Last Sunday, Oprah pulled up a couple of chairs to talk with Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind  and the conversation was soulful and enlightening.  For me, watching did exactly what good teachers want to do…it turned on a whole new perspective for me to think about and opened up life is a new way.

During the interview, Daniel challenges us to do things that aren’t routine in our lives and in our work.   “In order to make it today, you have to do something that can’t be outsourced and isn’t routine,” he suggests. “Do something that’s hard to outsource and hard to automate…and figure out what your purpose is and start doing it consistently.”  Daniel tells us to “be dogged” about what you do.  Do what you love to do, be the best that you can be at it and do it all of the time.  As Daniel teaches this, his energy and passion seem to transcend the screen.  He reminds us all to ask yourself, “What am I here for? What’s it all about? and How am I connected to everything else?”

With all of these things to process and take from the interview, Daniel hits with another concept…that the right-brain rules the world. Well, maybe not exactly “rules” your world, but definitely plays a big part in the world. Actually, he notes that the right-brain function guides our world.  As he explains this concept, he outlines different senses and explains how they touch our lived.  As I sat taking in all of the soulful discussion that morning, I realized that I was being changed.

All through my life, I have been the logical one.  The financial and technology go-to person in the family with always one eye on the past and one eye on the future.  When I was young, I was a writer but something in my life turned that off…and through my 20’s and into my 30’s my left-brain ruled the world.  Living in what the past had been and what the future had in store, I struggled to find and focus on the present with little to no success.  My left-brain was clearly the stronger side of my existence.  That was until I stopped…and started paying attention.  By thirty-six, I jumped off of the crazy merry-go-round and found out how to take the time to stop, be in the moment and really SEE what was going on around me.  For years, I have thought that the merry-go-round was where the people were running the world.  It wasn’t until this Super Soul Sunday that I realized…those spinning may be getting things done, but it’s the people who are off and firmly planted on the ground that are making the decisions and starting the conversations.  Empowering. Enlightening. Inspiring.

So, while OWN didn’t have any interviews for us to share with our Daily OWN readers, we were able to find the original interviews on YouTube with Oprah and Daniel Pink in Oprah’s Soul Series on XM Radio.  They are both below and if you take the time to stop and listen, they will have you in a right-brain state of mind in no time!  If you don’t have time to watch these videos, you can always find the best pieces of the series as smaller clips on Oprah.com.  Take a look…the soul stretches are worth the work!
Part One Interview:

Part Two Interview: