Hihi SuperForest
SuperForester Aaron’s genius post of Jessica’s Daily Affirmation reminded me of a couple of things I read recently that struck me with a feeling of yes, that. that I’d like to share. First, this passage:
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 (although I understand it is often credited to Nelson Mandela) (from A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”)
I’m still trying to soak that up.
I hadn’t heard of Marianne Williamson before, but – according to her wiki – she is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance – a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace… peacebuilding and acknowledging our power – pretty SuperForesty, non?
The second thing that both Jessica and the quote above reminded me of was of some recent dialogue on a couple of feminist blogs [STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING ON LINKS] – starting with Sady Doyle of Tigerbeatdown.com and considered thereafter by Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose. The subject arose from some response to a (thankfully unSuperForesty) trolling commenter and led to Sady asserting, no holds barred, “I am Sady f***king Doyle” … so far, so… arrogant? self-aggrandizing? But here’s some explanation:
“Because I’m a woman, and I have accordingly been taught my entire life to view myself as lesser-than, to devalue my own accomplishments, to accept it when other people treat me as lesser-than and devalue me, which they (if they are men, especially) have been taught to do. And I refuse. I say no.”
Very lady-specific in the context in which it was raised. But - as per the Marianne Williamson quote – I think there’s maybe something powerful in there for all of us. Something that maybe, sometimes, is easy to forget. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about taking responsibility for my actions – and how important taking responsibility for your environment (in whatever context) is an important step in enabling yourself to caretake it or change it for the better. But if you feel that you are (or habitually express yourself to be) unpowerful, then how can I really take responsibility, how can I really feel or be capable of making changes?
And a positive aspect of the discourse was highlighted to me by reading the comment chain on Kate Harding’s posts [LANGUAGE WARNING AGAIN - I know! Why don't we pick an alternate emphatic adjective of our choice and substitute that for the f-word? Okay, I'ma go with... SUPERFORESTY] – I spent an uplifting time reading people recognizing and articulating, often for the first time, just what made them awesome. And the kicker? This comment, waaaay down the chain:
“You know what else is a collective super power? We can all be f***king awesome without having to prove that we are more f***king awesome than each other.”
Yes, that. SuperForest – awesomeness begets awesomeness and, full circle back to the first quote, liberation from our own fear liberates others.
Don’t play small SuperForest, for we, yes we are all [SUPERFORESTY] awesome. Let’s play BIG. Let’s own our awesomeness and recognize the power and responsibility that entails. And then? Then the future is [SUPERFORESTING] bright.
Love!
P
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