FROM THE CEO RANCHELLE IN THE RAW

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, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

I love this quote. It is something that I reflect upon more than once a year.

As I was reflecting upon what I wanted to share in this month’s magazine, I started to think about what quotes I love and why.

This quote immediately came to mind, so I printed it out and reflected upon it for a few days.

This time, I felt differently about it. Here are my thoughts:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE”

When I first read this quote so many years ago, I remember thinking: “YAH! That’s it!” It’s not that I feel inadequate but rather that I am fearful of being powerful beyond measure. Today as I reflect upon that, I know that is not true for me. My deepest fear has always been that I am not enough, that I am not lovable enough, pretty enough, smart enough…

As I write this article, I am just starting to realize how POWERFUL I am. How powerful we all are. As I start to tap into this power, I have a feeling of peace wash over me as I realize that regardless of what is in store for me, I will continue to create peace, love, and joy in my life. I will continue to experience love, abundance and prosperity. My practice of living the Universal Laws has brought to be a peace that is beyond measure.

“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us”

My aha moment when reading this was the total TRUTH behind this statement for me. You see, I had suppressed my ‘dark side’ for so many years. So of course, it didn’t frighten me as I didn’t even acknowledge that it existed. However, as I embrace ALL of me - the squishy parts, the fabulous side, the dark side, the child in me, the manipulator in me, the chameleon, the rebel, the black sheep, the rescuer and the OH-SO-MANY-MORE of me, I realized I also suppressed my “light”. You see, how you do one thing, is how you do everything. My need for control, for people to like me, for people’s approval led me to the suppression of both sides.

“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. In December of last year I asked myself “what would my life be like if I let go and decided to live a LIMITLESS life?” This kind of life requires that I allow both sides, light and dark to come together. It also requires that I accept that I am a child of God and to take a real hard look at myself and ask why I continue to play small. The answers were gut wrenching. What if… what if I do this thing and it fails? What if… people don’t like me, approve of me, make fun of me?!

This is where my work continues. To love myself MORE THAN caring about other people’s opinions.

“There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

I have done this… shrink so that other people would love me, approve of me. Whenever I was told that I was ‘intimidating or intense’ I would do my best to shrink so that people would be okay with who I was.

I remember the week after my former husband and I separated and I was staring at him, wondering what the hell happened and I realized that I had ‘dimmed my light’ so that he would love me. I wanted him to love me so badly that I became not me, so he would be comfortable with himself. Perhaps you can relate? Who are you diminishing yourself for?

“We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.”

As I allowed these words to flow over me again, as I breathed deeply into them I was once again reminded that all of us have a purpose here on Earth and one of the reasons we don’t step INTO it is because we spend so much time comparing ourselves to others. Even when we start to explore our purpose we may think, I am not an Oprah, a Nelson Mandela, a Michelle Obama.. And we think that we need to stay small. Our purpose does not have to be a GRAND or GLOBAL purpose and when we compare ourselves to others’ we usually are on the losing end of the comparison. What would YOUR life be like if you just stepped into the glory of who you ARE, in this moment.

“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.”

Feel the significance of that? I did. If I allow myself to shine, at an unconscious level it allows others to show up in their light, in their brilliance. Although I don’t agree with that last sentence; I don’t think it automatically liberates others from their fears, what I would say is that it can lend courage to those who are ready to be liberated from their fears.

Let me end this article by asking you, what fears are holding you back? What would your life look like if you had the courage to be who you wanted to be? To do what you want?

Stay raw ladies. xo