We are all meant to shine

I have throughout my life, struggled with self-esteem. As I small child I was quite shy and reclusive. I had very severe eczema, head to toe, so looked and felt awful for a good 8 years or so, from about 6 years old. When I hit my teenage years, the eczema started to improve and I did everything I could to make up for lost time and the consequences were sometimes quite shocking. I am and always have been drawn to extremes.

My upbringing was wonderful, but praise was never commonplace, so much so that an unfounded seed of insecurity was planted and took hold. There was always someone better, brighter, prettier, more intelligent, and more talented.

Now lots of people who know me well will be raising their eyebrows and rolling their eyes. How is she describing herself as shy or insecure? But we are all very adept at only showing people what we want them to see.

Anyway, a dear friend and mentor of mine recently mentioned the following passage. It is commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela's 1994 Inaugural Address but actually comes from the book 'A Return To Love' (1992) by Marianne Williamson, an American spiritual teacher, author and lecturer.

It is a beautiful passage and makes me feel empowered in a really humble way, if that makes sense. It is quite religious, but I don’t think that you need to be to take in the sentiment. You may know it already but I wanted to share it with you, because sometimes reiteration is a lovely thing: "...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, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

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.

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."

Being thankful

It is very fitting to have this start my blog, week one. I am so excited to be doing this, and appreciating whatever life gives me and being grateful is really important to me.I have posted this prayer/poem a number of times on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I always come back to it. I found it quite some time ago trawling on the Internet, looking for inspiration.

It is something that has a wonderfully positive effect on me. It calms me, focuses me and reminds me of what is important.

I am very good at whipping myself into a frenzy; I’d like to be more present than I am sometimes.

My brain has this crazy scatter gun approach to a thousand things at once; it’s compulsive and non-stop. Sometimes for creativity this works really well, but it never allows me to be still. And often, I crave the clarity of stillness.

That’s when stopping, reading something beautiful and, in this case saying thank you, can be quite powerful. I feel like there is a lovely energy that washes over me… I really hope that doesn't sound pretentious.

Anyway, I wanted to post this for you – one of my favourite Gratitude prayers/poems: 

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,

if you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes

they will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary

because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfilment comes to those who are

also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles

and they can become your blessings.

~ Author Unknown ~