Marianne Williamson's quote about "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure . . . " popped up on my Facebook page today. This quote was my beacon of light decades ago when I started changing from playing small to stepping into the shoes that fit and just being myself.
Maybe it's because I'm the last of the Baby Boomer generation or because it's still an unspoken archetype of the past but I was given beliefs like "girls can't do math", "men don't like strong, smart women", "don't be a pushy broad" . . . When you're spoon fed garbage like that as a small child it goets lodged somewhere in your subconscious where it later rises up and causes conflict.
In my 20s, I played small all the time to be attractive and not threaten men or other women. I couldn't do higher math until my 30s because in my teens I was told "girls can't do math" and I was too distracted by booze boys and drugs focus on algebra. I also learned that a graduate school degree of any kind - J.D. or M.D. - did not automatically make a man smarter than I. In my 40s, after thousands of dollars worth of psychotherapy, I stopped rejecting and just accepted the fact that I was intelligent.
And, in my 50s I stopped hiding it.
I think the most important part of the Marianne Williamson's quote is this:
" . . . 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."
Life is simple really. We were put here to love each other and help each other. When we stop playing small, find our voice, find our purpose then DO IT, we encourage others to do the same. We lead by example. It is not our words or philosophies that change the world. It is our actions.
Love & light,
Pixie
"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."