Celebrating your talents

I don't know about you, but I have grown up thinking that one should not be boastful. Tonight, for example, I nodded my head in agreement when, driving home, I read the licence plate of the car in front of me. It said: "B Humble." Was it speaking to me? That's something I believe in.

But others argue that being humble can also be a limiting thing. It may be better to reach higher. They argue that to deny ourselves the natural power within us is not a positive thing. We should instead celebrate it.

Marianne Williamson, author of A Return To Love, writes about this concept. In that book, she says:

"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, talent, 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 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're liberated for our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Food for thought. I think it makes sense, as long as that light doesn't transform itself into arrogance.

Notes:

1. Photo of the lamp is courtesy of Wong Mei Teng, a photographer in Malaysia, who made her photo available at http://www.sxc.hu/.

2. Marianne Williamson's web site is here.

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