Akeelah: [quoting Marianne Williamson]
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
I love that quote from the movie Akeelah and the Bee!
When we limit ourselves we somehow limit others too? That is an interesting concept. How much do we question ourselves about our worthiness—probably often every day? As humans we tend to be very hard on ourselves. We also have a bad habit of not letting go of pain, wrong doing, and those slights which seem to hurt forever. Suddenly we see we have a choice.
Choice is a marvelous thing. We really can choose to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, or fabulous. There will be those who may disagree and of course they will but they cannot take your brilliance. They can pretend to ignore that talent. They can even become filled with envy but it does not lessen your shine unless you allow it to.
I find it easy to look at others and see all those wonderful attributes. There are two sorts of people. People who choose to see the best in everyone around them, and those who choose to see the worst. Perhaps people who are miserable see only a reflection. It is something which boggles my mind. Why would anyone choose to see only the worst, expect the worst, and then feel the worst? I spend a lot of time trying to see the best, hoping, and even nurturing others in hopes to help them see the best.
As a writer, I am an observer and an annotation maker. It means I look all around and often marvel at what so many miss and then try to unveil the brilliance they secretly hide. My stories and goofy articles are my attempts to perhaps help others see inside what they often overlook. It could be emotions, memories, or times in your life long forgotten. Our memories frame us, are part of us, and sometimes color the view we see of ourselves.
There are times when I am not particularly brilliant; in fact, I can be downright dull. We really are far harder on ourselves than we should be. We see our imperfections and magnify them, ultimately deciding that we are inadequate. Moving forward while looking backward probably gets us nowhere, and gives us tons of bruises from running into things. Painful life lessons?
Life is so short. I can’t bear to watch it in slow motion. Doesn’t seem that when things go awry that they move in slow motion? I have a theory about that. I believe our minds slow it down in the hope that we are taking notes so we don’t repeat those same mistakes. The pain is often exquisitely slow and then meticulously mean to underline those very important notes we should be taking.
How often in life do we choose to focus only on the pain and ignore the brilliance? We can’t allow the pain to blind us. Choosing to revel in the light and brilliance is such a better choice.
Shake off those naysayers and start to ignore those whispers of discontent. They aren’t yours unless you decide to own that pain. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and choose to let go of the darkness. It will flow from you to escape the light. Exhale.... Let that breath go and send that pain and darkness from you.
To quote yet again:
“We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”
