The other day I was walking up the street to my car. I've walked this street a thousand times, as we often park there, right beside the little park affectionately known as Cat Poop Park.
I happened to look down as I walked and I noticed some words etched in the sidewalk: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. It is that we are powerful beyond measure."
If you're like me, you've heard this quote many times in your life. (It is attributed to either Marianne Williamson or Nelson Mandela. Though I believe Marianne Williamson is actually the author of the quote).
When I glanced down and saw the quote, I nearly dismissed it. I've walked down that street so many times and not seen the words and now I've seen the words, but could readily dismiss them since they're so familiar. It is so easy to have that "been there; done that" feeling in life. But something made me stop and crouch down to really consider that message.
What I saw for myself was a renewed vision of what is possible for me. I saw that, in fact, there is a world a possibility and expansiveness and ideas inside of me that is much more terrifying at times than the fears I entertain. Just seeing the quote, as if for the very first time, shifted something inside of me. When I stood up, I was in a completely different space.
That whole episode took maybe a few minutes. As I got into the car to drive away, I had to think, when else in my life am I not seeing what is in front of me because I'm living from the place of thinking I know what I'm seeing?
Does that resonate at all? Did you see the quote and shrug your shoulders and dismiss it? What happens if you look again?