“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.”
— Marianne Williamson
I was searching for an old email through my Gmail inbox and came across this quote, which I had used as part of my email signature five years ago. I had forgotten about it already. What a beautifully insightful quote! It’s a food for thought for all of us who often still sit in the shadows, timid of showing the rest of the world how incredibly good and talented we are. It doesn’t even have to be a worldwide proclamation, it can even be just among your family, relatives, friends, work colleagues or the online community.
Can you write, sing, make people laugh, draw or organize events to a tee? Are you good at sports, making sense of numbers, mix-matching clothes (a closet fashionista/fashion trendsetter) or even serving people for charitable causes? All of us are inherently good at something. We have all been given special talents. But sometimes, or oftentimes, we supress ourselves from letting these talents shine through, hiding under the guise of humility, when it is probably pride that really hinders us from exposing our true magnificence, or more likely fear that we may outshine others or that others may judge us as superior.
But whether it’s because of pride or fear, none of those really matter in the end. We only live once and each second that passes is our life on this world fading away. Each opportunity we pass to use our talents and delight the world with it is a waste and even an injustice to ourselves, to others and to the Source of all our gifts.
“It’s time to shine!” should be our mantra each waking moment. Let’s light up the world with all of our talents. Let’s be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous! Because that’s how we were ultimately created to be. 🙂
D.O.G.+
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About the person who wrote the quote (Marianne Williamson, entry from Wikipedia):
Marianne Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace. She is also the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area.[She has published ten books, including four New York Times #1 bestsellers.
Her book, The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife, was published in January 2008 and spent five weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her latest book, published in November 2010, is called A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever. She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose, The Howard Stern Show and Politically Incorrect.
Fullness of Life 