So there’s been a weekend and a day for me to digest the events of Friday, one in which my Game Plan column about Oprah’s Lifeclass went live on FoxBusiness.com.

It seems that while I was punching a bag at the gym in the morning, feeling my power and gloriously sweating after a week of hard work, the folks at Harpo were trying to locate me. Specifically, the office of Harpo/OWN president Sheri Salata.

We eventually connected around noon and had a delightful conversation. She enjoyed the column and so appreciated that I understood what the network was striving to do with Lifeclass. That evening, when I returned from dinner with friends, there was a voice mail message waiting from Oprah Winfrey herself. It was a lovely expression of gratitude for “getting” what she’s trying to do and she said she was profoundly moved by my column.

While I admit it was all a bit surreal, what has dominated my thoughts is that all the gratitude talk on The Oprah Winfrey Show and in O, The Oprah Magazine that we’ve heard over the years is more than platitudes or inspiring quotes. They embody it.

I just wrote my 400th Game Plan column last week and I can count on one hand (maybe two) the people who have taken the time to call to thank me for what I wrote about them. To be clear, I don’t write for the reward of gratitude. I write because I must. But when someone tells me I “nailed it” or they’ve “never felt so understood,” it lets me know I am capturing them authentically. That is priceless.

Hearing from Sheri and Oprah was also a stirring reminder that no matter how much success one has enjoyed, the next venture is still new and risky. They are putting themselves out there with each hour, each show, an entire network. It is yet another example of practicing what they preach.

So very special.