My Day on Oprah!

It happened so fast, when I received a call from Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to be featured for an interview, I didn’t realize until later on that it was actually one of the dreams that I had visualized at a certain stage in my life. To say that I was in dreamland is an understatement, and there is a whole story about it. We shall have another day to derive the story. Anyway, the following is the transcript of my interview with Oprah on #SuperSoulSunday!. I hope it blesses your socks off!

Oprah:

He is a multiple award winning author of several books, chiefest of which is Permission For Greatness: Bridging the Gap Between School and Relevance, He is one of the latest genius Keynote speakers, a Leading light of the world re-known Dream Movement, with a message and a call for the world to embrace their personal dreams. He is the founder of Life Signatures Universities, now having a presence in all African Countries with his curriculum widely accepted and has either been embedded or is complementing the traditional school system. The man is gifted with a mouth that speaks hope, grace, love and boundless possibilities for individuals and has a massive passion for deployment of people’s potential to the fullest!

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and welcome Lawrence Namale Akali, all the way from Western Kenya!!!!

[Sustained Applause]

Oprah:

Thanks so much Lawrence for being here. Are you happy?

Lawrence:

Thanks for having me Oprah and am really humbled to grace the occasion today. The cry of my heart for decades has been to find what my light is so I can shine it in the world. What I have today is not happiness but extreme joy, joy that first of all I know I am shining my light, and joy second of all because very many people’s lights are also shining as a result. But I am not necessarily happy Oprah, because the work is so great and there is so much to do, many people’s lights are still dim, flickering in the distant benign, and if only I can get them to realize what treasure chest they are, it would make me so happy.

Oprah:

What’s the difference between what you are doing and what other people in the Human Potential Industry are doing? What’s the difference between you and my friend and Coach Tony Robbins? What’s the difference between you and Jack Canfield, Marianne Williamson, Brendon Burchard, Marcia Weider, Mary Morrissey and the others?

Lawrence:

Well Oprah, all I can tell you is that we are pretty much talking about the same thing, amplifying each other’s messages. These people are stellar luminaries in the industry and to me they are mighty giants. Someone said that the reason I can see far is because I have been able to stand on the shoulders of giants, and make no mistake about it, I am daily amazed and stand in awe at the impact that these men and women are having in their worlds. And that’s part of the difference Oprah. They have their worlds and I have mine. Their reach in Africa is felt to some extend, but that is where my total focus is. Africa is the third world (not in a bad way), but just that the first world which is Greece, failed, the second world which is America and Europe is failing, and Africa has to stand and offer the solutions.

Another difference that I can easily point out is the heart. I have no way of measuring on any scale the passion that these great luminaries have, but this thing consumes me so much. Finally, when it comes to specifics and the nitty gritty, we all have the same message but we differ in our approach, our target, our tools and our focus. I think the most all rounded of us is Tony Robbins and he shines his light virtually to every problem area of the Human Potential.

Oprah:

What is your dream, Lawrence?

Lawrence:

As a young man, my greatest hunger, and you could say my greatest dream was to find out my passion. I used to pray for God to show me just what it is, and I promised Him that when He does, I would “Put my hands on the plough and never look back”. But you know something, you will always know things about your dreams from your heart. If what you are getting from life is not aligned to your dream, you are always going to be miserable. And as days passed on, I put down this quest for my dreams…and I picked up the generic dreams that everyone else has: A good job, a wife, a house and security. And that just sounds so basic like Food, Shelter and Clothing.

My biggest Dream Oprah, is to contribute…and I know that sounds so cliche and generic. To be specific, my greatest dream in life is to create a world-wide mastermind of dreamers, to make people accept the validity of their dreams, and also to prioritize them. People’s dreams are not theirs, they are God’s dreams. Real authentic dreams never come to the heart arbitrarily, they are put there by the Almighty…and I believe He goes ahead to equip us with the necessary gifts, talents, abilities and passions to make these dreams come to fruition.

Anytime a soul is not living their dreams, they are dying…and they are making God unhappy. But every time a soul engages their dream machine and gets a hold of a God-given dream and start running with it, stuff happen. God shows up. The world becomes a better place. My dream is to set the world a-light with the realization that each of us like Marianne Williamson says, was meant to shine as children do, and as we shine, we consciously liberate others. No dream worth it’s salt can be accomplished alone…and that is why it is a beautiful thing to lead the dream movement, because I believe that way, you are partnering with God in continuously creating miracles.

Oprah:

Wow! I know what you are saying and I remember sharing my story several times about how my grand mother had a dream for me to be a house help, because that is all she saw possible for me at that time. Her prayer was that I would get a nice white family that would not mistreat me, and allow me to go home with food and so on. But I knew deep inside my soul that there has to be something much better in life than that.

Lawrence:

And see where you are now! See how many people you have inspired…and see how many lives you have touched tangibly, physically, because you allowed yourself to dream. The interesting thing is that at that moment when you had other ideas from what your grand mother was preparing you for, you had no idea HOW that dream whatever it was would come to fruition>

Oprah:

That is so true. Nobody would have told me that I would be on TV, that I would bless an Orphanage in South Africa, that I would build schools, and help people find their dream houses and cars! Nobody would have in a million years. But I had this deep instinct, this deep belief inside of my heart that being a house help was not my assignment on earth. But Lawrence, is dreaming that easy? From your own experience, is dreaming all there is to this movement?

Lawrence:

Oprah, it is a matter of priorities. What should come first? Should we get the money and then dream or should we dream before we have the resources. I think the validity of the dream movement is based on the constant realization that there is a light inside of us that is supposed to shine and be a blessing to the world. The world is coming to the realization of how important dreaming is. Dreaming was meant to be a way of life, but that was never meant to replace working. When you have a dream and you work hard, you are basically working hard in the light. When you do not have a dream and you are working hard, you are basically working hard in the dark!

So dreaming gives us a head-start, allows us to be stretched and to reach out to the Divine, partnering with the Divine to make the world a better place. Dreaming is never a personal thing. Our dreams are for the nations, for other people to benefit from. Dreams are divine. But dreaming is not all there is. They are simply the correct way to start, keep going, grow, and finish. So, the fact that you have a dream does not mean that life will be rosy from that moment on. You still must grow…and the definition of growth is simply overcoming obstacles and challenges that either derail your dreams or seek to snuff it out completely.

Oprah:

That is absolutely profound! Ladies and gentlemen, we are featuring today the Author of Permission For Greatness: Bridging the Gap between School and Relevance, the Founder of Life Signatures University, husband and father of two. More about dreaming and his books when we come back! Don’t go away!

[Sustained Applause]

[Commercial Break]