terms like "best/worst" and "good/bad" to describe any aspect of living. It's all part of me. This week I'm challenging myself to do this. I'm not going to use this type of terminology to describe my body, my actions, my feelings, myself, or other people. If I falter, I'll make note of it (without judging myself as 'bad'). I think it's going to be a struggle because I'm so conditioned, but I think it's about time I break this habit. I've decided this year is going to be all about breaking the unhealthy patterns I noticed in myself while performing my year of Living Oprah. It'll be like a 52-week psychological detox. Wait, that sounds AWFUL...I'll come up with a sassy title that makes it sound less misery-inducing. I'll tell you the topic and the challenge I'm giving myself each week. If you're interested in trying any of it out with me, I'd love the company.

Anyhow, I'm thrilled the reruns are over and the shows are fresh. It's given me a little pick-me-up. Speaking of pick-me-up: it's time for me to turn on my happy-light. I like it so far. I don't know why it's working - if it's simply just a placebo - but who cares. I'm sleeping better and when I walk down the street, my feet don't feel like they weigh a thousand pounds. Who can argue with that?

* Interesting note: At approximately 3:30 or so, Greene's cookbook mentioned by Oprah on today's show was ranked #173 in books at Amazon.com. Now, two hours later, it's at #72. That's an amazing jump. It'll be interesting to watch where it goes. I'll keep an eye on the rest of her expert's books as well...

Addendum 30 minutes later...6pm CST and BG's book is at #26 in Amazon sales. (#1 in cookbooks).

It's 7pm CST and the book is at #15.

It's 10:30pm CST and the book is at #10.

I watched Charice AGAIN

I know. I know. I know. Why couldn't I take just one more day off? I didn't even want to see this show again. You all know how bored I get with shows about SuperChildren and their SuperTalents. I'm having this weird time breaking my conditioning, I think. I thought the rules of 2008 would be as easy to shed as my white jeans and leopard print flats. Seems that the habit of conformity is harder to break than I thought. Yeah, ok, I could give myself more than 48 hours before I start beating myself over the head. I've had my foot on the gas pedal every waking moment this year and it's a hard pattern to change. I told a friend of mine this and she said, "I hope you don't have permanent brain damage from Living Oprah." Did I mention some of my friends have a mean streak?

I'm going to keep this post quite short as I'm still pretty tired, as I'm sure everyone is, after this holiday season. I've got to hit the hay early tonight.

Let's see, catching up on a few pics I haven't yet posted. One is of me with the Perfect 10 hairdye on my head and the other is me basking in the anti-S.A.D. light I purchased according to the guidance on Oprah.com. Can you tell which is which? And finally - a kind of crappy picture of Jim posing next to two of our not art until you hang it on the wall and call it art pieces. This was from a Nate Berkus-themed show a while back. These are old painted heating vent covers we found in an antique store, cleaned up and hung on the wall and started calling art. Had I known it was so easy to create art, I could have relaxed a little in grad school as I worked toward my MFA.

I hope you all have a marvelous weekend!
xo
LO

PS. This weekend, I'll watch my recorded show on happiness from yesterday. I took the happiness test online as a few folks advised (see morepower's comment from Thursday's post). I scored a 28. I almost retook the test and padded the truth a bit to get a higher score. WHAT HAS BECOME OF ME?! Now I get the urge to CHEAT to appear happier? Sure, I didn't act on the dishonesty, but still. Anyone know a good cult deprogrammer I can call? Someone who has done a successful extraction of a Stepford wife from her home, perhaps?

AftergLO

I decided not to watch Oprah this morning. I went to sleep with every intention of viewing the rerun, but when the alarm went off, Jim got up, recorded it for me and came back to bed. It was heavenly to sleep in. And while I know I will watch the show - and tomorrow's - and I will write about anything that strikes me about them, I just plain needed a break for a couple days. I need to celebrate the first day of the new year without feeling weighed down by obligation.

Now, you might be surprised to know that I did a) savor my breakfast this morning and b) exercise as I have been, according to the advice of Oz and the Best Life Challenge.

Even though I've been complaining about how long my meals take to eat all year, there was something so delightful about taking it slow while watching the Tournament of Roses Parade, just like I always did with my Dad, growing up in New Hampshire. It felt like a decadent treat, even though it was the same-old-same-old breakfast. And what can I say, exercise makes me feel good about myself. I thought today would be an emotional rollercoaster, so I wanted to do something to boost my confidence and endorphins.

I did cross everything off my Oprah to-do list. I cannot believe it. That makes me misty thinking about it. And then I start to think I'm a jerk for feeling so emotional about a self-imposed project such as this. I keep wavering back and forth between feeling AWESOME and FOOLISH. Clearly, I need a full night's sleep and some soul-searching.

This weekend, I am going to spend sometime getting photographic documentation of everything in the house that's been accomplished. For instance, I'd like you all to see how many cans of beans are lining my shelves because of Oprah's suggestion to stock up. There's gonna be a lot of bean soup, veggie chili, bean cakes, bean casseroles and refried beans in my future. In fact, I think I better purchase some Beano or else everyone within a 5 mile radius of me might have to duck and cover.

I'm going to sign off. I need a nap. Jim and I are totally running on empty today. Happy, but tired. But before I take a nap, I thought I'd show you this video. A couple days ago, Celia commented that I combine two of my last assignments: to get an interesting chair for each room AND to call Lowes. The idea tickled me so much, I did it. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!!!

I'm speechless.
xo
LO