Super Soul Special: Tim Storey: How Do You Turn a Setback into a Comeback?

Summary

Oprah’s Super Soul – Tim Storey: How Do You Turn a Setback into a Comeback?

Release Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Oprah Winfrey
Guest: Tim Storey (Ordained Minister, Author, Motivational Speaker, Life Coach)

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Episode Overview

In this deeply inspiring episode, Oprah sits down with Tim Storey, renowned for counseling celebrities and those in need of hope, to unravel the spiritual and practical principles of turning setbacks into comebacks. Together, they explore personal stories of loss and disappointment, the pathway through pain, spiritual calling, and reclaiming purpose and identity. Tim shares wisdom from his book “Comeback and Beyond” and provides vital teachings for anyone facing adversity, helping listeners find meaning, healing, and forward motion in the face of life’s inevitable difficulties.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Setbacks: From Personal Pain to Universal Experience

• Tim’s Story of Loss ([01:45]–[03:20])
  • Tim shares losing his father at age 10, which shifted the “rhythm” and “vibration” of his household from joy to sorrow.
  • “I was in the middle of a setback at 10.” – Tim [01:45]
  • The aftermath: siblings medicated their pain, but Tim chose a different path, later taking on a leadership role.
• Recognizing Setbacks ([02:32]–[03:20])
  • Setbacks are felt long before they have a name.
  • Pain has a “scent,” and the absence of a parent creates a lasting void.

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2. Getting Stuck: Why It Happens to Everyone

• Universal Nature of Setbacks ([03:57]–[04:11])
  • Tim: “I’ve never been here before. So when they fall down, they don’t know what to do to get back up. So they sit in their setback, and then they settle in their setback because they’re not trained.” [04:11]
  • Even wealthy, accomplished people linger in the pain of unhealed wounds (example: the 70-year-old man still chasing his father’s approval) ([05:18]–[05:49])
• Living from the Past
  • Oprah: “You try to go back and try to make it like it was and try to fix it the way it was.” [05:05]
  • Tim: “A comeback is not a go back.” [04:55]

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3. Steps Toward a Comeback

• Acceptance Comes First ([06:46]–[07:19])
  • Oprah & Tim agree that spiritual teachers, including Eckhart Tolle, stress the necessity of accepting the now.
  • “Acceptance doesn’t mean you like it… They almost don’t want to sign for the package.” – Oprah & Tim [07:26-07:38]
• Stop Nursing, Cursing, and Rehearsing ([06:27])
  • Tim describes how many people “nurse it, curse it, and rehearse it” instead of moving forward.

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4. Reclaiming Your Joy: Getting Your ‘Shout’ Back

• Losing and Reclaiming the Volume of Life ([07:56]–[09:57])
  • Disappointment “makes the heart sick” and “can take away your shout.”
  • Tim: “Life can knock the shout out of you.” [08:58]
  • But: “When life tries to take me down to a whisper, just shout on purpose.” [09:21]
  • Gratitude for being alive, regardless of age or current circumstances, as a daily ‘shout’ [09:57]

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5. Calling, Purpose, and the Path Forward

• Finding Calling by Listening Within ([10:09]–[14:50])
  • Tim: “Live a life worthy of your calling. To live a life means to be alive in your life. Most people are not alive in their life today.” [10:16]
  • Oprah stresses: “Your life isn’t about a big break. It’s about one significant life transforming step at a time.” [10:38]
  • Tim: “Today’s decisions are tomorrow’s realities.” [11:25]
• Stop, Look, Listen ([13:54])
  • Tim encourages slowing down, listening to the dreams within: “Every dream that’s inside you is speaking to you. Your dream has a voice.”

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6. The God Thing vs. Good Thing: Destiny and Divine Purpose

• Being Pulled By Calling ([15:18]–[16:01])
  • Tim explains difference between a human-manufactured “good thing” and a divinely inspired “God thing.”
  • “You could have the right plan, be the right person, have the wrong partners, and then you’re in trouble.” ([16:01])
  • Relationships and right partners are crucial to staying on your “yellow brick road.”
• Tweetable Moments ([16:49]–[17:41])
  • “You are a mighty person in the making.” – Oprah [17:04]
  • “A masterpiece in progress. A miracle in motion… a vessel of honor for his purposes.” – Oprah [17:09-17:35]
  • Tim: “You really are a miracle in motion. We are all going through recovery and discovery at the same time.” [18:00]

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7. Using Pain and Failure Constructively

• Fail Forward ([18:27]–[18:51])

  • “There’s a lesson in every one of those failures...We could fail forward. It’s not final because of these mistakes.” – Tim

• Knowing You’re On the Right Path ([18:51]–[19:37])

  • Tim: “There is an innate peace that comes... even if there’s turmoil around you.”

