what they say

our deeped fear is not that we are inadequare
our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

it is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us
we ask ourselves:
who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
actually, who are you not to be?
your playing small doesn't serve the world.
there is nothing enlightened about shrinking,
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

we were born to make manifest the glory that is within us.
it is 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 were liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

there is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to
find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

(Quoted in Nelson Mandela's inauguration speech, 1993)