Rob Barber

Everybody has something to prove each year. Everybody has a responsibility in this game. Even the batboy.

Before opportunity crowns you with great success, it usually tests your mettle through adversity.

Adversity provides the resistance necessary to develop the strength to overcome great obstacles.

This strength consists of self-confidence, perseverance, and, very importantly, self-knowledge.

For if you do encounter a setback, it is a clue to a personal weakness.

You may have been hasty in judging a competitor, or you may have been too timid in your vision of what needed to be done.

Let adversity be your guide to understanding where you misstepped and which qualities you need to cultivate.

No one rejoices in disappointment, but if you are success-conscious, you can turn the situation into a chance for improving your character, an opportunity you otherwise would have missed.

by Marianne Williamson
from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

“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.”