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8. Unique Value and Divine Identity

• Created in God’s Imagination ([19:51]–[20:37])
  • “You’re made in his image, in his likeness. Number two, you’re made with his imagination… I’ve been born an original. Why do I want to die a copy?” – Tim
• The Value of Being ‘Spoken Over’ ([20:48]–[21:09])
  • Tim: “When someone devalues you, you’re devaluing someone that God spoke over.”
• Needing External Validation ([21:09]–[21:58])
  • Both discuss celebrity culture vs. inherent worth from the divine speaking over every life.

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9. Setbacks Don’t Discriminate

• Pain is Amplified, Not Diminished, By Fame ([24:01]–[24:41])
  • Tim: "Being famous...everything's just amplified." [24:10]
  • His approach: “Let’s knock out the noise… don’t get dramatic in the midst of the drama… play it down and pray it up.” [24:41]

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10. Returning to Innocence: Remembering Your Essence

• Healing Through Memory and Compassion ([25:41]–[27:21])
  • Tim discusses taking people (including celebrities and athletes) back to their childhood places or showing baby pictures to help them remember their innocence and truest self.
  • “The real you will remind you of the person you’re supposed to become.” – Tim [26:52]

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11. Lessons In Challenge and Divine Order

• Asking: ‘Why is it here?’ ([27:21]–[27:53])
  • Tim: “If [difficulties are] there, I want to figure out: Why is it here? What’s my lesson?” [27:43]
• Known and Unknown Corners ([28:11]–[29:08])
  • Life has “just around the corner” moments—sometimes fear and unworthiness hold us back from them.

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12. Worthiness, Mind Renewal, and God’s Opinion

• Addressing Unworthiness ([29:08]–[31:03])
  • Oprah: “How can you ever fully step into the destiny that God has designed for you if you don’t feel worthy?” [29:40]
  • Tim: “Be renewed by the spirit of your mind.” [30:02] (Romans 12)
  • “God’s opinion of me makes man’s opinion irrelevant.” [30:59]

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13. Relationship, Not Religion

• Prayer as Relationship ([32:12]–[32:43])
  • Tim: “Prayer is communication, but to me, it’s communicating with my father. I believe that God is my father…he downloads purpose to me.”
• Setback as Distance from the Center ([32:43]–[33:23])
  • Oprah: “Isn’t our sadness, our setback… proportional to how far we are from the center of God?”
  • Tim: “100%.” [32:56]

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14. Healing the World’s Greatest Wound

• Misunderstanding and Healing ([33:23]–[34:07])
  • Tim: “One of the greatest wounds is misunderstanding…How do we heal it? By listening.”
• Root of Racism and Prejudice ([34:07]–[34:31])
  • Ignorance and an unwillingness to listen drive prejudice.

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15. Living in the Light

• Choosing Your Input, Guarding Your Energy ([34:38]–[36:12])
  • Tim: “We can create boundaries...I cannot let that stuff seep in me.”
  • Oprah agrees about the importance of controlling one’s energetic space: “I can listen to it if I choose whatever it is to come into my sphere.”

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16. Defining God and Spirituality

• Father, Not Just God ([36:19])
  • Tim: “Father… He’s a father to the fatherless. I go to the Father side of God.”
• Religion vs. Spirituality ([36:27]–[37:09])
  • Religion: Man striving to reach God.
  • Spirituality: Yielding and accepting love from God, resting in relationship.

