Let Your Light Shine

Today I am grateful for clear skies and chirping birds after a dreary, rainy day yesterday. I am also grateful I get to see some friends today that I haven't seen in awhile.

Below is the quote I referred to at the end of my post yesterday. It really speaks for itself. This quote also found its way into Brene Brown's (www.brenebrown.com) book and when you read it in the context of how we experience shame, as she suggests doing, it is even more powerful.

When I first came across it, the quote was attributed to Nelson Mandela, from his 1994 Inaugural Speech. Though they weren't Mandela's words, his life fits the quote. He let his light shine and helped liberate many others after his own 27 years of imprisonment. The quote belongs to internationally known spiritual author and speaker Marianne Williamson. (www.marianne.com)

“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, in her book A Return to Love)

What a beautiful way to encourage us to be our best today, to recognize how special we each are. Share your humanness. That is how we find common ground, not by judging and comparing. Keep your head up and walk proudly into your day. Have a good one!