Our deepest fear is not...

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, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people will not feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not in just some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically

liberates others.

from A RETURN TO LOVE
by Marianne Williamson
widely mis-attributed to Nelson Mandela,
who used it in his inaugural address.