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17. Final Reflections

• I believe… ([37:22]–[37:26])
  • Tim: “That all things are possible. That even in the midst of biggest challenge, while you’re feeling the sting of your setback, God is preparing your comeback. All things are possible.”
• Gratitude ([37:41]–[38:06])
  • Tim: “I am most grateful for the opportunity to help change people’s lives. It blows me away.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A comeback is not a go back.” – Tim Storey [04:55]
• “We nurse it, curse it and rehearse it.” – Tim Storey [06:27]
• “Acceptance doesn’t mean you like it.” – Oprah [07:28]
• “When life tries to take me down to a whisper, just shout on purpose.” – Tim Storey [09:21]
• “You are a mighty person in the making. A masterpiece in progress. A miracle in motion.” – Oprah [17:04-17:09]
• “God’s opinion of me makes man’s opinion irrelevant.” – Tim Storey [30:59]
• “Prayer is communication…but to me, it’s communicating with my father.” – Tim Storey [32:12]
• “The real you will remind you of the person you’re supposed to become.” – Tim Storey [26:52]
• “I’ve been born an original. Why do I want to die a copy?” – Tim Storey [20:18]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|-------------| | 01:45-03:20 | Tim’s childhood setback and loss | | 04:11-05:49 | Universal experience of getting stuck, story of 70-year-old man | | 06:27 | Nursing, cursing, rehearsing setbacks | | 07:19-09:57 | Acceptance, getting your “shout” back | | 10:38-11:49 | Life is a series of small, meaningful steps | | 13:54-14:50 | Finding your calling by listening within | | 16:01-16:49 | Right plan, right person, wrong partners | | 18:27-18:51 | Failing forward | | 20:18-21:09 | Divine imagination and worth | | 24:01-24:41 | Setbacks for celebrities and amplifying pain | | 25:41-26:52 | Returning to innocence via baby pictures/memories | | 27:43-27:56 | Challenges as teachers—“Why is it here?” | | 29:08-31:17 | Unworthiness, mind renewal, God’s opinion | | 32:12-32:43 | Prayer as relationship | | 33:23-34:07 | Healing misunderstanding by listening | | 36:19-37:09 | Defining God and spirituality | | 37:22-38:06 | “I believe…all things are possible.” & gratitude |

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Overall Tone

The conversation is equal parts gentle, affirming, and powerful—rooted in spirituality but accessible to anyone facing adversity. Oprah and Tim speak intimately and passionately, embracing vulnerability and faith, while equipping listeners with actionable wisdom. Their rapport is warm and respectful, punctuated by laughter, “tweetable moments,” and memorable insights from personal experience.

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For Listeners Seeking:

• Guidance on healing from setbacks,
• Steps to “accept the now” and move forward,
• Wisdom on purpose, calling, and identity,
• Spiritual tools for transformation,
• Validation that pain is universal—fame and fortune do not exclude anyone from life’s challenges,

this episode offers profound comfort, hope, and practical direction.

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Recommended listens within this episode:

• The story of Tim’s childhood and processing loss ([01:45]–[03:20])
• Oprah and Tim’s exchange on acceptance and setbacks ([06:46]–[07:43])
• Insights on “the shout,” reclaiming joy ([08:05]–[09:57])
• Life as a series of steps, not big breaks ([10:38]–[11:49])
• Handling life’s unknown “corners” ([28:11]–[29:09])
• Clarity on God’s calling, imagination, and destiny ([19:51]–[21:09])

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Listener’s Takeaway:
Pain is inevitable, but getting stuck is a choice. Acceptance, gratitude, deliberate joy, and deep listening bring us back into the flow of life and spirit. Each setback can be the soil for a comeback—if we step forward boldly, remember our unique worth, surround ourselves with the right partners, and stay open to the “just around the corner” surprises of a divinely led life.

Transcript

[Commercial Narrator]

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[Tim Storey]

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[Oprah Winfrey]

I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is. Is time. Taking time to be more fully present. Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now. Tim Storey is an ordained minister who has shared his inspiring words in 70 different countries. He's written nine books, including his most recent, Come Back and Beyond. He's also a motivational speaker and life coach who's worked with Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Robert Downey Jr. Kanye west, and many others. Well, I love every word of this book. It just feels like I should have it running on a tape in my brain all the time. So congratulations.

[Tim Storey]

Thank you very much.

[Oprah Winfrey]

How did you come to this? To understand that we all have setbacks, but that there's always a comeback for all of us.

[Tim Storey]

You know, when I was a little guy, my. My father passed away when I was 10. And before that, I had so much energy and joy. I was playing baseball. I was a dancer. And then to have to hear my mother crying because of my father passing, all of a sudden I went from a rhythm of life, a glide, a skip, and my step. And then I was in the middle of a setback at 10.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

And I saw that my siblings, they kind of got stuck right there, really, and they began to medicate themselves rather than find ways to solve the dilemma.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you knew at 10 that you were in a setback.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

But could you call it that? Were you, like, clinically depressed as a little kid?

[Tim Storey]

I didn't have a name for it, a language, wordy. I just knew that everything changed because there was a lot of humor in our house. And then all of a sudden, the rhythm of that household was gone because I heard sounds from my mother's room that I'd never heard before, and that was crying. And everything felt like it was out of sync. And out of rhythm.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I love the way you say the rhythm of the house. Because, you know, when you're that age, if you're pretty attuned, obviously you were, you can actually sense the vibration of the household.

