Ordained minister and "spiritual life counselor" Iyanla Vanzant doesn't know the exact moment when her soul opened up "and the spirit of the divine entered [her] body." But she will always remember the key insight that opened the door to her soul and simultaneously locked the door to her insanity: "If you know who walks beside you, you can never be afraid." This is the premise from which Vanzant has launched her enormously successful 40-day, spiritual self-help program. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up is designed as day-by-day journal/workbook to help readers believe in a divine presence while pondering daily spiritual lessons such as simplicity, peace, compassion, and nonjudgement.

The charismatic Vanzant (whom Oprah Winfrey considers to be one of the world's most admirable spiritual leaders) has a gift for humble, tell-it-like-it-is talk. She is also a wise and warm soul, eager to help others trust in love and find a relationship with God in order to get on with their lives. Readers especially like her daily list of inspirations titled "Let Me Remember." For example, under day 23, "When You Feel Angry," she uses the list to remind readers: "All things work to bring me healing"; "Forgiveness will provide relief and release"; and "Love will heal anything that is not an expression of love." --Gail Hudson


Review
Tavis SmileyHost of BET Tonight with Tavis SmileyEveryday I read Iyanla Vanzant's inspired work, my sould just opens up! And so will yours if you heed her advice on how to achieve a greater sense of self-awareness and self-assurance.


Review
Tavis Smiley Host of BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley Everyday I read Iyanla Vanzant's inspired work, my sould just opens up! And so will yours if you heed her advice on how to achieve a greater sense of self-awareness and self-assurance.


Book Description
One Day My Soul Just Opened Up is a program of inspiration and motivation that will help you work through problems and improve your emotional and spiritual health. Through exercises and readings, Iyanla provides you with the tools to tap into your strengths and make your dreams come true. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up will open your mind, heart, and soul to the truth of your identity as a creative and powerful being.


Download Description
Both an inspiring guide and a hands-on measurement tool that enables readers to chart their spiritual growth as it unfolds, "One Day My Soul Just Opened Up" encourages readers to use journal writing as a self-awareness process. Vanzant introduces 40 principles to follow and embrace in daily living as guideposts on the path toward spiritual strength and understanding.


Book Info
Through exercises and readings, Iyanla provides you with the tools to tap into your strengths and make your dreams come true. DLC: Spiritual life - Meditations.


