Super Soul Special: Elizabeth Lesser: The Healing Power of Love

Oprah's Super Soul

Oprah

Society & Culture

4.6 • 33.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode originally aired April 27, 2014. Author of the New York Times bestselling book “Broken Open,” Elizabeth Lesser shares how she likes to unwind, make each day matter and learn from the challenges life puts in front of her. Elizabeth explains how she used what she calls the healing power of love to “clear up” relationships in her life and why she believes we should never wait to have life-changing conversations with those we love. Since the publication of “Broken Open,” Elizabeth has been through many tough times, including the return of her younger sister's lymphoma and later death. Elizabeth reveals what she would write if her book had an epilogue.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of the most
0:07.8	valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present. Your journey
0:16.6	to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now.
0:24.5	Elizabeth Lesser has been on the cutting edge of the personal growth movement for more than three
0:28.9	decades. She's born in 1952 in New York City. She was the second oldest of four daughters.
0:35.5	Her family wasn't particularly religious, but as a child,
0:38.8	Elizabeth found herself drawn to spiritual life. She would pray in secret and tag along with her
0:44.6	Catholic neighbors to church. That hunger for a spiritual path reawakened while Elizabeth was a student
0:50.9	at Barnard College. A free spirit, she began visiting churches, exploring Eastern traditions like Zen Buddhism,
0:58.4	firmly establishing her lifelong vocation as a seeker.
1:02.0	Her search for something more eventually led her to upstate New York,
1:06.5	where she helped form a spiritual commune.
1:09.2	She married young and had two boys.
1:11.6	In 1977, she co-founded the Omega Institute,
1:15.6	set in the hills of the Hudson Valley.
1:18.2	It's become one of the leading education centers
1:21.0	on spirituality, creativity, and social change in America.
1:26.3	Elizabeth is the best-selling author of two of my favorite books,
1:30.4	The Seekers Guide, Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure and Broken Open,
1:35.4	How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow.
1:38.2	We had you on the Oprah Show several times for one of my favorite books called Broken Open.
1:44.3	And, you know, what I was trying to deliver or offer
	...

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