[Tim Storey]

It's so true.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. And so you used that setback literally to have not just a comeback, but be able to use that to empower other people to see themselves differently.

[Tim Storey]

When you feel the sting of a setback, whether it be divorce or abuse, there's a feeling to it. There's almost a scent to it, and everything kind of covers you different. Yes, it covered me. Because now, even if you went to school on a day where your parents are supposed to show up now, my father was not there, so there was that void, and I knew that my family was in trouble, and I didn't know what to do at 10. But then I began to figure out what to do in my 20s, that I had to somehow be a leader.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Obviously, you deal with all kinds of people. Wealthy people, famous people, people who are not. Is there a common denominator in experience of getting stuck? It doesn't matter who you are?

[Tim Storey]

Yeah, I think so. And part of it is I've never been here before. So when they fall down, they don't know what to do to get back up. So they sit in their setback, and then they settle in their setback because they're not trained, they don't have the tools to get back up.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And they try to live from the past and have the past define whatever's going on now. That's so true. Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So they're living in the shame and the guilt of what they've been through. And as you know, religion can almost do that to you if you're not careful.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Because there's so much talk about failure and sin and mistakes that you can keep going back to what you did.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And you can believe that that's what God wanted because that's the way it happened.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah, exactly.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

And so a comeback is not a go back. I can't go back and fix things, and I meet so many people like that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Ooh, that's such a tweetable moment. That's a big. Hey, let's take a breath there. A comeback is not a go back, which is what most people try to do. You try to go back and try to make it like it was and try to fix it the way it was.

[Tim Storey]

I'll give you an example. I'm on an airplane and I'm talking to a gentleman from Dallas. He tells me he's wealthy. And he's telling me about all these things he's done. And he says, you know, my daddy, my daddy, my daddy. I said, well, how old is your father? Because this man seemed about 70 himself. He said, my daddy has passed away. And he was trying to prove to his father that he was worthy, but his father had passed, and he's now 70. And he was 70 already.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So he was trying to fix something, even though his father had passed, to prove something. And so many people are there, you know, they've been through something, and now they're going to go back and fix it. But you cannot do that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Because isn't it true, Tim, that most people spend the time. Like, for example, you go through a bad relationship and you spend so much time blaming yourself, and what if. Da, da, da. And why didn't I see it? And how could this happen to me? And so that's how people get stuck, right? Correct.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah. And it's a phrase that others have used. We nurse it, curse it and rehearse it. And a lot of people, late at night, they are nursing their problem. Okay. Cursing it. Why did it happen? And then, as we know, rehearsing it over and over, over and over again.

[Oprah Winfrey]

But the first thing you say is, in Comeback and Beyond is that the first thing you've got to do. And every spiritual teacher says this.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Eckhart Tolle especially. You've got to accept the now.

[Tim Storey]

Exactly. So you accept it and you take inventory. You say, okay, I was there, now I'm here.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. You must first recognize you're in the setback.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I've lost my job, I've lost my marriage. Whatever is going on. I thought I was going to get this promotion. I thought whatever the setback is.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Acceptance is first.

[Tim Storey]

Right. So now you have choices. So you're in a setback. I accept it. And then you have.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And acceptance doesn't mean I like it.

[Tim Storey]

It doesn't mean you like it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I think a lot of people. And I think a lot of people think, well, if I accept it, that means. I'm thinking. I'm saying it's okay.

[Tim Storey]

That's a good point.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

They almost don't want to sign for the package.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's right.

[Tim Storey]

But if you look around, the package is here. The package is right there.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Okay. So quite often when we, you know, lose our way in a setback, one of the ways you describe it is. And I see this all the time as you do, as we all do.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That people have lost their Shout, I think you call it. It's like we need to get our shout back or turn up the volume on our lives.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yet don't you see that there's this kind of dullness that people have?

[Tim Storey]

Most people, you know, when we were kids, there's a shout, right?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Parents always go, just coming in and.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Out of the door, you're shouting.

[Tim Storey]

And parents never go into a kid's room and say, turn up the volume. They go, shh. In the classroom, shh. Because kids, there's a volume to life. But the more we get challenged and disappointed. Disappointment is an amazing thing. The scriptures say that disappointment can make you heart sick. Well, that's bad, because the heart is the center. It's your core. Joy comes from the heart. Peace, faith. So when you're disappointed and your heart is sick, it could take away your shout. So life can knock the shout out of you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Knock the shout out of you.

