Oprah’s Life Class and the Power of Forgiveness

 

By: Dr. Peggy Malone

 

Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Oprah’s Life Class in Toronto and be a part of an 8500 person audience to watch Oprah and her Lifeclass Teachers sharing life changing information.

 

Many thanks to Pat Mussieux of Wealthy Women Leaders who held a contest for the ticket which I won!  

 

The theme of last week’s Lifeclass was Forgiveness and it was so amazing to hear from Deepak Chopra, Inyala Vanzant, Tony Robbins and Bishop T.D. Jakes on this subject.

 

There were many take home moments for me and I wanted to share a few of them with you today because anger and resentment are holding many of us back from reaching our true potential in all areas of life….including health and wellness.

 

At the beginning of the live broadcast of the Life Class show that aired on OWN in North America and around the world, Oprah did a Twitter Poll asking the question:

 

“Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive?”

 

The results of the poll showed that 73% of people answered YES to this question.  How about you?  Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive?

 

If you are like the majority of people watching Oprah’s Lifeclass last week, the answer is YES.

 

The reason why this is so important to your life, your success and your health is that holding onto resentment and anger is only hurting you….and it’s making you sick.

 

The first speaker of the night was the amazing Deepak Chopra.  Whenever he speaks, I feel like I’m meditating.  He is so good.

 

The saying that spoke loudly to me that he shared that night was this:

 

"Holding on to resentment is like holding your breath – you will suffocate" – Deepak Chopra

 

He also pointed out that physiologically, systems in your body begin to function differently.  You will release more stress hormones causing a host of health and wellness problems. Cells are more likely to mutate causing cancer.  Your immune system will function differently, creating an environment for sickness.

 

Without forgiveness, you are making yourself sick….literally.

 

Deepak also said that holding onto resentment and anger will cause you to become spiritually constipated.  The relief comes with forgiveness.

 

The next speaker was the incredibly energetic Inyala Vanzant.  My takeaway from her talk was this:

 

“Until you learn to heal the wounds of your past, you will continue to bleed into your future” –Inyala Vanzant

 

Once again, the message here was that by leaving old wounds and resentments unchecked and unhealed, you are hurting your chances for the successful and happy future that you deserve.

 

In many cases, the person that you have to forgive is yourself…for something you did, for the way you reacted, for holding onto anger for so long, for not knowing any better in the time and place you were in.  

 

She also stated that:

 

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different” –Inyala Vanzant

 

When you let go of the burden that has been weighing you down, you can then move forward into the happy successful life that is waiting for you.

 

Forgiveness is the medicine that allows you to be free.  Forgiveness is letting go of the past.

 

The incredibly energetic Tony Robbins was the next speaker and he talked about how most people don’t succeed because they come up with a story of how “It’s not my fault”

 

People blame circumstances or other people for the things that happened to them and they hold onto anger and resentment for years.

 

He said that if we can get past the limitations of our stories…we can break through and change our lives.

 

One way that you can change your story: Give yourself the gift of forgiveness.

 

“Forgiveness is something you give yourself…you are not giving it to someone else” –Tony Robbins

 

Many people are looking for revenge, or an apology and that anger is blocking them….is holding them back.

 

Tony told a story about working with a family who lost their child to a murderer.  They thought that they would feel closure once the murderer was killed through the death penalty.

 

He said that the saddest thing was that his death didn’t make them feel any better.  True peace and freedom happened only with forgiveness.

 

If there is something that you are still holding on to….you need to let it go.  Staying in that place of anger and resentment is hurting you much more than who ever it is that you are angry with.

 

Give yourself the gift of forgiveness.

 

The fourth speaker was Bishop T.D. Jakes.

 

He said:

 

“Unforgiveness unchecked becomes a cancer of the soul” –T.D. Jakes

 

He said that by holding onto anger and resentment, we are empowering our history which prevents the manifestation of your destiny.

 

When T.D. Jakes said this, Oprah had some great insight with the following statement:

 

“I am not going to allow what you did to me to negatively impact how I am living today." -Oprah

 

The exciting part about this is that we have the power to change our lives – when we change our thinking, we change our beliefs and therefore change our performance. 

 

The key to your happy and successful future is within your own power.

When we forgive someone, we free ourselves to live a more successful, healthy and satisfying life.

 

I found Oprah’s Life Class to be an amazing experience that has changed me for the better and has given me some more tools to use on my journey toward healthier and happier.

 

I hope that you found a nugget of wisdom in these words too.

 

Until next time,

 

Live Well.

 

Peggy

 

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More exciting news this week!

 

I had the great opportunity to work with MMA fighter Chris Clements to get him tuned up as he prepared for his UFC debut in Atlanta this past weekend at UFC 145.

 

He won in an exciting match against Keith Wisniewski!

 

Congrats Chris!!

 

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Dr. Peggy Malone is a Chiropractor and an Athlete who helps other athletes to overcome injury and get back to their sport. Her weekly Television Series 'Living Well" inspires people from all walks of life to take control of their health to be as happy and as healthy as they can be.

A former varsity Basketball and Rugby player, she has since entered the world of endurance athletics where she has completed 2 Ironman Triathlons, 3 Marathons, several Half Marathons and many other Triathlons, Road Races and Off-Road Adventure races of varying distances.

Her own athletic endeavors and injuries have given her valuable insight into working with athletes in her practice for both the care of injuries as well as for the improvement of athletic performance.