Loving Yourself

Another assignment (Week 1 Day 4) for the class through the TravelinOma blog.

Loving yourself.

“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.”

– Marianne Williamson*

The assignments for today caused me some minor discomfort. The two assignments I did were 1) to list 25 of your unique abilities and qualities, and 2) to list 10 things you love about your body. I found that I could comfortably and quickly come up with seven items for the first list and five for the second, and then I struggled. Why is it that we have such a hard time seeing ourselves as others do and as God does? This is a new goal for me. I have tried hard to see others in that way, but have not done as good of a job trying to see myself that way. Writing them down and stretching to complete the lists has helped and I hope to refer to these lists more often when I struggle to see as much value in myself.

*This quote has often been attributed to Nelson Mandela, but it is my understanding that it is actually by Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love