[Tim Storey]

Yes. And so with my father passing, that could have knocked the shout out of me. And it. I could have stayed that way. Or someone who's been in a car accident, or someone who started a business and it didn't work, or someone who thought, you know, certain things were going to happen in their lives and now they're disappointed. But there are ways to get your shout back.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

When life tries to take me down to a whisper, just shout on purpose. Just intentionally shout. Sometimes I am driving on the freeway and I'll just think about things that are going right. So it's not always a verbal shout. It's an inward shout of choosing to say, hey, this is something to shout about. I'm still alive. You know, a lot of people like to complain about their age. I'm already 52 or I'm 71, 93. Hey, that's something to shout about.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So we could take and have a little just a shout moment every day and just remember, thank God we're still alive.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you realize that your calling was be able to help people literally find their own calling.

[Tim Storey]

Yes. I feel like I'm called to inspire that. You know, there's a scripture in the Bible that says, live a life worthy of your calling. To live a life means to be alive in your life. Most people are not alive in their life today. This moment, be alive in your life.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Something you say that really struck me on page 211 of this book. And, you know, I used the Oprah show for years, this platform, speaking around the country, and. And this is one of the things that I think people most don't understand that your life isn't about a big break. It's about one significant life transforming step at a time. Because often, you know, when you speak about calling, people think, well, it's this, I don't know what it is I'm supposed to do. And how do you get people to see and recognize this major tweetable moment that your life isn't about the big break. Yes, it's about one significant life transforming step at a time.

[Tim Storey]

And you teach this as well. Today's decisions are tomorrow's realities for you to get to where you are today. It was one step at a time. So it's a daily decision that creates my realities of tomorrow. Whether it be I'm going to get up and exercise, I'm going to get up and do yoga, I'm going to get up and meditate. So it's a step by step process.

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[Oprah Winfrey]

So when people say to you, like, I don't know what my purpose is, or I don't really know why I'm here, I'm trying to figure that out, your response is, in that.

[Tim Storey]

Case, I think that people need to stop, look and listen. We have become human doings rather than human beings. And we need to slow down to the speed of life. And if you will slow down and stop, look and listen. Every dream that's inside you is speaking to you. Your dream has a voice. So even when I was little, little Timmy story running around, you know, first started from Compton, California, then to another part of Los Angeles. My dream was speaking to me because it has a voice. So stopping looking and listening to what God is saying. So there are things that are calling you because I think that they have always resided in you. So I believe that God put those in us. It's our calling.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, so that's the difference between a good thing and a God thing.

[Tim Storey]

Right? The God idea, it's something that God put in us even while we are in our mother's womb. So scripturally, the Bible says, while you in your mother's womb, I knew you then. There's a scripture in the Bible that says that you are his workmanship. That's a work of art created to do good works that I had already predestined for you.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. So from what you know, is there a supreme destiny for everybody? And that supreme destiny would be the God thing?

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Not necessarily the good thing.

[Tim Storey]

I believe that. And it doesn't mean that you have to walk there in perfection. You may go to the right, you may go to the left, and then you may show up there.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, so. So if you're called to something, you're gonna get there no matter what.

[Tim Storey]

I believe that that calling will pull you there. You may have some delays, some denials.

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's right.

[Tim Storey]

But I believe you're right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You might take the back road.

[Tim Storey]

We've all done that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Can you also be called away from something?

[Tim Storey]

Yes, you can. So I say it this way. You could have the right plan, be the right person, have the wrong partners, and then you're in trouble sometimes. You have the right plan, you're the right person, but you put the wrong people in your Life, and they take you off your yellow brick road. All of us have had friends in our life that kind of took us off that pathway. And that's why it's so important to find God idea partners who are people who get your dream. See, if you didn't step out to be Oprah Winfrey, there's a lot of people all over the world that would not be changed the same way. So you stepped out in your God idea, and somebody was waiting for you on the other side.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I love that. So, so, so many tweetable moments. Let's see how many you can tweet. I love them all. Okay. You are a mighty person in the making. I love the choice of the word mighty.

[Tim Storey]

Yes. Because sometimes we don't feel mighty.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

But we are a mighty person in the making.

[Oprah Winfrey]

A masterpiece in progress. A miracle in motion. Although you may have had many mistakes in your past, God still has a great plan for your future. If you'll do things his way, if you let him, he will mold you into a vessel of honor. Love that vessel of honor for his purposes.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

He will breathe life into you and change you. I love that. A vessel of honor.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And I'd never heard that phrase before. How. And I thought, gee, I want to live in that space of being a vessel of honor. How do we do that?

