Many of you are familiar with the popular poem/passage that goes like this, “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.” This passage has always left me enlightened, while also leaving me mystified. Multiple questions can be raised on the subject of you being a fantastic person who is awesome and flawless. Does your perfection lower the perfection of others? Can others thrive when they feel timid? Should you care? Do you continue to be perfect and allow them to find their way to perfection? Food for thought. I encourage you to leave comments and engage in discussion, you may think I am wrong.
“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us” What does that mean to you? Are you more afraid of the things you are capable of, than the things you have no clue about? Why does our light frighten us?
“Your playing small does not serve the world”, what does this mean to you? To me, it means that I am supposed to do everything and anything in my power to make this world a better place, we have to be the best as to get results. But what if me playing too big is what is making others insecure?
“There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you”, what if my shrinking, gives them the ability to increase, and not play small anymore? However what if my shrinking shows them that it is not possible to be great and stay great because eventually you will shrink back? Do I let my light shine and through my actions, encourage them to be as great if not better than me? Or do I sit back and watch them fail?
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same”, I believe this is true. Yes, we could be great and then shrink so others can then be great like we are, but do we reach our maximum capacity for greatness like that? What if we let our shine, and continued to let our light shine, so much so that people have no other choice but to be just as great. And for all of you competitors out there… if someone else is letting their light shine, and their light seems to be brighter, accept the challenge to meet and surpass their light, but don’t try to dim it.
