My appearance on this week's Super Soul Sunday is to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the publication of my book A Return to Love.
I remember sitting in my apartment in West Hollywood 20 years ago when I got a call from Oprah Winfrey. She was a huge star already, of course, but her book club had not yet begun, and in some ways our whole society was a bit more innocent. I was excited she called, and I enjoyed talking to her. But I had no idea she was about to change my life. A week later, she'd be telling her huge TV audience how much she loved my book, and that she'd bought 1,000 copies to give away. A Return to Love then became the fifth highest-selling book in America that year.
She was able to change my life because she had changed the lives of so many others first, people who believed her when she said something. I remember women coming up to me at book signings around the country saying, "Oprah told me to read this," as though Oprah had personally called them and said, "You should read this book!" It was almost weird; I'd be thinking, "You do realize she wasn't just talking to you, right?"
Now, 20 years later, I was once again on my way back to Chicago to be with Oprah on television talking about A Return to Love. Harpo sent me the video of the original show to look at before I went, and I marveled at everything. I marveled at how we all wore clothes back then that seemed to be two sizes too big. I marveled at the haircuts we had -- myself, Oprah and particularly some of the people in the audience! And I marveled at how deeply we were all clearly yearning for a more spiritual approach to our lives.
Over time, the clothes have changed and the haircuts have changed, but the yearning in our hearts has not changed. All of us have experienced a lot in 20 years. But as my mother used to say, "Some things don't change." A Return to Love is my reflection on the principles in a set of books titled A Course in Miracles, and the Course is about truths that are eternal: how love is real, how forgiveness heals us and how there's another way to live our lives than in fear and anger and suffering. Throughout time -- 20 years from now, and even 20 years after that -- spiritual truths will remain current and true. Future generations will find amazement and joy at the message they bring, and some, like Oprah and myself, will have the profound privilege of sharing the news.
This Sunday, Oprah and Marianne Williamson are sitting down to talk about what's happened in the 20 years since Marianne's book, A Return to Love, changed the lives of millions. "Oprah and Marianne Williamson: 20 Years After 'A Return To Love,'" will premiere on the Emmy® Award-winning "Super Soul Sunday" July 29 at 11 a.m. ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and will simulcast online worldwide via Oprah.com and Facebook.com/OWNtv.
For more by Marianne Williamson, click here.
For more on mindfulness, click here.
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Gabrielle Bernstein: Gabrielle Bernstein Interviews Marianne Williamson: Sister Giant
Marianne Williamson+Oprah Winfrey= a soul-lifting Sunday morning.
SO GLAD I didn't miss this powerful show. THANK YOU BOTH!!
& we will interview her & Congressman Tim Ryan on our radio show
'Going Out Of Your Mind'
LIVE ON AIR
in Sept
I read "Return to Love" when I lost a job (nearly five years ago!). It was a difficult time, because I had tried so hard to succeed at that position, and just could not make it work. I felt very defeated and despairing over my "failure". But actually being broken open in this way, was my big breakthrough. I thought I was in a deep hole, and figured out that the only way out was to "grow" my way out.
It took resolve, self-discinpline and determination, but I found my inner light, and held onto it hard! And low and behold, the light began to grow, and life started falling into place, and become easier, and more joyful... and more loving.
Not enough room here to go into detail, but I really feel that together Oprah and Marianne, provided me with the tools necessary to completely change my life and to recapture hope and happiness. Yay!
Thanks Oprah and Marianne!!!
If you are down or depressed or feeling defeated.... you owe it to yourself to tune in and take in this show. I promise you, it will be worth your while!
Tricky but true. When talking about love without ‘process’ proving the love’s invariable efficacy, then the love talked gets defined equivocally. The love that a Snake has for Frog and the Frog for Mosquito, it is totally different from Mosquito towards Frog and Frog for Snake.
Simply, without ‘The linear process of applied deification,’ knowing in advance the source and outcome of each “love” at hand, any loving man, stands at the mercy of ignorance.