To celebrate the launch of the brand new Tarot Elements category, Inspirations, I’m pleased to present the wonderful piece by Marianne Williamson from her book A Return To Love, entitled Our Deepest Fear.
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 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 is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give others permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
A Return To Love
I will be posting in this new category as often as I’m inspired. If you have a special piece of prose, perhaps a paragraph from a book, like this one, then please share it with your friends here. Visit the the Contributors post and submit your entry via the contact form.
We all need a little inspiration sometimes – you’d be surprised by where you can find it. Don’t keep yours to yourself, you never know who might need it.
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Those of you who have been following me on Twitter and Facebook, will know I have recently been talking about facing my fears. It’s funny because I don’t really know where my fears come from, just that they exist and I need to overcome them. This piece by Marianne Williamson has been an inspiration to me for a long time now and has helped me to do just that, many times.
I share it with you all today so that you can be inspired by it too, whatever your fears may be. Perhaps there is something you need to overcome; or you’re preparing for a big day that you’re nervous about. Whatever they are, take comfort from the fact that we all have fears, be that our light, or our dark. I fear my light, in being fabulous, hard to believe isn’t it?! And yet it’s true, but I am only human.
Sometimes just sharing your fears can help you to overcome them. They may have been your closest kept secret for years and in sharing them, you are going some way to releasing them.
Do you have a special way to deal with your fears? Do you give yourself a pep-talk before a big event? Do you, like me, make yourself do something that you’re afraid of, in an effort to help overcome your fear? Share them with your friends here at Tarot Elements, we’d love to hear your experiences too!
Hi Catherine:)
Thanks for posting this. It is one of my all time fave quotes. It is vital to our existence that we find ways to let go of fear as it only holds us back!
Hi Elaine,
Thank you for comment – and your words of wisdom. Fear is the devil no doubt! Overcoming it isn’t always easy, as I know from personal experience, but we always have to try. I’m currently reading Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, and it’s a really good read. Is there anything you do in particular to overcome fears you have Elaine?
Hi Catherine,
Congrats on the launching the new Tarot Elements category! I think this will be an excellent resource for an already awesome blog.
When I’m trapped by fear, the first thing I have to do is recognize it. When a decision is coming up, or I’m facing a problem, I list all my fears, the real and the somewhat absurd ones surrounding my problem. This gets them out of the dark corners. Just writing them down helps take some of their power away.
Next, I ask myself what’s the worst things that could happen if any of them came true. I call it “interrogating” my fears. Let’s say I have Fear X, I keep questioning, “what’s the worst thing that could happen if X happened?” Then, I take that answer from that (Y), and ask again, “Then what’s the worst thing that could happen if Y happened?” and when I finally end up with Z (and often it takes much more than 3 steps) “And if Z happened, then what would you do?”
Eventually, if you do this, you get to a place where the final answer is that you’ll survive, life will go on, and you’ll be okay. I love doing this, and I am working on a post to outline it. It’s amazing how much power our fears usurp from us when we don’t examine them, and how much bigger they grow as long as they get to hide away in those dark corners.
Anyway, thanks for writing this, for sharing, and for starting this new awesome category. I look forward to more!
Cheers,
Miche
Hi Miche,
Thank you for such a wonderful and rich comment!
This is excellent advice – rather like putting a spotlight on your fear and exposing it; turning the dark to light, so to speak.
I love your list writing too – being a list writer myself, this approach appeals to me! But ‘interrogating your fears’ is a great title, I hope it’s the title of your new post, so looking forward to reading that!
Have you ever read Face Your Fears and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers? She takes a similar approach when you’re faced with a choice that we use as an excuse not to progress in life. She says path A is great and so is path B – neither are right or wrong, or good or bad, they’re just a choice and we will be enriched by either one – it’s a win-win situation!
Once again, thank you for such a great comment, and for your kind words about my blog