I have been learning the true meaning and how to take advantage of Marianne Williamson's beautiful message:
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, and 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 will not 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 is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
I remember reading this years ago and thinking "oh, that's new age affirmation and hope and something to inspire me but it's not really true."
I remember thinking that only certain people can live like that, but not me. At best, it's something to strive for.
But when I look back on my life, I look back on some key decisions I made, I look back when I trusted myself and took action where others had told me not to. And I remember all of the times I had considered doing those actions well before I actually did but had hesitated, had decided not to, had decided "who was I to act when others had said I was not capable?"
And some of those actions were learning experiences and some of those actions were incredible breakthroughs. In either event, taking the action was the right thing to have done and I saw that I didn't need to have hesitated.
I now realize that it wasn't others who were stopping me. It was my own inner voice, my "deepest fear" that if I trusted myself I would have to take action and therefore put myself at risk. Avoiding my light was just another way of playing it safe. Of avoiding my fears.
The consequence of course, is that it also avoids what I am really up to.
Take a look today to see what is holding you back. It's you, of course. That's the only thing that can hold you back.
Al Shalloway
CEO, Net Objectives
