Crushin' on Mandela

Each person we meet, we meet for a reason. Everyone is sent to us to teach some sort of lesson. I believe in that very deeply, and do my best to sort out the lessons often packaged in heartache, frustration, and more importantly joy.

Today, I got to meet Tosca Reno. This woman is UNREAL. She is by far my inspiration for eating clean (her books). After hearing her speak, it made me think of other inspirational people I have known or have come to know their words. It brought me to my Gramma Joan...

My Gramma Joan, who was an unbelievably amazing person, had a crush on Nelson Mandela. She was a peace activist for decades, and I know she loved him for a combination of his determination to create a better world and also for his charisma.

I found it very strange that roughly a year after her death, I was creeping around facebook when I came across a Madela quote. It was dark, but something about it spoke to me. It was two days later, when I discovered this person had taken just the first three lines of a quotation that will stay in my spirit for the rest of my life. I was laying out my mat for my very first hot yoga class, when I turned around to see a wall hanging with the entire quote written on it.

"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."
- Nelson Mandela

Every time I read this, something different stands out. Just as nutrition, exercise, and for me at this point, medication, helps you to become the exact person you are supposed to be, connection to a bigger being is just as important.

Bigger being doesn't always mean God, or the Universe or whatever you choose to call it. Bigger thinkers, bigger risk-takers, bigger lovers, bigger anything. When we choose to make a connection with something BIGGER than our immediate person, it nourishes us to become bigger too.




My Gramma Joan was a big person, in many ways. She always let her light shine, and I am trying my best to do the same.

Is it your own light you fear?