How Mattering to Yourself & Others Can Change Your Life with Oprah, Jennifer Wallace & Ina Garten episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 27, 2026 · 53 MIN

How Mattering to Yourself & Others Can Change Your Life with Oprah, Jennifer Wallace & Ina Garten

from The Oprah Podcast

Oprah is joined by award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Wallace to talk about her transformative new book "Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose." Drawing on six years of research, Wallace shares how mattering - the feeling that we are valued and have an opportunity to add value - is a fundamental human need essential to our well-being. She believes there's been "an erosion of mattering" and provides actionable steps to deepen your connections, reconnect to your sense of purpose and navigate challenges with greater resilience. Joining the conversation is Jennifer's close friend and lifestyle icon Ina Garten. Oprah and Jennifer also speak with a military wife who learned how to bring mattering back to her marriage and an extraordinary young man who went from being a sanitation worker to a Harvard Law School graduate.BUY THE BOOK!'Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose' by Jennifer Wallace: https://amzn.to/4pJl6TTChapters:00:00:00 - Welcome Jennifer Wallace, author of “Mattering”00:05:50 - Ina Garten joins00:07:05 - The importance of mattering to yourself00:08:40 - How Ina shows people they matter00:09:30 - The importance of showing up00:10:50 - One easy way to show people they matter00:12:20 - The thread that ties us together00:13:40 - Extrinsic and intrinsic values00:15:50 - Professor Gordon Flett on why mattering is life or death00:18:12 - How mattering affects our longevity00:21:00 - How to get through hard moments00:23:00 - How Army partners struggle with mattering00:28:00 - Our resilience is tied to our relationships00:34:00 - Mattering to ourselves raises the bar for all relationships 00:35:20 - A former sanitation worker's observations on mattering00:42:00 - Supporting support staff00:44:50 - Mattering at work00:46:00 - The 4 important feelings to mattering00:48:10 - What to do if you feel like you don’t matterAdditional Resources: ‘Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir’ by Ina Garten:https://amzn.to/4yQhiUKGordon L. Flett, Ph.D.https://www.yorku.ca/lamarsh/gord-flett/‘The Wives: A Memoir’ by Simone Gorrindo:https://amzn.to/4fFPM3IThe Reciprocity Effect:https://www.thereciprocityeffect.org/Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social:https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLIhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381

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