[Tim Storey]

I think part of it is, as we said earlier, is being true to yourself. That I may not be what I want to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

And that you really are a miracle in motion. Motion is movement. So we're not there yet, but we're in motion at all times. We are all going through recovery and discovery at the same time. Some people stop their lives because I'm in recovery. I just went through all this, and I'm in recovery. But you should be in recovery and discovery.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I love where you say, too, that we should not waste our failures.

[Tim Storey]

Right? Right. There's a lesson in every one of those failures. But the great thing about it is that we could fail forward. We could fail forward. It's not final because of these mistakes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

How do you know, Tim? When you're on the right path, how does one know?

[Tim Storey]

I believe that there is an innate peace that comes. That even if there's turmoil around you, there's a peace inside of you. There's a peace that says, this is where you're supposed to be. In other words, you're going to be okay. I'm with you. To me, that's Psalms 23, that the Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want. The word want means you shall not be anxious for anything. So even in my darkest times, which I face, some I feel that I'm not anxious because I feel like truly he's.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Because, you know, no matter what, I feel like there is the divine hand of the shepherd.

[Tim Storey]

The divine.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. So tell me this. Do you believe that God has an idea for everybody?

[Tim Storey]

Yes. I believe two things. One, you're made in his image, in his likeness. Number two, you're made with his imagination. I love that. Because I don't want to be someone else. Because I've been born an original. Why do I want to die a copy? So I'm made in his image. Okay. But I'm also made with his imagination.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. What does that mean to you when you say made in his image? I think people then think, okay, God looks like us. No. What does that mean?

[Tim Storey]

Okay, so let's take an artist. They may imagine something before they paint it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Right.

[Tim Storey]

I believe that God imagines and then creates and speaks a certain life for every single person.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You've been spoken over. You've been spoken over. And that everybody. That makes me want to cry. Really? That everybody who comes has been spoken over.

[Tim Storey]

We have. And that's why when somebody devalues you. Yeah, See, when someone devalues you, you're devaluing someone that God spoke over.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. But isn't it so interesting that in our culture, speaking of America, I know people are listening in other parts of the world, but the American culture, we think that, I mean, it concerns me how kind of celebrity obsessed we are.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

We've now become the. How many likes you've got on Facebook. We've, you know, how much stuff you have, how many square footage. I mean, you know, and so the idea that because you were born and spoken over gives you value is something that I think it does.

[Tim Storey]

And as you know, the word celebrity means to be celebrated.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Right.

[Tim Storey]

So young people want to be celebrated.

[Oprah Winfrey]

But everybody wants to be celebrated. Don't we all want to.

[Tim Storey]

We all want to be celebrated. But if you know, as we are saying the. That you've been spoken over by the divine.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

See, then I'm okay being funny or being happy or being quirky or being creative or being nerdy.

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[Oprah Winfrey]

Have you discovered that all pain, struggle, setback is the same? Because obviously you work with a lot of famous people. You're famous for, you know, very well known for having helped Robert Downey Jr. And Lee Iacocca gives you a quote on the book, do famous people, rich people, fall as hard? Does it hurt as much?

[Tim Storey]

They do. And the thing about being famous.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Is everything's just amplified.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. That's how I see it.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah. Because you may be having trouble with your son, but now it's on the news. Yeah. Your marriage, but now it's on the news. So it's amplified. But what I do with celebrities is I say let's knock out the noise for a while. Let's not listen to the noise and let's deal with the situation right here locally. Because if you're not careful, you'll get dramatic in the midst of the drama. See, drama could come, but that doesn't mean I need to participate.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So don't get dramatic in the midst of the drama. Sure. There's a dilemma. Something happened. This happened to your daughter, your son, to you, to your marriage. Let's play it down and pray it up and look for the wisdom. And most likely you're going to need some help. There's that power in partnership. You better have some God idea. Partners.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. And so being able to have that person per sons or the team to go to is how you begin to set yourself up for the next success.

[Tim Storey]

And that's what I've been to, entertainers, athletes, all types of people, is to be that partner that comes there and lifts people up and usually with answers that they already know. So to me, it's not like I'm coming up with something so spectacular. I think sometimes the answer is already inside of us.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yes. Is that why when you show people their baby pictures, grown people?

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Grown, successful people, they start big, men break down and cry.

[Tim Storey]

That is one of my techniques. And I love to tell a story. There's a well known NFL player and he said, everything is wrong. Everything is wrong. I mean, he's making millions of dollars. Everything is wrong. And so I said, here's what we're going to do. You told me you lived right down the street from where I'm staying. You grew up there. It was a tough neighborhood. So we went to his old elementary school. And he goes, what are you up to, Tim Storer? This is crazy. We got into this elementary school. And he goes, well, that's why I was in second grade and that's why I was in third grade. And then we got on the swing set and he just began to weep. Because I'm taking you back to the place of innocence. I want to take you back to the place of innocence. And whether it be through pictures, through thoughts, through memories, through watching home movies, take you back to that place where things were all right.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And the reason people cry is because they're remembering the truth of who they are. Is that why they're crying?

