Shine as Brightly as You Can: You're Meant To

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. -- Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

I love that quote.  I see it a lot, and I think it's worth plastering everywhere as a reminder to ourselves: we are meant to shine as brightly as we can.  The passage that follows that quote in Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love is brilliant and beautiful.  I'll let her words speak:

"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 doesn't serve the world.  There's 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 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're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Shine on you crazy diamond, shine on.