Our deepest fear

We all have flaws we like to hide from others.

Shameful little secrets or just embarrassing mistakes.

We can learn to share some of them in a way that brings value to others.

I think this is what embracing vulnerability is about.

Some others we’d better keep to ourselves as there is little value in overshare.

Above all the stories we share and the ways in which we need to show up circle back to Courage and Fear.

There is so much value in showing up a certain way (vulnerable, in love, flawed) even though we are scared to death.

Tracey Clark, by Andrea Scher

There is a way in which bravely unveiling ourselves calls others to the same.

To stand up tall and say: This is me. I am flawed. I am imperfect. I am enough. And I love who I am.

Yet I wonder.

What if it was our strength and not our weakness that was our most well-guarded secret?

Once I learnt to own my weakness, powerlessness and vulnerability,

I realized it wasn’t so much about said weakness, powerlessness and vulnerability.

But about taming the gremlins that whisper enticing lies of unworthiness and failure.

Now they pull they same strings of fear and shame to avoid me from playing BIG, from owning my Anger, from showing up in my Strength.

Which makes me think that more than showing up a certain way or another.

It’s about going beyond what frightens us most, be it our strength or our weakness.

Kelly Rae and Brene Brown, by Andrea Scher

It’s about being someone you never thought you could be.

I’ve been struggling to understand this quote from Marianne Williamson (that Nelson Mandela has quoted 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. 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.”

I think I’m  starting to get it.