Pressing Pause for Poetry: Marianne Williamson

Watercolor painting by Allen Song, via allensong.blogspot.com

After hearing this poem read aloud multiple times--and loving it every single time--I figured it was finally time to include it in a PPFP post :) I most recently heard this poem on the last day of TT1 (read by Kimberly Wilson, of course, who shares it often!) and was once again moved by it's words. It was written by Marianne Williamson, but somehow Nelson Mandela is often given credit for it (inaccurately), so you may have heard it attributed to either. My favorite line of the entire poem?

"Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?"

Love it...so true! Read the entire poem below:


Our Deepest Fear

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's 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're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.


So let your light shine today (but not *too* brightly for those of you out there--ahem, Ben--who are at an all-day bachelor party...;) and remember...

Who are you not to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous??"

Namaste!
Mary Catherine

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