Oprah, this one's for us

The other day on the Oprah show, Ms. Winfrey was doing an expose about her recent weight gain. She pretty much said everything that she said in the article in the January issue of "O" but on television you got to see the true intensity of her anger, shame and disappointment with herself. She was being so punitive I just couldn't believe it. I wanted to jump into the TV set and say Oprah, girl it's OK. This is your issue, this is how you act out when you don't know what to do. What you need here is compassion for yourself and your situation. Everyone has their thing that they do when they're under duress. Everyone.

My heart was really breaking for her in that moment as she chastised herself on national television. I felt humiliated for her because I have treated myself with the same cruelty and lack of understanding where it comes to food issues all of my life. There is nothing more transformative than being able to observe your own behavior in another. I thank you Oprah for allowing us to see your pain and for helping me to find new ways to deal with my own.