Many years ago, I was watching a Brazilian movie and heard a quote which I tried to find the author for years. Some time later, I started to observe a few posts around the internet with that same phrase, with credits to Nelson Mandela, very likely because he has a very famous speech called “Our deepest fear”…
After a quick research, I managed to reach a page of a woman called Marianne Williamson and to my surprise, I found the whole poem.
It was love at first sight!
He is the poem:
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.
