Monday 4 October 2010

Our Deepest Fear

As October is Black History Month I'm going to have a weekly post celebrating it. We'll start off with this passage Nelson Mandela used in his inaugural address, written by Marianne Williamson. (Thank you Ali Mal.)


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 frightens us.
We ask ourselves.
Who am I to be so brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually.
Who are we not to be?
You are a child of God...
Your playing small doesn't 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 are born to make manifest the glory of God, 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 other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

Nelson Mandela

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Hoping your light shines today x

6 comments:

  1. That passage made my day lighten: so often it gets bogged down in minutiae and juggling that it's easy to forget there is another way to play than small.

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  2. I find Mandela fascinating- for the journey- from guerilla fighter/ organisor (even with a very just cause) to man of peace- and now a man who walks with us all but seems like he's from a higher plain somehow, I imagine if you meet him his charisma practically knocks you down.

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  3. Ummm. I'm afraid that it wasn't Nelson Mandela but the lovely Marianne Williamson.
    http://skdesigns.com/internet/articles/quotes/williamson/our_deepest_fear/

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  4. Wow, powerful words indeed! I needed this today, I hope I can get the courage to stop playing small soon.

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  5. Thank you Ali Mal have corrected it.

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Ooh how lovely more stripes on the page...
Thank you for taking the time.