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 and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened
about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
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.
 

A Return to Love, Harper Collins 1993, Read by Nelson Mandela in his Inauguration Speech, May 1994