who are you not to be?

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 is 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 are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson

I know we've all read it a million times, but it's probably worth reading a million more. 

And I've always liked the first part of this so much. Who are we not to be all these wonderful things? Fabulous, talented, gorgeous, "you are a child of God" -- and that always resonated with me because I've always believed that. It was just right. And every time I heard the words, "who are you not to be?" I thought the same thing: Right. Who am I not to be? But that's usually where I ended. If I were to be honest, the second half of this never really made sense to me when I was younger. I never really read past those words, "you are a child of God," or at least not until recently. 

Maybe it was just getting older, or maybe it was just stepping more into "adulthood" over the last year than the years before, but I've noticed that it's sometimes easier to "shrink" for the sake of others than it is to really feel as good about yourself (and to do as much good) as you can. I can't put anything into words better than Marianne Williamson did, so I won't try. But I love this so much. And I love how much more it means to me now than it did before. So it's going on the fridge. front and center.