Book Review – Oprah’s The Path Made Clear

My top 10 takeaways from the book The Path Made Clear: Discovery Your Life’s Direction and Purpose by Oprah Winfrey.

There were way more than 10 takeaways from this book as it is filled with tons of little and big nuggets of wisdom throughout.  I’d expect nothing less from Oprah.  Overall, I’d give this book 5 stars, from the combo of it being only 3 hours on Libby (the public Library’s free audio book app) and packed with a lot of great wisdom within those 3 hours.  I also love that Oprah narrated it herself.  And it wasn’t just Oprah’s personal thoughts – half the book was her sharing pieces of wisdom she had learned from others over the years, from Ru Paul to Joe Biden to Alanis Morissette.  Also, in the spirit of mostly minimal, I listened to this as an audio book and I was often driving or in motion of some sorts, so it was hard to take detailed notes.  These notes are rough and may not always have the right detail of who said what, but they are mostly accurate.

1. The journey to wherever you want to be begins with a single step. This really resonated with me, as I’ve been thinking about the idea of starting some version of “Mostly Minimal Life” for many years.  And for many years I just thought about it and was too busy to do anything with it.  In 2018 and 2019 I finally decided to take some small steps to get started, and those turned into bigger steps, and eventually real progress.  It was a single step that got me started.  What’s the single step you can do to move forward on something important to you?

2. Define what matters most to you. Almost anyone who’s talking about finding your purpose will start by telling you to define what matters most of you.  Oprah does the same!  Pay attention to what feeds you energy vs. zaps your energy.  Write it down.  You can choose to ignore these things or notice them and act on them.  There is more to life and finding something aligned to your purpose is possible when you’re ready.  Also, life is not static.  Your purpose also is not static.  You don’t get just one chance for this.  This could evolve over time.  And everything that happens in your life is an opportunity to learn something new, and those learnings can help to cultivate and hone your purpose over time.

3. Get the clutter and busyness out of your mind. Do this, and we’ll have the ideas that are seeds to grow.  I can really relate to this because in the last year or so I’ve come to the realization that my mind is too cluttered and many days I don’t have the headspace to live in the moment or make good decisions.  Meditation really helps for this.  In addition, I think creating more simplicity in my life and having less to worry about is the solution.  It’s why I strive for a more minimal life.  It will never be perfectly minimal, it’s why there’s a “mostly” in front of Minimal Life.  I strive for mostly and on most days, I’m good with that.  Someday perhaps I’ll reach the nirvana of living in a tiny house with very few possessions, but for now I’ll just take a less cluttered mind.

4. Commit to Compassion. Maya Angelou is famous for saying, “…People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  Oprah then added that, “Every moment is an opportunity to be of service to another human being.”  These were great reminders that our words and actions and behaviors can have such a big impact on others around us, from our kids to our coworkers to complete strangers.  Oprah challenges everyone to commit “decision by decision to a sustained heartfelt compassionate approach to life.”  I love that reminder and challenge.  The Minimal Manifesto also includes an “I choose compassion” commitment for this very reason.  I knew Oprah and I were meant to be friends; this just validates it.

5. You choose the energy you bring to this world. I’ve always loved the idea of choice.  The one thing you have complete control over is how you respond to things.  There’s something really powerful in that statement, and realization.  So, choose if you want to bring positive energy or negative energy into each situation and interaction.  I strive for positive.  I’m not always great at it, but I do try to catch myself when I notice any negativity creeping in.  Above all else, remember that it’s your choice.  It’s why each statement in my Minimal Manifesto starts with “I choose…”

6. What you appreciate appreciates. There are many ways to say this, and it’s at the heart of many minimalist and Buddhist beliefs.  Oprah never uses the word minimalism, but she’s speaking about it and it’s principles.  At one point she says, “When you let go of trying to get more of what you really don’t need it frees up oceans of energy, that’s caught up in that chase, to turn and pay attention to what you already have.”  I truly believe this statement sums up the secret to happiness.  And isn’t’ everyone searching for happiness in some way or another?  Pay attention to all that you have, free yourself from this constant chase of more, share what you have, and everything around you will improve.  Oprah also talks about the idea of living in a place of sufficiency.  We often talk about how we don’t have enough of things, from sleep to time to money.  But what if we lived in a place of appreciating what we did have and thinking more about what’s sufficient instead of what is deficient?  We’d shift from thinking about suffering to appreciating what we have.

7. You are enough and you will be OK. Oprah says, “I can take care of myself and no matter what I’m going to be okay.”  This is a confidence I’ve personally had for a long time and it gets me through a lot of tough times.  I’m not sure where I got this sense of confidence from, but I think it’s a big credit to my parents and the way I was raised (future blog post).  Every single one of us is enough.  We need to recognize this about ourselves, and others around this.  If we can do this, we will all be better off.

8. Be comfortable with pain. Alanis Morissette talks about how one of her big life lessons is the idea of getting comfortable with pain.  We sometimes think life is supposed to be pain free, but the idea that we should expect some pain and embrace it is a welcoming one.  We’ve all heard the phrase “No pain, no gain.” I just learned right now that Jane Fonda is credited with starting that phrase in the 80s during her workout videos (along with “feel the burn”).  What can we learn from this pain?  What is this moment here to teach us?

9. I am a highly competent person, but is that the end goal? Oprah shared a really powerful conversation with Shauna Niequist.  It struck me deep because many parts of it sounded like me, and I could relate to what she was saying.  Shauna spoke about how she was married raising 2 kids with a full-time job.  The life she wanted did not resemble the life she had.  She was finally taking the time to listen to and create the changes she most needed and finding peace from it.  The things that mattered to her most were not aligned to where she was spending her time and energy.  She was always hustling to leave something early to come to something late and skimming all of the most important relationships in her life and hoping they would still be there when she got back to them.  There was a gulf growing between who she was and who she wanted to be.  She spent some time in total silence and realized the things she had been running from and found that busyness was a defense against facing all of these things she knew needed to change.  She was exhausted and knew her exhausted self was her worst self.  She admitted to being short-tempered, anxious, and controlling about stupid things.  I admitted to myself this is how I am when I am exhausted, which is a lot of the time.  She wanted to stop the “fast-moving train that her life feels like.”  It really spoke to me when she said she was productive, but not well.  And she admitted that she was so invested in being known as a highly competent and respected person, and she just wanted to be known as someone who is really capable.  I know I keep saying this is me.  Almost everything she said struck a chord in me.  I continue to think about what she so vulnerably shared, and what changes I need to make in my life to ensure my life is aligned with my values and priorities.

10. It’s all so simple. I still get emotional when I think about this part of the book.  Oprah told a story about a conversation she once had with a mom on her show.  This mom’s adult son was dying and in their final moments together he whispered to his mom, “oh mom, it is all so simple.”  He then closed his eyes and died.  Oprah said she realized then that we allow life to get so complicated, when it is really so very simple.  Oprah said she then resolved to continually ask herself, “How am I making things more difficult than they need to be?”  This is a great question and reminder.  We do have a way of making things so complicated, but many things could be so much simpler.  I choose simplicity over complexity.

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