Yesterday I wrote about flipping procrastination and fear into growth.
This reminded me of probably my favourite quote of all time. Given how many quotes I love, the fact that this one stands above all others says a lot to and about me.
“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. 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. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights 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
Your playing small does not serve the world…
We are all meant to shine…
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others…
In my writing on Open Leadership in the “Unthinkable” series, the first element of the model is to “Let Go” of our fears. Only when we know ourselves can we let go, to “release our fears”.
Let us always look at ourselves and recognise where we are playing small, letting our fears entrap and enslave us.
Driving cars and fear
Recently I had an experience of the power of owning and releasing fears.
I’d received a police notice saying I’d been caught by a traffic camera running a red light. Instead of a fine and “points” on my licence, I was offered the opportunity to attend a course on road safety and then there would be no conviction of points recorded.
At 8am on a Saturday morning twenty of us in similar situations showed up for a three hour course. Challenging gig for the instructors, given that nobody wanted to be there !
They did a great job, such that, at the end of the course, they had connected us to the recognition that we all have drivers (forgive the pun!) inside us that can lead to us driving a car unsafely. As we all looked at this in the workshop, the most common theme was.. Fear.
Fear of being late for work. Fear or not looking a certain way to our peers. Fear of what would happen if we don’t take that phone call, etc
It was impressive to see the police choosing, rather than to assess penalty fines and other disciplinary measures, to offer a course where we could learn and look at our fears and, one would hope, be more focussed and safer drivers in future.
“As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”
Something to consider next time you are driving and choose to feel frustrated, irritated etc. Choosing again is always an option.