Resiliency is at a premium these days. We talk a lot about resiliency in the clean energy industry, referring to the ability of the grid to support modern life even in the face of increasingly extreme weather events and unprecedented energy demand.
How does emotional, soul level resiliency apply to the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from life’s difficulties? Can the conscious practice of acknowledging grace help us with emotional vibrancy?
The Latin root of the word grace is related to grateful. Pleasing. Thankful. A spirit of honoring when life bestows moments of beauty, in movement, flow or an unexpected benefit. Honoring these moments, even looking for them, can help us build resiliency. A brief respite from the seemingly constant barrage of bad news and attack on that which we hold dear can buoy our spirits.
We need that buoyancy now. We need it to stay calm and focused on the outcomes we wish to experience. To provide as peaceful as possible an environment for pivot making in our professional and/or personal lives.
Blessings,
Glenna
Permission to De-silo Grace
How is it that we categorize grace?
In the boxes of our lives, we allow grace selectively. In some areas, we are more open to its greening. Its magic restorative power to speak to us in synchronicities and what we label as magic. In other areas, not so much. Typically, in the more structured or business spaces, we are not as inclined to permit an openness of heart and mind encouraging of grace’s entry.
For me, out in nature I am more readily inclined to see awe and grace. In the seeing is the allowing. In the spaciousness of heart is the possibility. My heart is open and my mind stilled when I’m walking at the beach near my current home in San Francisco. It can sometimes take a bit for me to release the cares of the day, but eventually I arrive at a place of openness to the grace and magic of the water, the sand, the dogs reveling in joy playing on the edge of the waves, the children in such unabridged joy and all that is the experience of the water meeting the land. I can enter into the playfulness and presence of Life, and in so doing co create an inner space for joy, a most fertile ground for grace to spring.
Other parts of my life are not as easy for me to entertain grace. Is it foolhardy to beg the grace question at work? No. I’ve seen it manifest in a room of intentionality as a transcendent idea springs forth and floats in the air between the participants. Breath was drawn in. The impact of the idea sinking in, stopping us in our tracks, and helping us to see an idea bigger than the sum of the contributory parts. It glistened there in the air, beckoning us to explore and dig deeper to uncover just how amazing an idea it was.
Yes, grace can make itself known at work. We must, however, create fertile soil for its blooming. Soil prep begins in our own being. It requires an openness to de-silo grace. To be willing to have it as a guest at the desk. Right there in our own hearts and minds first. To be willing to truly hear another and their idea. Call forth a space greater than the sum of its parts by honoring the unique gifts of each member of the team.
We will not always agree with each other, or how “things are run around here.” We can ask the question internally, in the recesses of our soul, what is my role here on a deeper level? What can I contribute to the whole? What is trying to emerge here in, through and as me? I can bless others even if I don’t understand their motivations. This does not mean enduring abuse or discrimination at work. For that we armor ourselves with knowledge, assistance and patience. The latter is to help us understand how our own beliefs are playing out in the field of work to assist our soul in its mission of healing.
Tending the inner garden of our heart, mind and soul invites us to see where the walls and silos stand against grace.
Internal questioning and discovery can help us navigate where we’ve put up barriers to joy. Over here is ok, for example, but I don’t expect to experience any magic in the part of my life over there. What would happen to our lives if we expected to see and experience the play of life upon itself through the language of grace everywhere? Even in the kitchen! The bathroom. The bedroom. The mirror. The garden and everywhere in the “outside” aspects of our lives.
Would we trounce through the adult details of our lives merrily without care? Could we tend to the details of “adulting” and responsibilities even while humming a tune of joy? With an inner smile, even in the face of discrimination and diminishment at work, knowing grace has a way of surfacing even when you least expect it?
We can be vigilant with wall watching. Ensuring belief system barriers are carefully deconstructed in the tending of grace in our lives. We can invite joy in. We can ask the question of how to see the iridescent language of Source in every area of our lives. Our soul knows the answers and will guide us with wisdom along a path of joy, where instances of grace bloom in the colors most cherished by our own hearts.
AFFIRMATION
My heart is open to grace. It flows in transcendent loveliness from my heart into every aspect of my being. Within the stillness of my soul, I am guided with compassion and care to recognize where I erect barriers to grace and how to lovingly let them go. I am grace. I am joy. I am inherently part of all Life. It moves through, in and as me, creating graced moments and memories in every part of my life now.
