Wednesday, January 26, 2011

back on the mat

This is the little poem on the first page of week 2. I love it just as much now as I did the first time I read it. (yes, this is the same course I went through in the fall. I am going back through it again.)

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 ~ A Return to Love (1992)