Over Thanksgiving Break I was lucky enough to talk with my Dad for hours about success, happiness, knowing what we are meant to do with our lives, meeting challenges, staying focused, finding purpose and living well. One of the quotes that stuck with him and that he passed to me was a quote by Nelson Mandela. After finding it, I noticed he quoted it very closely. It was given by then President Mandela during his Inaugural Speech in South Africa. Quoted by a man who was imprisoned for 26 years (1964 to 1990) because he opposed the apartheid system in South Africa, I think this quote is especially compelling.
Overcoming that fear means realizing we are powerful beyond measure. We are great, large, capable and responsible to act. We can and should serve the world around us with our every moment and we know it. I think me being powerful beyond measure has been felt in every great project I’ve ever accomplished, every time I have ever approached something just because I believed I should and every time my dreams and wishes have come true because I worked hard toward them. It’s daily, I think, the overcoming of this fear. It has also been a test of my integrity, honesty and humility. It’s about being myself all the time, as much when people watch as when they don’t. It’s something I think I’ve moved away from, but that I can get back. It can be overwhelming, but if it weren’t, I wouldn’t call it my deepest fear.
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 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 are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson quoted by Nelson Mandela in Inaugural Speech
Overcoming that fear means realizing we are powerful beyond measure. We are great, large, capable and responsible to act. We can and should serve the world around us with our every moment and we know it. I think me being powerful beyond measure has been felt in every great project I’ve ever accomplished, every time I have ever approached something just because I believed I should and every time my dreams and wishes have come true because I worked hard toward them. It’s daily, I think, the overcoming of this fear. It has also been a test of my integrity, honesty and humility. It’s about being myself all the time, as much when people watch as when they don’t. It’s something I think I’ve moved away from, but that I can get back. It can be overwhelming, but if it weren’t, I wouldn’t call it my deepest fear.
