Last night I sat down after a busy week to sink into my favorite chair and watch “Belief” on OWN. All day I watched with anticipation as the clock slowly moved towards 8pm. Who am I kidding…the last few weeks I have been anticipating this series…the last week paying attention as screenings and NYC and United Nations premiers blanketed my Twitter news feed. But the anticipation I feel is more personal…because it has been a difficult few years moving through the care and cancer of a very beloved parent, then losing both parents within days… I am searching for my own understanding for my own path and world. And what I have learned tonight, is that I am a seeker too…
Many we know in this amazing OWN community shared stories of screenings and premiers and pre-launch viewings…but we – my inner tribe – and I, sat down to break bread and experience this gift from Oprah and the OWN Belief team. Opening my heart…I watched as others opened their lives and shared their most personal moments and by doing so, spread light into areas of the world where we may never have been able to see. Seeing all of these traditions deeply rooted into the land and culture as they each passed through the movements, the process, the path…all with faith, hope, love and a greater understanding that there was something greater than themselves lighting the path and leading the way.
Words and messages echoed in the series – of looking for a newness, a sense of more, wanting to belong, moving into the next level, moving onto the next world. A young girl moving past rape and searching for a strength and newness to reclaim her spirit. A young woman searching for deeper meaning to layer onto her foundation. A young man passing from a boy into a more serious adulthood and the responsibilities of what it meant to him. And an older man deeply rooted in his Aboriginal heritage, dying, and with a sense of deep spiritual need to pass along his gift and role to his grandson for his tribe.
All of these stories spoke to something deeper. All based in the world in which they were each born into. All paths lined with faith that this was and is the right path. All opening to a greater understanding that we all are seekers at some point in our journey….looking for what lights us up, what creates the passion that makes us want to breathe each day, what will give us love, happiness, security, balance. We all want to belong somewhere…to have that experience of saying, “I understand you. I understand this. I just understand.” While I may likely never find myself at a youth peace retreat, on the banks of the Ganges River, at a Bar Mitzvah in Budapest or sitting down with an Aboriginal elder in Australia, what I do understand is that each one of these stories – each one of these seekers – is me. Deeply looking for peace and faith and God’s reassurance…moving forward in search of something greater than what I see…feeling untethered as I pass into the next level of what’s next in my life and deeply understanding the sense of urgency and desire to leave the world with the stories and the wisdom that have been entrusted to me.
Today I feel like I need a t-shirt: OWN Belief: I am a Seeker.
Perhaps tomorrow, it will say something different as we move through this 7-night series. I hope you DVR or sit real time and be present with this series. And if it speaks to you…let us know…as what we do know for sure is that we are all connected. And what we wish for everyone is that at some moment of stillness or chaos or whenever it’s needed, that everyone realizes, you are never alone.
Belief on OWN. 8pm ET/PT – Sunday, October 18th through Saturday, October 23rd.
Tweet with us at #Belief and @TheDailyOWN.
*photo credit: OWN