Blog Posts by Oprah.com

You want to start a jewelry line? Open a stationery store? Become a florist? These women left behind corporate offices and dead-end jobs to follow their dreams-and they're giving you the benefit of their wisdom.

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Be Open to Anything
"A friend asked if I wanted to do a food trade show with her. I brought a few products with me, not expecting to sell or anything-and suddenly we got all these orders! I had no idea how we were going to package or prepare so much so quickly, but I never say no unless I completely understand why it can't be done. I think how you approach obstacles is a big part of being successful-you can't give up."
-Alisa Barry, Chef and Owner, Bella Cucina Artful Food

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Make an Announcement
"I sent out an email to everybody I knew, announcing what we were doing. For me, the act of saying 'I'm starting a literary magazine' was as brave as actually doing it.

Illustration: Kagan McLeodBy Lisa Kogan

O come all ye single! Our Cupid-like columnist rewrites online profiles to save her date-challenged friends from...themselves.

Something has happened to the prune. I don't know why, I don't know how, I only know that I was at the supermarket one fine morning, minding my own business, when suddenly I came face to face with "the sun-dried plum."

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Photo: ThinkstockBy Val Monroe

Yearning for a change in routine but not quite able to fit a trip into my schedule, I recently decided to take a vacation from my face. After five decades, I figured I deserved a break. No peeks in the mirror, no stolen glances at reflective store windows. Even a glimpse into a handy piece of flatware would be tantamount to calling the office from a beach house in Negril. For a long weekend, I would go AWOL, facewise.

But I wondered, without the constant companionship of my reflection, would I be lonely? Curious? Confident? Relieved?

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The morning of the first day that I awoke knowing I wouldn't be seeing myself, I felt surprisingly sad, as if I were being deprived of a good friend. Or maybe just a favorite sweater. Still, a loss. That undercurrent of withdrawal would persist throughout my visual fast. For all my recent complaining about aging, I apparently get more sustenance from my reflection than I'd realized.

There were practical

By Karen Asp

You don't have to be an iron woman to reap the benefits of physical activity, but you do have to keep your body moving. Find out where you fall on three fitness scales compared with other women in the same age group.* If you score low, don't sweat it. Follow the advice below and you should see results in a few weeks' time.

* If you've been inactive or have medical conditions, check with your doctor first. These tests were developed by the American College of Sports Medicine and the Cooper Institute.

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1. Aerobic Fitness

Photo: ThinkstockBy Dawn Raffel

If you've ever wondered why arguments with your mate seem like déjà vu all over again, it's probably because you're having the same tiff for the umpteenth time, says Tara Bennett-Goleman. And you might not even know what you're fighting about because the real conflict has its roots in your childhood. "The emotional patterns you learn as a child reverberate throughout your life," she explains over tea at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. "That's such a common frustration."

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Sitting next to Tara in one of the famed hotel's club chairs-in fact, leaning into her every word-is Daniel Goleman, her husband of more than 20 years, who rose to fame with his book Emotional Intelligence. Tara's first book, Emotional Alchemy, is a culmination of 15 years of work helping her therapy patients become aware of the negative emotional patterns-schemas-that drive their lives. Consider this couple's résumés, full of honors

Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani

Sometimes we just need someone to tell us what to do. Whether it's a big decision (should we buy this house?) or a small one (what should I wear today?), it can be a lot easier when you can just take a directive and go with it, rather than agonizing over the options. That's the idea behind meal plan subscription services. They aim to make planning a week's worth of dinners less daunting, especially for cooks who are more about following recipes than just winging it based on what's in the fridge. Getting a shopping list in their in-box and instructions on what to do and when to do it makes the job a lot less stressful.

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If you...live near a farm or greenmarket, or participate in a CSA, try Lilly's Table.
What you'll pay: $12/month
What you'll get: Healthy, vegetable-heavy meals with an emphasis on what's in season right now.
What you might make for dinner: Strawberry Cucumber Gazpacho, Warm Dandelion-Sweet

Photo: Ariel EfronBy Amber Kallor

We bring you the future of the classic two-piece:The first 3-D printed bikini.
The founders of Continuum Fashion, Jenna Fizel and Mary Huang, refer to their company as part fashion label, part experimental design lab. Together (with the help of a computer and a 3-D laser printer) they "reinterpret textile design through a computational lens," says Fizel. What does that entail exactly in nontech terms? Inspired by how a beaded necklace coils in a compact but organized way, Fizel wrote a computer code that takes into consideration 3-D geometry and edge conditions to create a pattern of interlocking circles. Using a material called nylon 12 (for which their bathing suit, the N12, is named), the printer uses lasers that melt the nylon into the shape of a bikini.
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Since this material is also used in the making of fighter jets, we assumed it wouldn't be comfortable on the beach. However, Fizel says that the

Photo: Saverio TrugliaBy Susan Hauser

For Cheri Maples, enlightenment began in a chiropractor's office. It was 1991, and the Madison, Wisconsin, policewoman needed treatment for a back injury-she'd been hoisting a stolen moped out of a car trunk; in the waiting room, Maples flipped through a copy of Being Peace, by the Buddhist monk and activist Thich Nhat Hanh. "It was so simple, so no-nonsense," she recalls. "He described what mindfulness and meditation actually look like in day-to-day life. It gave me the desire to know more."


Seventeen years later, Maples had traded her crisp police blues for earth-toned robes when Nhat Hanh ordained her as a Buddhist dharma teacher. As head of the Center for Mindfulness & Justice, founded in 2009 and based out of her Madison home, Maples travels the continent leading workshops and retreats for cops and others in the criminal justice system-where she spent 25 years variously serving as a police captain, head of probation, and assistant attorney general.

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