Iyanla Vanzant Quotes

a lesson must be lived in order to be learned and the clarity to see and stop this now that is what i've earned

In order to change the world, I guess a person would have to really get his head together first before he can say anything to the world, to change it.

The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it.

People need to know that they have all the tools within themselves. Self-awareness, which means awareness of their body, awareness of their mental space, awareness of their relationships - not only with each other, but with life and the ecosystem.

People talk about this 'bucket list': 'I need to go to this country, I need to skydive.' Whereas I need to think as much as I can, to feel as much as I can, to be conscious and observe and understand me and the people around me as much as I can.

I've worked all my life on the subject of awareness, whether it's awareness of the body, awareness of the mind, awareness of your emotions, awareness of your relationships, or awareness of your environment. I think the key to transforming your life is to be aware of who you are.

All you have to do is to pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

We must each achieve greater individual consciousness and self-knowledge, and project mindful kindness toward everything and everyone.

I wasn't paying enough attention to what my heart was telling me. When I paid attention and got the message, I could move forward and heal.

Living consciously is seeking to be aware of everything that bears on our interests, actions, values, purposes, and goals. It is the willingness to confront facts, pleasant or unpleasant. It is the desire to discover our mistakes and correct them . . . it is the quest to keep expanding our awareness and understanding, both of the world external to self and the world within.

Learning to cultivate an awareness of the known and unknown within one's being often leads to a healthier and more realistic sense of self.

Meditation is another dimension of natural beauty. People talk about appreciating natural beauty-climbing mountains, seeing giraffes and tigers in Africa, and all sorts of things. But nobody seems to appreciate this kind of natural beauty of ourselves. This is actually far more beautiful than flora and fauna, far more fantastic, far more painful and colorful and delightful.

Somewhere in the heart of experience there is an order and a coherence which we might purprise if we were attentive enough, loving enough, or patient enough.

Only a deep attention to the whole of our life can bring us the capacity to love well and live freely.

This is the key to life: the ability to reflect, the ability to know yourself, the ability to pause for a second before reacting automatically. If you can truly know yourself, you will begin the journey of transformation.

Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help.

The more intimately you come in contact with your own Being, the simpler things look and the easier they are to deal with.

And we can't avoid an inch of our own experience; if we do it causes a blur, a bleep, a puffy unreality. Our job is to wake up to everything, because if we slow down enough, we see that we are everything.

I think I was always joyous, but I don't think I became very aware of positivity and its power until I became older. I always did it naturally, but then I lost it, and it forced me to find it again and appreciate it more.

I like the way my life has taken me.

I believe in nurturing the inner world.

I learned so much about life and other human beings - then about myself.

What I'm very concerned about is how do we bolster our self-awareness as humans, as biological organisms?

I write in a journal daily. This extraordinary ritual has revolutionised my mindset, transformed my heartset, and generally influenced my life exponentially.