The Space of Grace
“This hurry and busyness are not your real Life.
Your real Life is in the spaces between all that.
It is here that you connect to what truly inspires you.”
It’s that time of year folks! Halloween has come and gone. Black Friday and the ultimate gift ads have begun to inundate our world. The holiday seasons of past and present are upon us.
This is the time of year when our good intentions often take a back seat to “showing up” as usual. We can react to seasonal triggers by behaving in our old familiar ways.
Unless of course, we consciously choose to have a different experience this year. That’s what I’ve decided to do and I hope you’ll join me.
Here are 3 practices that help me connect with inspiration during the chaotic holiday season and throughout the year.
1- “I have enough time. The truth is, I have enough time.”
When I begin to feel the pressure to hurry and that anxious energy brewing inside, I take a deep grounding breath and state the above out loud.
Affirming out loud I have enough time is especially helpful when I connect with myself in the mirror. When I get ready for an appointment or merge into heavy traffic, it just seems to flow more easily when I believe I have enough time.
Each of us have been given the same amount of time. It is our perception of it that determines our choices and the quality of our experience.
2- If my initial gut response to an invitation or a social opportunity is not an absolute Yes; then it’s a NO!
It’s lovely to be invited, to feel acknowledged, to be chosen. While that’s true, we often make choices to participate out of obligation, from a needy place, or out of habit. We continue to do what we’ve always done!
There’s nothing wrong with spending our time, attention, and energy engaged with others in festivities. Yet, it is essential to our well being to continuously check in for direction and discernment.
It’s amazing what our heart will tell us when we ask and then pause long enough to listen.
3- Make Gratitude your ultimate gift of the season.
When I have the pleasure to lead grace before Thanksgiving dinner,
one of my favorites comes from Melody Beattie:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of Life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and
creates a vision for tomorrow.”
PONDER THIS
How do you find Grace in the spaces of your Life?