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By Jerry Davis, CPA - I enjoy reading or listening to fiction books and watching movies. I find that the things I learn from these works of fiction are as good or better than what I read in the latest self-help or business advice books. I recently watched the movie "Akeelah and the Bee". It is about a young underprivileged girl who has the gift of spelling. Although she has this gift, she does not have the confidence to use it. Her spelling bee "coach" has her read the following poem that was reportedly used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inauguration Speech:
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? 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 about 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 are
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
When the coach asks her what the poem means her answer is "Do no be afraid of yourself". Those words struck a chord with me so I thought I would share them with my reading audience.
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