About the Author
Iyanla Vanzant is the award-winning and bestselling author of Acts of Faith, The Value in the Valley, Faith in the Valley, and In the Meantime. As an empowerment specialist, Spiritual Life Counselor, and ordained minister, she lectures and facilitates workshops nationally with a mission to assist in the empowerment of women and men everywhere.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Day 7: Honor the Divine with...PEACEFULNESSWorking Definition:The principle we are working with today is PEACE. It is an internal state of harmony and tranquillity derived from the awareness of peace. Thought, word, and deed produced in response to a desire to create, promote, or maintain a state of peace.Commentary on PEACEFULNESSMy friend Joia told me a story about a woman and some birds that gave me great insights on peacefulness. She heard the story from her guru, Swami Chidvilasananda (widely known as Gurumayi), a teacher of the Siddha Yoga tradition.One day a woman went to the park to meditate. She found a quiet, sunny place, spread her blanket, and sat down. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and was prepared to begin an inward exploration of her thoughts and feelings. As her breathing became regulated and her mind still, she became aware of some birds chirping near her. At first it was a melodic and peaceful addition to her inward journey. Within moments, however, the birds began to squawk, almost scream at each other. As the woman tried to stay focused on her breathing, the birds seemed to squawk louder and louder.The woman's eyes flew open. There were at least twenty birds sitting around her, screeching at each other. She looked around and the rest of the park was empty. Halfheartedly, with a flinging gesture of her hands, the woman shooed the birds away. Some left. Some remained. Those who remained became very quiet, until she closed her eyes.It seemed as if the second she closed her eyes, the birds started screeching again. Quite annoyed, the woman got up and moved. The birds flew away. Upon finding another prime spot of grass, the woman sat down to begin the process all over again. As soon as she did, the birds came back. "This is ridiculous!" the woman said to the birds. "Shoo! Shoo! Go on! Get out of here!" The birds flew a little higher, but in a seeming act of defiance, they continued to squawk. Totally pissed off with the birds for disturbing her peace, the woman stood up and began to chase the birds. She would run to the left, and fling her blanket at them. The birds would fly away, but they wouldn't shut up. As soon as she cleared those on the left, a new crew arrived to her right. Changing directions, she would shoo them away. They would circle her, squawking, and swoop down a few feet away. Within moments, the woman was flinging her arms around like a lunatic, screaming at the birds who were squawking back at her. Realizing how crazy she must have looked, she snatched her blanket from the ground and stormed out of the park.Later that evening the woman had an opportunity to relate her experience in the park to her guru, her teacher. Her exasperation returned even in the midst of telling the story. The guru smiled and asked, "Why did you not welcome them to join you?" "How was I supposed to do that?" she asked. "Om Nama Shiva," the Guru responded, "which means, 'I surrender to Shiva (meaning the God) within me.'"A few days later the woman went back to the park. She went through the entire process again. The moment she became still, the birds began to sing. As soon as she heard them, she mentally affirmed, "Om Nama Shiva." The birds began to squawk. "Om Nama Shiva." It began to sound as if every bird in the state had converged on the very spot where she was sitting. She never opened her eyes. She continued to breathe deeply, affirming louder and louder in her mind, "Om Nama Shiva. Om Nama Shiva! OM NAMA SHIVA!" She thought the words faster and louder. So fast and loud in fact that she became so mentally exhilarated that she stopped. It was then that she noticed the silence. Either the birds had flown away or simply shut up. She did not open her eyes to determine which had occurred.Why is it that we will walk into a room of screaming children and yell at the top of our lungs, "BE QUIET!" If you want peace, be peace. My grandson Oluwa, age five, is afflicted with a common childhood ailment. He cannot speak below 100 decibels. He yells as if he secretly believes that everyone in the room is hard of hearing. One day someone in the family (due to threats of being sued for slander, I cannot reveal who) became so frustrated with him that they yelled, "Will you please be quiet!" Other people present in the room chimed in by screaming, "Thank you!" His silence lasted for about three minutes. His next comment was made at the usual ear-piercing level.If you want peace, be peaceful. Because I am the wise old granny, I have learned to take a completely different approach. When Oluwa screams at me, I crouch down to his level, put my nose directly up against his nose, smile, and whisper, "I can't hear you. You are talking too loud." He didn't get it at first, but I would stay there, staring at him eyeball to eyeball, until he lowered his voice. Now when Oluwa approaches me, he usually whispers so softly I must ask him to repeat himself. He and everyone else in the family still seem to have a problem hearing one another. I watch them and I smile. If you want to experience peacefulness you must begin from a posture of peace. One word of caution: Be prepared to stay in that posture for as long as it takes.Commentary JournalAfter reading today's commentary, I realize The key phrase(s) I want to remember and work with today are Morning PEACEFULNESS Affirmation I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.I am PEACE, PEACEFULLY expressing myself as PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.Nothing can disturb this expression of PEACEFUL PEACEFULNESS.PEACE is the order of this day.PEACE is the order of this day.PEACE is the order of this day.As I am, So It Is! For this I am so grateful!Let Me Remember...To have peace, I must be PEACEFUL.I can choose PEACE in all situations.Nothing in the world can disturb the PEACE I create within.I welcome others to join me in PEACE.Evening PEACEFULNESS JournalToday, I realized it is easy to remain PEACEFUL when I find it is difficult for me to remain PEACEFUL when As of this moment I am completely at PEACE aboutCopyright © 1998 by Iyanla VanzantDay 21: Honor Others with...FORGIVENESS Working Definition:The principle we are working with today is FORGIVENESS. It is release. Letting go. The process of removing errors from the mind in pursuit of harmony. The release of what is false for what is true. Giving up of a thought or emotion in order to facilitate change of the thought or emotion.Commentary on FORGIVENESS"How long are you going to stay mad and hurt?" I didn't know, but I knew I was not ready to not be mad yet. What she had done to me was unforgivable! Besides that, somewhere in the back of my mind I actually believed that the longer I stayed mad, the more she would suffer. After a while, what she had done was no longer the issue. The issue was her suffering. She had to suffer! And I wanted everyone to know that she was suffering because of what she had done to me! I wanted to read about her suffering in the newspaper! Then and only then would I even consider not being mad at her anymore. She must have known I was mad at her, because one day she quietly died in her sleep. I wanted to say, "Good for her!" But I was too mad. Many, many years after her death I was mad, I was