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 frightens us most.
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 all of us.
And when 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, American author and lecturer
On Reiki
"In all things remember that the hallmark of the Reiki system is that Reiki is Simple. That is what makes it great. It is the acknowledgement that we are limited and finite, but the source and creator is infinite. When our egos are in check and we let the universal love of the creator flow through us, wondrous things can happen. And you don't need angels, crystal talismans, crystal grids, channeled histories, psychic surgeries, and other complications to make it work, you just need to place your hands on someone, feel the love of Reiki, and let it flow. The rest will take care of itself." --Vincent Amador
On Violence
"In violence, we forget who we are." -- Mary McCarthy
Andrew Schneider describes violence as an issue of power. People become violent when they feel powerless. Violence is used as an inappropriate way of attempting to re-establish one’s own sense of power over whatever or whomever is perceived as a threat.
The antidote to violence in ourselves and in society is empowerment. We need to empower people to live out their best without fear. When people feel strong and able within themselves, they do not see themselves as potential victims. They do not have to struggle against others in order to feel secure. The curriculum for empowerment is learning and loving.
On perfectionism
"We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others, but we cannot accept and love ourselves. The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that idea. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves the way we are, and why we don't accept others the way they are." --Don Miguel Ruiz
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life...” -- Anne Lamott
“Perfection leaves so little room for improvement. So little space for acceptance -- or joy. ...Start thinking of yourself as an artist and your life as a work-in-progress. Works-in-progress are never perfect. But changes can be made...Art evolves. So does life. Art is never stagnant. Neither is life. The beautiful, authentic life you are creating for yourself is your art. It's the highest art.”-- Sarah Ban Breathnach
On self-honesty
"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
"You cannot fake a relationship and feel right with yourself or anyone else. Changing yourself to fit what you think other people want doesn’t work. Pretending to be someone other than yourself only broadens the distance between the person you are and the one with whom you’re trying to establish closeness." -- Mary Manin Morrissey
"Just as surely as distress must follow self-deceit, healing must follow self-honesty." -- Vernon Howard
"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got." -- Janis Joplin
On Self Transformation
"In the end, when all the strategies to resist life fall away, what else could remain but a human being? It is deeply saddening to me that much of human endeavor, whether called spiritual or scientific, is unconsciously an effort to escape from human life, to try to live in some fantasy world of spiritual salvation or technological security. Rather than some imagined immunity magically granted by contact with the transcendental, the dance of awakening invites us more fully into life and into conscious responsibility. To be an enlightened person is to be a human being. Yet self transformation is rarely seen in this way because most people are using spirituality and their intellects as the means of escaping the pain and struggle of life, as a way of avoiding relationship to real humanness." -- Richard Moss, author and speaker