There is a lot of healing going on. Really! More people are

In the radiant and restorative words of Iyanla Vanzant, we hear a proclamation of awakening: “There is a lot of healing going on. Really! More people are vegetarians, more are in the green movement, more of us are tearing down the old paradigms and embracing same-sex marriage, single motherhood, men raising babies.” These words resound not as mere observation, but as a hymn to humanity’s slow rebirth—a declaration that the world, long burdened by ignorance and separation, is learning at last to love, to nurture, and to live in harmony with itself. Vanzant, a teacher of spiritual transformation, speaks as a seer of her time. She reminds us that progress, though imperfect and uneven, is indeed unfolding; that the heart of humanity, once hardened by fear and division, is beginning to soften, to open, to heal.

The origin of this quote lies in Vanzant’s lifelong calling as a spiritual guide, healer, and teacher. Her life, marked by struggle and redemption, became a testament to the power of healing through awareness, forgiveness, and truth. Born into hardship, she rose from pain not to preach, but to restore—to remind others that brokenness is not an end, but a beginning. When she spoke these words, she was addressing a world overwhelmed by cynicism, by those who believed humanity was irredeemably fractured. Yet Vanzant saw differently. She saw the signs of quiet revolution—the millions choosing compassion over cruelty, sustainability over greed, and inclusion over exclusion. Her message was clear: healing is happening, even if it comes softly, like dawn after a long and bitter night.

To understand her wisdom, one must see healing as she does—not as the absence of pain, but as the transformation of it. The ancients taught that before the body can heal, the wound must be acknowledged; before the soul can rise, it must first descend into its depths. So too, Vanzant sees society as a living organism, long sickened by its divisions—by sexism, racism, and the fear of difference. Yet, like the healer’s hands upon a fevered child, compassion and consciousness are at work. Each act of justice, each shift toward understanding, is a thread in the great tapestry of renewal. The green movement, the acceptance of same-sex marriage, the rise of men nurturing children, and the celebration of single motherhood—these are not disruptions to the old order, but medicines to the wounded spirit of civilization.

Consider, for instance, the story of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate. In a land scarred by deforestation and oppression, she began with a simple act—planting trees. To many, it seemed trivial. Yet through her vision, millions of women joined her, restoring forests and reclaiming dignity. Her work healed not just the land, but the people. She taught that to heal the Earth is to heal the heart, for they are bound by the same breath. Wangari’s movement mirrored what Vanzant proclaims: that real change begins when individuals, in quiet defiance of despair, choose to act in love. When humanity honors life—whether through the soil, through equality, or through compassion—it takes part in the ancient art of healing the world.

Vanzant’s reference to tearing down the old paradigms is the voice of rebirth itself. The old paradigms—those of rigid gender roles, spiritual blindness, and disconnection from nature—are the crumbling walls of an outdated consciousness. Their fall, though unsettling, is necessary. As the ancients knew, creation always follows destruction; the seed must split before it sprouts. To embrace new forms of family, to honor love in all its shapes, is to recognize that divine order is not limited by tradition—it flows wherever there is truth and tenderness. In men raising babies, in single mothers standing tall, and in lovers who defy convention, we see not decay but evolution: the soul of humanity learning to express the sacred through authenticity rather than conformity.

Her mention of the vegetarian and the green movement reveals a parallel awakening—the recognition that healing extends beyond human relations to our bond with the Earth itself. The ancients once saw the world as alive, as sacred; the soil was mother, the water father, the air divine breath. But in our forgetting, we wounded her. Now, through the resurgence of conscious living, we are remembering that to live gently upon the Earth is to live in harmony with the greater Spirit. Every plant-based meal, every forest preserved, every act of stewardship is a prayer of restoration. This, too, is healing—the mending of humanity’s relationship with creation.

The lesson of Iyanla Vanzant’s words is therefore both simple and profound: healing is happening, but it requires participation. It is not enough to notice progress; we must nourish it. Each person is both healer and patient in this great unfolding. To heal, we must listen—to each other, to the Earth, to the quiet truth within our souls. We must honor love in all its forms, nurture families of every kind, and act as guardians of both human and planetary life. Healing is not the work of governments or prophets alone—it begins wherever one person chooses understanding over judgment, compassion over fear.

So let these words stand as a reminder for all generations: though the world may seem fractured, the healing has already begun. It moves in every act of kindness, in every acceptance of truth, in every breaking of old chains. As Vanzant teaches, we are not witnesses to destruction, but midwives to renewal. The world is learning, slowly but surely, to live in alignment with love. And if we continue this sacred labor—together, with open hearts—then one day, we shall awaken to find that the wounds of humanity have become its wisdom, and the pain of the past, the soil of a radiant and unified future.