Last night I went to my friend Donna’s Yoga teacher training graduation and this quote was read:
“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? 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. 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”.
-Nelson Mendela/Marianne Williamson
( I edited out sentences about God that I felt uncomfortable with)
Congratulations Donna! And Congrats Sequoia for graduating 5th grade!! So often we try to downplay our success and act modest and knock on wood when something good happens. Why not revel in it?
I post this as a reminder for myself to be less fearful. I am stressed about ANOTher show in less than a week with NO paintings completed. And then the illustration conference with no preparation for it! And then leaving for a two week vacation/weddings with no shifts definitively covered at work yet. It is possible? I’m going to focus on shining and liberating myself from fear, yep:)