Iyanla Vanzant Says Women Were Born “for Such a Time as This”
“If you are a woman, you were born for such a time as this,” Iyanla Vanzant said at the 2020 Pennsylvania Conference for Women.
“Things are changing, we know that. Things are changing fast. Some of us don’t understand this is simply time for a reset; and in order to be in alignment with what is unfolding, we as women must embrace a spirit of becoming. So many of us are caught up in doing.
“But we must embrace the spirit of becoming—something new, something renewed, something more,” she said. “As women, we must embrace that in us there is so much more than what appears to be on the surface—we are so much more than what appears to be on the surface.”
What follows are excerpts of her thoughts on dealing with change, the necessity of self-care, and having a vision now.
Dealing with Change
- “For such a time as this we must embrace the spirit of peaceful change, knowing that all change is preceded by chaos, that things must be torn down before they can be built up.”
- “We must know that wherever there is fear there must be trust and, as women, we must learn to trust ourselves. We must trust that we deserve and will have a voice and hand in everything that impacts us.”
- “The change that is being born through us … so we can be new light onto the world—doing things the way women do them.”
Self-care
- “In such a time as this we must embrace nurturing and self-care. It requires us to stop doing and be with ourselves. We’re so busy serving and giving and doing and running that we are giving from an empty vessel.”
- “This is truly the time when we have to fill our cups and give from the overflow. Because as things change, we have to be willing and able and ready to change; and that means we have to be nourished and fortified.”
- “We must not just nurture our body and intellect. We must nurture our heart and spirit.”
Choice and Vision
- “Must embrace the spirit of creative, conscious choice. Choice is our power. Power and choice are interchangeable because they are all about we as women taking dominion in and having authority over our life. Your choices are critical foundations of self-realization.”
- “You must have a vision. We cannot go through life any longer allowing someone else’s vision to pave the way for us.”
- “Know in this moment that you are pregnant with possibility, and the possibility that will come to life is the one that you can see. Don’t worry about the how. Have a vision, and it will pull you forward; and those possibilities will be birthed through you.”
About Iyanla Vanzant
Iyanla Vanzant is among the most influential, socially engaged, and acclaimed spiritual life coaches of our time. Her work, over more than 3 decades, includes 15 published books, and the current No. 1 reality show on OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network, “Iyanla: Fix My Life.”
Iyanla is a woman who speaks with the authority of having done what she now helps others do. As she puts it: She emerged from welfare mother to New York Times bestselling author, from the Brooklyn projects to Emmy Award-winner, and from broken pieces to peace.
“What I have learned from all of the difficulties in my own life,” she says, “is that human beings have very thick skin. I call that skin our spirit, our Highest Most Powerful self. Spirit is the key to everything we desire.”
Check out more highlights from the 2020 Virtual Pennsylvania Conference for Women!