[Tim Storey]

I say it this way, that the real you will remind you of the person you're supposed to become. So the real me is always talking to me. That I started off funny, happy, full of joy.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So if I get hit by life's challenges and I start to lose that. The real us is talking to us, Tim. Be alive, be alert, be awake.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And is the challenge itself a way of talking to us? Is the reason why you're in the challenge? Cause do you believe that everything is happening in divine order?

[Tim Storey]

Yes, I do.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

And I don't try to avoid difficult situations. And even if I.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You don't?

[Tim Storey]

Not on purpose. I really don't. And I mean, I would. I don't want him to come. I don't want him to show up at my door.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

But if they're there, I've had enough of these things. I want to figure out, why is it here? What's my lesson?

[Oprah Winfrey]

That's the first question, right?

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Why is it here?

[Tim Storey]

Why is it here?

[Oprah Winfrey]

What's it here to teach me and what's my lesson?

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

One of the things that you teach and repeat in this book is that I think a thing that most people. People think things are supposed to go well. But you're saying there are corners, there are known corners, and there are unknown corners.

[Tim Storey]

Yes. I call it in my message. Just around the corner.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Just around the corner.

[Tim Storey]

Just around the corner. A corner is a bend or a curve.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Every day you go around corners, known corners, or unknown corners. The known corners we know.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Okay. I know how to get home. I know how to go to my job. So we become creatures of habit.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Right.

[Tim Storey]

But the great thing about life is that the divine could take us into places and spaces we've never been. Who would ever thought when you were growing up in Mississippi, that you would travel the world? I mean, it's an interesting thing. That was the. Just around the corner, right?

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Storey]

I mean, when I think about the fact that as a kid, I was watching a slideshow and the second grade teacher was showing us Europe, and she showed me the Eiffel Tower. And I got a little excited to think, a little kid that didn't have much money that one day I'd stand in front of the Eiffel Tower. That's my. Just around the corner.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Just around the corner.

[Tim Storey]

But there are things that try to stop us from coming around that corner, and one of them is, I don't think I deserve to go around the corner and experience this great life because of setbacks and challenges that I've had in my life.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, can you. Because I found that that is sort of a common thread y. That so many people have, even when they don't know they have. It is a sense of unworthiness.

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

How can you ever fully step into the destiny that God has designed for you if you don't feel worthy?

[Tim Storey]

Well, you really can't. So in that case, you need to then renew the way you think. And in this book I talk about.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Isn't it. Be renewed by the. What is that passage? Yes. Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

Romans 12.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. Thank you.

[Tim Storey]

Be renewed by the spirit of your mind.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Spirit of your mind.

[Tim Storey]

And then it says that you may prove what is that good and acceptable in the perfect will of God. So let's say if there's a satellite dish, you remember the old dishes that people would have at their home. I remember going to this guy's house. He's like, if I turn it this way. I get Canadian TV this way, Russian tv. But wherever you shift your satellite dish, that's what you pick up. So if I shift my satellite dish towards what God thinks about me. See, God's opinion of me makes man's opinion irrelevant. If anybody could ever really get that in them. What does God think about me? Psalms 103 says he knows your frame. In other words, he knows you're a work in progress. I don't think God is really that upset over some of these things that people do.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Really.

[Tim Storey]

I really don't think so, because I think he's a merciful God.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So the things that we. That resonated with me, I got that. The things that we often beat ourselves up about and live in the past about and continually go back about, God has already forgiven us for.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay. So you preach this, you teach this. Are you able to live it?

[Tim Storey]

Well, here's the interesting thing about life, is that if I was to ever say that I would go through some of the things I've gone through when I was young, I would say, that's not going to happen to me. So let's say I've been through a divorce, and I have. I didn't see that coming. I never got married thinking I'm going to get divorced. I got married to be married. But then I had hardships, I had problems, I got divorced. So now the comeback coach had to start understanding his own teaching.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

And boy, that was hard.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So what is the message that you think is essential for people to be able to step into the frequency of God?

[Tim Storey]

I think, number one, understanding that God wants that kind of relationship with us. Prayer is communication, but to me, it's communicating with my father. I believe that God is my father. I believe what the Bible says, that he's my father. So when I come to God and I pray to him and I communicate with Him, I feel that he downloads purpose to me. He downloads destiny to me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

He.

