Previous Next 'I had a mid-level anxiety attack!' Oprah jokes about coming to terms with auctioning off her most prized - and expensive - possessions

Oprah has opened up about how she struggled to say goodbye to her belongings, even though she raised $600,000 by auctioning them off.
In the new issue of O Magazine, the 60-year-old media mogul talks about learning to let go of her material possessions at her charity auction in November.
'For just a split second, I considered bidding on my own folk-art needlepoint rug with the lovely leaf design,' she admits. 'But knowing what you need is more than knowing what you want.'

De-clutter: In the new issue of O Magazine, Oprah talks about learning to let go of her possessions at her auction in November, which raised $600,000 for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy College Fund

Even though she knew the proceeds were going to a good cause - the Oprah Winfrey
Leadership Academy College Fund - she jokes that she had a 'midlevel anxiety attack' when it came to getting rid of her stuff.
'When you're coming into your own, nobody ever teaches you how to ask for less,' she says. 'But over the years, you begin to make distinctions; you start to focus on what’s important, and you start to realize what’s superfluous.'
In one photo from the issue, which was shot at her auction in Santa Barbara, California, Oprah sits atop one of the Jetson electric bikes she put under the hammer as part of an effort to de-clutter her life and rid herself of meaningless objects.
Through her purge, she says she learned that 'what I need is dogs and books, light and space. Instead of feeling walled in by stuff, I want to feel surrounded by calm.'

Less is more: 'When you're coming into your own, nobody ever teaches you how to ask for less,' she says. 'But over the years... you start to focus on what¿s important'

One of the items that inspired her to have an auction was her bath - a stunning tub carved out a single piece of onyx that she realized had come to represent wealth for her.
After she attempted to remodel her bathroom around the tub, she began questioning why an inanimate object meant so much to her.

Read more: The new issue of O Magazine hits newsstands on February 18

Then it dawned on her. 'It represented wealth. And "I've truly made it,"' she writes. 'It made me feel special. Lots of people have nice houses, but not many have a hand-carved-out-of-one-piece-of-onyx tub.'
By letting it go - and letting go a number of other belongings she had become attached to - Oprah was able to see what really mattered in her life and her home.
'You realize that a single piece of art that really speaks to you can be far more powerful than a wall filled with “important” works,' she says.
'That a meal eaten with feet up and pajamas on is usually a lot more pleasurable than any fancy-schmancy food at a black-tie gala... that less actually is so much more.'
Oprah's 'biggest yard sale ever' took place on November 3.
It featured more than 300 items from her home, from still-life paintings to a hand-made Persian rug that fetched $6,150.

DM