Living Life According To Oprah: One Woman's Story
Robyn Okrant's rangy body, clad in the black tunic and dark-wash jeans that Oprah Winfrey mandated in the "Shlumpadinka Makeovers" episode of her talk show, was bent over the vision board she was creating on the floor of her apartment here.
A vision board is a collage, much like the magazine pastiches hanging in many teenagers' bedrooms, but the images and words here are meant to signify a 35-year-old woman's goals. Vision boards were promoted on the Feb. 6 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and if Ms. Winfrey is to be believed, it will help Ms. Okrant realize her dreams by keeping them in the forefront of her mind.
Later that day, Ms. Okrant blogged about the vision board on her Web site, livingoprah.com, where she documents the experiment she began on Jan. 1: to live life according to the wellspring of advice that Ms. Winfrey offers on her show, her Web site and in O: The Oprah Magazine. In a mission statement, Ms. Okrant writes, "I wonder, will I find bliss if I commit wholeheartedly to her lifestyle suggestions?"
Her commitment is certainly unfaltering and, by some standards, unhinged. Even her mother, Marla Okrant, says, "I didn't think it was possible for her to do it, or anyone to do it, for an entire year."
Ms. Okrant, a yoga teacher who recently completed an M.F.A. in performance at the Art Institute of Chicago, watches "Oprah" every day and reads the monthly magazine cover to cover. She follows the commandments of Ms. Winfrey with an exacting attention.
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First Posted: 08-18-08 10:15 AM | Updated: 09-18-08 05:12 AM