Have you ever asked yourself consciously the questions if and to which degree you really live your unique, inherent power? Where are you acting far behind your potential and talents, because you don’t dare? To live our grandeur and power is oftentimes our biggest fear. The text Marianne Williamson writes in her book "A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles", and which has also been quoted by Nelson Mandela during his inauguration speech 1994, brings it to the point:
"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? (…)
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. (…) As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
The fear that keeps you from being powerful might be the fear that others could have a problem when you bring your power and talents into the world. It could be the fear of being regarded as crazy or strange, or being seen as competitor and being antagonized, ignored or excluded. No matter how you would describe the fear, as soon as you track the fear to its origin it is in the end the fear of death. Being excluded or ignored can feel as if a part of you was dying. Therefore it is useful to change perspectives with regard to fear if you want to bring your power and brilliance into the world. Let’s do a little experiment.
Experiment 1: What does fear mean for you?
Before you can change perspectives with regard to fear, it is useful to first of all get clarity about what definition of fear you carry inside. If you were asked to complete the sentence „Fear is…“, how would it end? Porbably you have the connected definition of “Fear is…“
- dangerous
- uncomfortable
- to be avoided
- terror
- panic
- blocking / paralyzing
- not goal oriented
- unprofessional
- weak, etc.
Write down the definition you have of fear. Having such a definition is not surprising, because we don’t learn anything about fear or feelings in general. Instead we are raised in modern society with the attitude that fear – just as any other feeling – is not okay and to be avoided in any case.
However, to bring your talent, your brilliance, your light into the world, it is essential that you get familiar with fear and learn to use it as valuable source of information and energy. To be able to use fear responsibly in your life, it is therefore necessary in a first step to change the former definition.
Experiment 2: A new definition of fear
In order to bring you inherent power and brilliance into the world you need a new perspective on fear that is both neutral and powerful at the same time. What would such a new definition be like? Maybe sentences now come up in your mind like „Fear is positive“ or „Fear is useful“ or „Fear is not dangerous“. The crux with these kinds of sentences – just like with the old sentences – is that you link a judgment that is in the long run not very helpful. While with the old sentences the overall definition of fear was “fear is bad”, the overall definition with the new sentences just mentioned would be “fear is good”. However, it is not about good or bad, right or wrong. It is about fear being a neutral energy and information that serves you. Therefore, consider the following new and neutral definition:
Fear is Fear!
Let this sink in: Fear is fear. Just this. Fear is neither dangerous, nor blocking or panicking. Fear is fear. A completely neutral definition. It is not a mistake that we have this feeling. It is not a design error of the universe. Instead, it leads us through life and we need it. Fear is fear! Let this new definition sink into each of your cells. This definition actually allows you to consciously feel fear in your life and use it.
With this new definition fear can serve you as neutral energy and information. If the feeling of fear is now available to you as neutral energy and information, what can you actually do with it? Well, you could:
- be present and awake
- be creative
- go into unknown territories
- start new projects
- stand in not knowing
- start moving before you know how
- improvise
- set free unforseen powers
- decide for a new direction although everybody else around you is still doing the usual thing
- etc.
Yes, it can be frightening to live your full power and start inspiring projects and do seemingly impossible things. The feeling of fear is essential the one all big pioneers, researchers, rule breakers, pirates, magicians and evolutionaries have used. They used it to go into unknown territory and do things nobody else had done before. They had the courage to go new ways and use the fear as neutral energy and information source that guides them.
Also the other feelings such as anger, sadness and joy are absolutely necessary to bring your brilliance into the world. However, today the question is whether you are willing to take on a new perspective on fear and use your fear responsibly to do the first step without knowing how.
In the current, fast changing times, in which mother Earth is threatened, we don’t need people that are successful in the old sense. Instead we need people who are ready to bring their talents, grandeur, power, brilliance and light into the world. Or, like the Dalai Lama puts it:
„The planet does no longer need successful people. The planet urgently needs peacemakers, healers, renewers, story tellers and lovers of all kind. It needs people with moral courage, ready to take a stand and take action for making the world human and worth living. These qualities have little to do with the kind of success that is wide spread in our cultures.“
Each of us is needed in their full power and grandeur. You are needed! And if anybody has a problem with you being powerful, whose problem actually is it? Correct, it is the problem of the other person. So let them have their problem. It is about you shining. Are you ready to live this?
Warm, shining greetings
Nicola Nagel
P. S. You can learn and experience inspiring skills for unfolding your power and grandeur and bring them into the world into the so called Expand The Box Trainings and Possibility Laboratories. A real adventure! You find more about that at www.viva-essenza.com