Own up to the Greatness Inside of You! Part 2

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…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…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

A friend of mine brought up a good point about my last blog on our unlimited potential for greatness.  He asked if in our world today if it was even possible to live up to our true capacity or potential.  He made the point that our society has somehow come to believe that being great ourselves will somehow take away from others, and so therefore none of us should strive for it.  He alluded that it has almost become completely unacceptable to be better than others or strive for greatness. 

I think my friend presents an excellent question and unfortunately I believe much of what he says is true.  So many in our society and in the media today seem to exist only to tear others down.  Rather than contribute or build something themselves they standby ready to denounce anyone who stands for anything.  In many instances they act as if no one is allowed to try anything different and the moment you do, you open yourself up to the possibility of being publicly scorned. 

Regardless of what the media portrays or our society believes however, truth is truth.  And the truth is when we expand our personal greatness, push ourselves to be our absolute best, and shoot for the stars, we help others around us to do the same.  Increasing our personal greatness increases the greatness of those around us.  So rather than take away from others, the opposite is true.  When we strive to maximize our potential we add to others all around us.

Taking it easy, playing small, and doing what everyone else does never has really helped anyone to reach their best selves.  We need to believe that our potential and the potential of others is unlimited and that by pushing ourselves to be our best, to add to and change the world for good, we are helping others regardless of what the critics around us may say.  Part of the greatness inside of us is that we have the capacity to embrace and stand for truth.   

So, to answer my friend’s question, yes I think it is possible though it may not be a smooth road.  In actuality it most likely will require us to travel down bumpy paths with many obstacles trying to knock us off course or convince us to stop the journey.  If we are persistent however, I know we will be glad we made the trip. 

At the end of the day, because we are told we can’t do great things, most of us limit ourselves and we don’t really try.  But we shouldn’t hold back or give in.  Instead we should reject the “pundits” and be true to ourselves.  We should work to change the mindset in our society by owning up to the greatness inside each of us!  Because when we do, we not only help ourselves, but we build, support, and help others to do the same.