I was talking with a friend recently about another friend.
And we were wondering why this woman was making the same mistakes over and over. We agreed that she talks too much and thinks she knows everything ever revealed to man, but we decided that her issue was deeper than that.
We decided that her issue was rooted in the fact that this poor girl is afraid of her own possibilities.
She's a lovely person, but we think that she's actually afraid to dream big, afraid to succeed, maybe because people have told her that she couldn't.
Or, worse yet, maybe because she's told herself that she couldn't.
It reminds me of a famous piece that is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but I learned recently that it was actually first included in a book by Marianne Williamson entitled, "A Return to Love." Here it is...
"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Powerful words. Let's pay attention.
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