“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 will not 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 is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and 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.”
This quote can be seen all over the Internet. It’s often placed in front of an image of beautiful scenery and shared on social media. The quote is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Peace Prize winning, former South African president. It actually comes from an entirely different source: Marianne Williamson.
Marianne Williamson is a spiritual teacher, author and lecturer who has released six New York Times Bestselling Books. She is now considered one of the most successful and well-respected spiritual educators in the world. Her book A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” has sold over 3 million copies and she has been featured on TV programs from The Oprah Winfrey Show to Real Time with Bill Maher. She has run for congress in California and has created Sister Giant—an organization that helps teach women skills to run for office based on spiritual values. On top of all this, she has also founded Project Angel Food—a meal delivery program for people struggling with AIDS.
As someone who has become successful on so many levels and who has become so influential in modern thought, she highlights several key ways mindfulness and spirituality are essential to success. Here are five of her deepest insights:
Success Starts In Your Head
Maybe it’s not surprising, but the correct frame of mind can help step up your performance. Like the above quote mentions—don’t be afraid to let yourself shine; don’t be afraid and hold back your greatness for the sake of others.
Another way to get the right mindset is through good-luck charms, rituals, and even superstitions. There is the tendency to believe that these are wastes of time or foolish placebos. However, there is research that shows these behaviors can improve your performance—and the more you believe in them, the better they work. Only now are some of us taking in the full implications of the placebo effect.
50 years ago research by Henry K. Beecher analyzed 26 studies involving placebos and concluded that they were helpful to about 32% of patients. Although this may not seem like much—it’s actually as effective as such commonly prescribed drugs like antidepressants and steroids.
Marianne Williamson had some interesting insights on this subject a few years ago:
“Today, at the end of the millennium, we are looking for the enchantment we threw away, many of us even suspecting that we cannot survive much longer without it. Told for centuries that enchanted power was merely the stuff of myth and fairy tales, now we are not so sure. Our strict adherence to rationalism has turned out to be less mental sophistication than collective gullibility, and we are ready to consider that what now passes for truth is in many ways fantasy, and what the world calls fantasy includes a lot of truth.”
As surprising as it may sound, re-enchanting your life with magic and mystery can improve your chances of success.
See Whatever You’re Doing As Means Of Serving The World
Another moving quote from Marianne Williamson is, “Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.”
We can all have the tendency to minimize and think that the things we’re doing are insignificant to a big, sometimes indifferent world. Also, people have an inclination to think of themselves before others. By stopping these thought patterns and focusing on the greater good for others, we create a mentality where we put forth our best and most meaningful work. Marianne Williamson had two key ideas on this topic:
- See whatever you’re doing as a means of serving the world.
- Never think you can separate who you are from what you’re doing. The end doesn’t justify the means. In the words of Gandhi, “The end is inherent in the means.”
We are our work, and our work should be for the benefit of others.
Do It Only If Your Heart Is In It
In a world where we are more distracted than ever, it’s hard to follow our heart’s true path. Marianne Williamson is quoted saying, “Only do what you feel called in your heart to do, and then give all of yourself to the task.”
Meditation can be a great way to listen to yourself and stay centered. And still, learning to say no can be more difficult than it sounds. However, saying yes to only what you want and then pursuing that relentlessly is an essential skill of successful people.
Taking on too much is just another form of procrastination. Saying yes to your hearts desires and pushing through can be an extremely challenging goal—but it’s one that’s necessary to reach.
Reduce Spiritual And Physical Clutter
This is closely connected to the previous point. And another powerful quote from Marianne Williamson is, “Love alone is the meaning of my life.” It’s not any more complicated than that.
We all overthink things from time to time. And it’s not difficult to let our mental and physical environments become cluttered with racing thoughts and items we don’t really need. Remember: it’s as important to simplify internally as well as externally.
According to Williamson, a powerful way to simplify a difficult situation is to decide: “I’m not here to get anything, or to meet any goal, other than to give love.” By doing so we are automatically empowered because it throws us into our excellence, our wisdom and our attractiveness. Love is the key to our power because it’s the truth of who we are.
Being Mindful Increases Resilience
Spirituality is the quest of the heart, the transformation of our mindset from that of constriction and fear to openness and love. Most people fall down at some point in life—the question is, who gets back on their feet?
According to Marianne Williamson, those who are most resilient embody three main factors:
- Faith and understanding that nature has a propensity toward repair, and that we can align our attitudes to foster that expression.
- Willingness to forgive those who might have caused us problems, so we don’t stay stuck in the past and can more easily move onto the next possibility.
- Willingness to own and to forgive ourselves for any part we played in creating our problems, so we can freely get about the work of creating a new condition.
The Bottom Line
There is no reason to hold back—especially for the sake of other people. Your rituals and belief systems create your reality—pay attention to your thought and belief patterns. Chose goals that aligns with your truth and pursue those goals with all your heart. Take care to keep your physical and mental space from becoming cluttered and over complicated. Understand that forgiveness and mindfulness are essential to becoming more resilient towards life’s challenges.
I believe that finances don’t have to be stressful and that solid financial strategy and mindfulness are the keys to successfully reaching your business goals. For more information visit www.thewealthyyogi.com
For more information visit www.thewealthyyogi.com
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About: Dr. Roshawnna Novellus, aka "The Wealthy Yogi" is a finance expert, author, investor, and yoga enthusiast on a mission to help people achieve their goals through wealth building, entrepreneurship, and staying balanced while juggling it all. You can learn 5 Ways to Multiply Wealth in 90 Days without Giving Up the Things you Love for free, and enter her contest to win a $50 Amazon Card.
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