miserable. I was still hurt, and she was still dead. Now, what kind of sense did that make?Most people believe that when you forgive someone, you are doing something for them. The truth is, when you forgive, you are doing it for yourself. As it relates to forgiveness, you must give up what you do not want in order to make room for what you do want. You must give up pain, anger, resentment, and fear in order to experience goodness, joy, peace, and love. For some reason, we believe that if we forgive someone they might get to the good stuff before we do. Offering another the forgiveness they need strengthens the spiritual nature in you. It is this nature and your consciousness of this nature that reaps you the benefits of life. When you withhold forgiveness or love from anyone, for any reason, it diminishes your awareness of the abundance of good in life. You are stuck in so much old stuff, new stuff has no way of getting to you. In essence, the good that you withhold from others will be withheld from you.As long as you hold on to the belief that anyone on earth can do anything to you, you will be unable to forgive. People cannot change who you are and what you were born to be. They can create obstacles in your path. They can do things that make you believe you are other than what you are, but people cannot change, alter, or in any way hinder the truth of your being. The truth is you are divine. The truth is that the divine source of life made you perfect and complete, and nothing anyone does can change that. The truth is we all forget that we are divine and act out of our human fears, beliefs, and perceptions. In doing so, we offend one another's sensibilities, we ignore one another's boundaries, we lash out, strike out, and in other uncompassionate ways dump our pain on one another. It does not change who we are. It makes us believe we are less than we are. This makes us mad, and in holding on to our madness, we refuse to forgive.There is no one who does not make mistakes. Mistakes are a way of human life. We mistake what we see for the truth. We do not realize that there is always more to life than we can see and that the truth is not always visible to the naked eye. We mistake what we know for all there is. What we do not realize is, we don't always know the whole story. At any given time in your life, there are characters, plots, and story lines that have not yet been presented. When you do not know the whole story, almost any conclusion you draw will be a mistaken conclusion. We mistake our experiences, particularly bad experiences, to be indications of who we are and what we deserve. Even when we know we deserve better, we mistake our experiences for the obstacles that can keep us from experiencing more. Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that other people have the power to control or alter our destiny. It is our beliefs, mistaken and otherwise, that ultimately determine what we will do or be in life, not another person.If we did not make mistakes we would not learn what works and what does not work. Each time we make a mistake we are provided with an opportunity to be corrected. The divine spirit of life is self-correcting. It will show us our mistakes in the form of the pain and suffering that we endure. It will show us our mistakes through mental unrest and emotional dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, when we encounter the results of our mistaken beliefs, choices, and perceptions, we blame other people. We hold others accountable for what we think, feel, or believe. We believe our experiences make us who we are in life, and then we blame the players in our experiences. The biggest mistake we all make is believing that other people can hurt us. When we believe they have done so, we are unwilling to forgive them.My aunt refused to acknowledge that my uncle, her husband, had raped me. She acted as if it did not matter. Translation: I did not matter, and what he had done to me did not matter. I concluded that she didn't care about me, that he was wicked, that I was dirty, and that life in general sucked! I held onto the memory of that experience, and my translations, conclusions, and the anger for a very long time. When a counselor asked me how long was I going to stay mad, it was sixteen years, three children, one bad marriage, and several heartbreaking relationships later. "What do you want her to do?" she asked. I wanted her to acknowledge me. I wanted her to acknowledge that what he had done was wrong. "And how would that make you feel?" "Better!" I said. Since my aunt was dead, she suggested that I needed to find another way to feel better. She suggested that I try forgiving my aunt for not acknowledging me, and for making the mistake of believing that if she had acknowledged what her husband had done it would have meant the end of her marriage. I told her she was out of her mind!When being hurt and angry and believing you are less than you are does not get you what you want, it is time to forgive. When you cannot move beyond the memories of what someone else has done to you and those memories keep you hurt, angry, or in any way limited in life, it is time to forgive. When the only thing you remember about someone is what they did to you and not the fact that they are a human being prone to make mistakes, it is time to forgive. When you believe you know the whole story of why someone did what they did and believe that if they had done anything else, you would be different, it is time to forgive. If you don't like yourself, it is time to forgive. If there is anyone, anywhere on the planet you can honestly say that you do not love, it is time to forgive. If you are overweight, underweight, out of cash, in a bad relationship, working in an unfulfilling career, have corns on your little toes, have a cold or a toothache, there is somebody, somewhere you need to forgive. Start with yourself. Forgive yourself for believing that anyone who occupies the flesh form as a human being could in any way alter the truth of your being. Once you've done that it will be easy to forgive anyone for anything, particularly if you are holding them hostage for making human errors.Commentary JournalAfter reading today's commentary, I realizeThe key phrase(s) I want to remember and work with today areMorning FORGIVENESS AffirmationI am now ready and willing to receive the perfecting presence of Spirit in my life.I now open my mind and heart to the divine understanding of Spirit.I now FORGIVE myself for every thought, word, and deed I have embraced or undertaken that has kept me from the realization of the truth about myself, and the perfect unfolding of the divine plan for my life.I am now ready and willing to receive the perfecting presence of Spirit in my life.I now open my mind and heart to the divine understanding of Spirit.I now FORGIVE everyone for every thought, word, and deed they have embraced or undertaken that has kept them from the realization of the truth about themselves and me, and the perfect unfolding of the divine plan for our lives.I FORGIVE all! I release all! I am now free from all except the perfect and Divine plan and purpose for my life!For this, I am so grateful!And So It Is!Let Me Remember...God has always FORGIVEN me.I can FORGIVE myself.To FORGIVE is to be free.Being angry or hurt will not get me what I want.What I withhold from another will be withheld from me.Evening FORGIVENESS JournalToday, I realize I have been unwilling or unable to FORGIVE because I realize that I would be willing to FORGIVE____________________if I now realize the need that being unwilling to FORGIVE hasCopyright © 1998 by Iyanla Vanzant

