Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places, Day 20: Embracing Own Our Magnificance

I find this next quote particularly beautiful. Nelson Mandela used it in his 1994 inaugural speech, so I feel it is particularly pertinent as I begin my third chapter on a post-apartheid production of The Tempest.

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 frightens us most. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?" 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 people won't feel insecure around you. 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 all of us. And when 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.

~Maryanne Williamson

image from www.planandplant.com