[Tim Storey]

He downloads compassion to me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. And aren't we. Isn't our sadness, our setback, our challenge, our feelings of defeat in direct proportion to how far we are away from the center of God?

[Tim Storey]

100%.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah. Okay.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah. And the great thing about life is you can go from nowhere. People come to me, Tim. I feel like I'm nowhere. Well, you can go from nowhere to now, here, just like that, by changing the way you see things, by understanding that this nowhere feeling and this nowhere destination could be part of God's plan.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So what is the world's greatest wound?

[Tim Storey]

I think one of the greatest wounds is misunderstanding to be misunderstood. Everybody is voicing their opinion because they feel misunderstood. Whether it be one country to another country, one religion to another religion, one race to another race, misunderstanding.

[Oprah Winfrey]

How do we heal it?

[Tim Storey]

By listening. I need to listen. I need to stop and listen to someone else's point of view, even on religions. For a man like me, raised Christian, when I go to these countries, I go to, I want to listen to a Muslim. I want to listen to a Buddhist person and hear what they have to say.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Okay, here's a good one for you. What is the root of racism and prejudice? What's the root of that?

[Tim Storey]

Ignorance is one. Another would be people wanting to be right so badly that they're not willing again to listen.

[Oprah Winfrey]

We live in a world of polar opposites, darkness and light. Is it possible to always stay in the light?

[Tim Storey]

It is.

[Oprah Winfrey]

It is.

[Tim Storey]

It is. Because darkness will surround. But that doesn't mean it has to get in you. I really do believe that we can create boundaries. And that's why you have to watch what you listen to. Right?

[Oprah Winfrey]

What you watch what you let into your sphere.

[Tim Storey]

What you let in.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So it's like driving down the street and you listen to the radio. Turn a little bit country western, turn a little bit hip hop, turn a little bit talk radio. I have to really watch where I put my dial. Cause I cannot let that stuff seep in me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

You're my kind of guy. Did I not just say that this morning? I have a rule that when I'm picked up by anybody in any city, the radio's off because I don't want to have to be in a space where you're energetic. Whatever.

[Tim Storey]

I can't have it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I can't have it.

[Tim Storey]

See, to me, you're a carer of a calling. God called you to carry a calling.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah.

[Tim Storey]

So I can't put that stuff on me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Thanks, Tim.

[Tim Storey]

You explained it. That's it.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And my friends think I'm crazy. Like, we get in the car, oh, we can't listen to the music with you on. I can listen to it if I choose whatever it is to come into my sphere.

[Tim Storey]

Yeah, that's great. Because if I let that come on me, if I then go to go speak to a thousand people, that's all in you. It's all in me. It's going to seep out.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Yeah, that is so true. Okay, here's the biggie. Your definition of God.

[Tim Storey]

Father. Father. I'm fatherless. He's a father to the fatherless. I go to the Father side of God.

[Oprah Winfrey]

The difference between religion and spirituality.

[Tim Storey]

Religion to me is man's man doing his best to get to God. Abide in God, follow God. Please, God. Relationship is resting, yielding and accepting. See, I've accepted the love of my father. I'm not religious.

[Oprah Winfrey]

So you live a spiritual life?

[Tim Storey]

Yes.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Spirituality for you is accepting God's love for you.

[Tim Storey]

I'm not trying to clam the ladder. I'm not doing the rituals to get there. I'm yielding to my father and accepting that he wants to have a relationship with me.

[Oprah Winfrey]

Finish the sentence. I believe.

[Tim Storey]

That all things are possible. That even in the midst of biggest challenge, while you're feeling the sting of your setback, God is preparing your comeback. All things are possible.

[Oprah Winfrey]

And you are most grateful for.

[Tim Storey]

I am most grateful for the opportunity to help change people's lives. It blows me away. I mean, if I'm. If I'm in an airport and someone comes up and says, I was in your meeting and your words changed me, I am grateful for that.

[Oprah Winfrey]

I'm grateful for our time. Thank you. This was beautiful. Beautiful. I'm Oprah Winfrey and you've been listening to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. You can follow Super Soul on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you haven't yet, go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe, Rate and review this podcast. Join me next week for another super soul conversation. Thank you for listening. With so much focus on trying to defy aging, there's no shortage of interesting biohacks out there at Anytime Fitness. We aren't pushing gimmicks. We're giving you a game plan based on your data so you can live better, look longer. Join Anytime Fitness today.

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