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Iyanla Vanzant's wildly popular workshops, lectures, and books are all focused on one thing: getting your life together. The author of such highly successful works as Acts of Faith, In the Meantime and Yesterday, I Cried, Vanzant has touched the lives of men and women all over the world. Part of Vanzant's appeal is that she always speaks from personal experience, sharing her own past traumas and heartaches with her audience. She is not afraid to admit her fears, her mistakes, and her faults, because she has triumphed over them. Her inspirational words are designed to help her audience achieve this as well, through some soul-searching of its own.

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up is Vanzant's program for personal healing and transformation. There are daily meditations, each broken up into a section for the morning and one for the evening, covering such topics as self-love, truth, peacefulness, and trust. By encouraging listeners to write their thoughts in a journal each evening, Vanzant aims to draw out the most elusive inner emotions and conflicts. This introspective act of journaling, which has been recognized in recent studies by the medical community as an important method of healing, helps the listener apply Vanzant's advice to daily life.

Vanzant's voice rings out with optimism and strength, making the audio edition a unique experience. The powerful emotional convictions that have shaped Vanzant into a renowned speaker and author are revealed in her warm, expressive tone. Her insight, experience, and caring will guide listeners to let go of all thepettycomplexes and anxieties that prevent them from attaining peace of mind.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up is a program of inspiration and motivation that will help you work through problems and improve your emotional and spiritual health. Through exercises and readings, Iyanla provides you with the tools to tap into your strengths and make your dreams come true. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up will open your mind, heart, and soul to the truth of your identity as a creative and powerful being.

SYNOPSIS

We all know what it's like to be in a "valley"a deep, cold dark place in life where we may feel hopelessly trapped. On this two-tape set, Iyanla Vanzant, bestselling author of One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: 40 Days and 40 Nights Towards Spiritual Growth, In The Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want and The Value in the Valley: A Black Woman's Guide Through Life's Dilemmas, reminds us that "a valley is a low point between two mountains" and that each kind of valley holds its own treasures for teaching and strengthening us.

In her discussion with Justine Toms of New Dimensions Radio, Vanzant points out that there is more to life than fleeting moments of pleasure, and she shows the way to that state of permanent internal well-being called joy. "If you don't like what's going on, you're the producer rewrite the script," she tells us.
Topics explored in this dialogue include:

How to hear the "still, small voice" that turns your life around

The value of pain in helping you focus on problems

Expressing the beauty and power of the Creator in your life

How to honor what you feel when you feel it
And much more!

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Vanzant is a motivational speaker, spiritual counselor, ordained minister, and Yoruba priestess (minister of the ancient Nigerian religion). A frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, this prolific author also makes regular appearances on best sellers lists. Yesterday, I Cried is chiefly an autobiographical account of how Vanzant triumphed over her troubled past to achieve success. Losing her mother at age three, she was a childhood victim of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. A single mother at 16, Vanzant rushed into an abusive marriage at 19 and was soon raising three children alone on welfare. Despite this, she earned both undergraduate and law degrees and now counsels others on overcoming difficult circumstances to achieve happiness and spiritual fulfillment. In One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, Vanzant speaks of pursuing spiritual and personal growth. Unfortunately, her advice is often redundant and sprinkled with vague platitudes, e.g., "You can only have what is for you to have" and "Love will heal anything that is not an expression of love." Though Vanzant's rich, sonorous voice is certainly an asset to these abridged productions, it cannot compensate for their meager content. Her many fans will probably expect to find these at public libraries, but purchase only to cover demand.--Beth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., OH Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile - Pamela A. Johnson