As part of my personal and professional development I’m training to become a professional coach. In the training we have been talking about fear and the incredible power it holds over us. Part of the conversation about fear it that most of us fear success beyond measure, because for most of us the unknown of success is just as scary as the known feeling of failure. I know I fear success, what my life would actually be like if all that I’m working toward manifests. Sometimes I fear it just as much as I fear the idea that my life stays the same. There is so much power in fear; I wonder what it would be like to be able to transfer the power from fear to possibility. A dear friend of mine who is in the training with me dug up a quote from Nelson Mandela about fear that speaks to that very point.
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?”
Who are you not to be?
You are a child of the universe.
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 born to make manifest
The Glory in the Universe
that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us;
it is in everyone.
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.
--Nelson Mandela – 1994 Inaugural Speech
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