A World of Possibility

As we embark on the journey of leading adaptive challenges, nothing is more critical than believing in ourselves and in others.  We must believe that we can build a better world; that deep within ourselves, we all share the same fundamental values (even though they are often expressed in many different and somewhat conflicting ways); that conflicts are expressions of deep fears and that when we address those fears, with love and compassion, we have the power to dissolve our misunderstandings; that each one of us go through life experiencing joy and pain and that those well-known and shared feelings can become the channels through which we can connect to one another.

As we believe, possibility becomes reality.

Let your own light shine…

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 doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love. (New York: HarperCollins, 1992).  Formatting has been changed.  Also cited in Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, The Art of Possibility. (Penguin Books, 2000).