* GRACE *

Our Deepest Fear Revisited

We have been working on goal and affirmation statements of late and have had a fair amount of inspiration from this gem from Marianne Williamson’s poem:

“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 we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t 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 when 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.”

My husband had rewritten the above poem to make it in the first person with many “I” statements to personalize it. We read it for months. It was working for a while, but it seemed to have a sneaky undermining issue. As we repeated it over and over to ourselves, it reinforced that we were afraid of our own greatness and genius. Using this poem as a spring board, my husband and I rewrote it for our own purposes. Here is our new affirmation statement:

I am powerful beyond measure.
It is God’s light that empowers me.
I am a Child of God and a portion of that light is within me.
I am healthy, brilliant, gorgeous, talented, wealthy, generous, and fabulous.
My playing large is the best way to serve the world.
I shine, as children of God naturally and gracefully do.
I manifest the Glory of God that is within me and I see the Glory of God in everyone.
I let my own light shine and empower others to do the same.
Because I am liberated by knowing who I am, my presence automatically liberates others.

Brandi Palmer

Update 08.01.2011: I have included an audio file here if you would like to listen to it daily.  I’d love to hear your results in using it.