Like a few billion others, I watched the final Oprah show last week. Now, now don’t run away, give me a second to explain…… At the end of all these years on air, the mighty O finished up with some words of wisdom that have been ringing in my ears ever since. And I know I’m not the only one. At the end of yoga class on Saturday, our lovely teacher Heather shared the same thought I’d been pondering….

Take responsibility for the ENERGY you bring into this space

I love these words so much that I turned it into a desktop wallpaper, so now we can all have it in our offices, just like Opes. (see download links below)

‘Oh lordy lord’ I hear you say, ‘she’s really run off with the hippy faeries this time’, and maybe I have, but just maybe if you really read those words carefully (and perhaps replace the word ENERGY with HAPPINESS) it will put the ball in your court to take control of the things that usually control your wellbeing.

It reiterates the same fundamental message that Buddhist monk, Matthieu Ricard, was saying that I wrote about here – we can’t rely on external factors to make us happy.

You’re not miserable because your job sucks. Or you’re single. Or you don’t make enough money. Or someone in your life is an asshole. You’re miserable because you allow those external things to define whether you’re happy or not. What really hit home about this was realising I was as guilty of doing this as anyone.

Now, the quote above doesn’t actually come from Oprah herself but from Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, whose TED talk a saw a while back and immediately recognised. Dr Taylor’s speech isn’t the kind of thing you forget in a hurry, in fact, it’s so completely moving – you’d be made of stone if you didn’t feel a thing watching this:

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP WALLPAPER BELOW… CHOOSE YOUR SCREEN SIZE:

8:5 Widescreen 1920×1200 | 4:3 Standard 1024×768 | iPad | iPhone/iPod touch

About Ingrid Schroder

A Sydney-side freelance graphic designer, photographer & yoga teacher - I find myself turning to nature for guaranteed revival from the crazy pace of city life - be it digging in my garden, capturing natural beauty through a lens, floating in the ocean, practicing yoga or out exploring this incredible planet we all call home. Follow me on twitter @Cohabitaire