There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living – Nelson Mandela.
A dear friend of mine shared this extremely inspiring quote with me. And talk about the perfect time! It resonated with me in so many ways.
You see… not that long ago I discovered that I have a fear of success, yes. I am scared of my own power.
Now I know … that everything I want (and everything you want) is on the other side of fear. Because you simply cannot have courage if you have no experience of fear.
And crossing the line from one to the other is simply a matter of deciding that you want something more than you are afraid of it.
Often you only know you’re truly ready for success when you’re no longer scared of failure. Only then you are ready to speak your truth and stand in your power.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us …
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
And the thing about that is, that whatever we reject from our ‘self’ comes back to us in our world as an event or situation. Why? So, we can learn from it. Some of us see the lesson the first time, others take numerous times and we’re each on our own personal journey so it is not a competition. The important thing to remember is that we don’t become enlightened by imagining light around us. We become enlightened by looking at our dark side. Unless you learn to face your own shadows, you will continue to see them in others, because the world outside of you is only a reflection of the world inside you.
When you know your worth, no one can make you feel useless. Today is your time, and not another minute because tomorrow may be a missed opportunity.
I am the captain of my soul …
I like to plan, reflect, and feel optimistic about my future, yet … we keep getting in our way, over and over again. And the worst part is that we do this unconsciously and then wonder ‘why’ we are not where we envisioned we’d be or doing what we want to be doing.
Why do we put it off? Why do we wait? Why not take action in the present moment?
When you have this burning desire, that is stronger than words, take it while you have it and make the most of it because it may never come again. Once time is lost, it’s gone! Time is one of those things that you cannot regain.
We say life is so precious and yet we all have a tendency to dwell in the past, thinking about what we ‘should’ have done differently to achieve our aspirations … or we stop ourselves shining too bright because we aren’t sure how to harness our own power. We don’t know what to do with our own power, or our light, or what others may think of us or say about us.
I am no expert. I don’t know the key to success, but I know this, the key to failure is you trying to please everybody. You trying to be someone else. Whatever you are, be a good one at that! Success is like your own shadow. If you try to catch it, you will never succeed. Ignore it and it will follow.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. Insecure people try to make you feel smaller.
If you ever find yourself the victim of other people’s smallness or insecurity, rise above and know we are all ‘one’, we are all here to learn our lessons and the moment we look at one another as one, there is no such thing as a victim, or wishing you were someone else who is more blessed than you because we are all blessed in different ways.
We are all brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous at something. We all have our own superpower. As Juliet Marillier puts it nicely – brilliant minds make errors, brave souls falter, kind hearts leave scars. We are none of us perfect, but we’re all perfectly human.
Let your light shine …
As we liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. When we become fully aware of who we really are, we bare a light that forces darkness to disappear and if you want to give light to others, you have to glow yourself first.
We all have our own unique inner light, a special glow that no-one else has, that’s what makes us different enlightened beings. You may think your light is small, but it can make a huge difference in other people’s lives. The world is a better place when we each manifest who we are. Let your inner light shine so brightly that others can see their way out of the dark.
Be your divine self, it is your light that lights the world.
(This blog was inspired by the wisdom of Nelson Mandela – Thank you!)
