Grace. 

• Courteous goodwill
• An attractively polite manner of behaving
• The condition or fact of being favored by someone
• Do honor or credit (to someone or something) by one’s presence
• A mystical substance

Many years ago I knew an elderly woman who was always kind, soft, and easy to be around. People talked about her and how she always handled everything and everyone with “such grace.” I was in such awe of her that I, too, wanted to be described as “having grace”,  but then I learned that grace isn’t something you have, it’s something you are part of.

I thought grace was something I could create in my life, something that I could develop around me. I did not realize that grace was something that was already there, and I needed to “plug into” and allow myself to become part of it. With this understanding, there was no excuse for not having grace. I could not say “It’s not part of me”, or “I am not like that”, because grace is always there. Grace is a constant that everyone has access to. Some of the best lessons I have found on grace come from author, Caroline Myss.

“Grace comes in many expressions. It intervenes in raging arguments, calming your anger so that you do not say what you can never take back. Grace whispers thoughts of hope in desperate times, giving you the stamina to hold on through the storms of life. And grace delivers inspiration, awakening creative resources deep within your being. The power of grace is endless, silent, and powerful.”

In several lessons on grace, Caroline explains that it is not an “obvious force.” She explains it as a “silent breeze that enters into your essence, often to protect you from doing harm to yourself. Grace does not protect you from the consequences of your negative or foolish choices; rather, it seeks to prevent you from making those choices in the first place.”

You cannot teach yourself about grace, you must relax into it. There aren’t specific exercises that you can do to strengthen grace in you, you must surrender to it, and allow yourself to be part of grace. That doesn’t sound easy, does it? Sounds kind of ethereal, right? Well, in a way, it is! Grace is an energy that surrounds us. It is always there for us to become part of. Grace is in your life at all times, it is there for you to accept and feel. You don’t bring grace to you, you bring yourself to grace.

If you want to feel grace, it is easy to do –  just go near someone, don’t touch them, but get close and feel the warmth coming from them – that is grace. That warmth you feel – that is you touching their field of grace, their divinity. By touching someone else’s grace, it will become real for you, you will understand and feel it. Go ahead – try it! Feel the grace of someone – it will change you if you let it.

While grace happens in our lives, such as when things fall into place and plans become reality, or when a mistake becomes righted and it works in your favor, grace is really about loving yourself and others. It is accepting yourself and others, and being connected to others, to love, to compassion, and to grace itself. See yourself and others as being full of grace, and that will become your reality. Focus on the grace that surrounds you by appreciating it, being thankful for what you have and who you are. The more you focus on grace, the more you will enter into grace.

So, if you truly want to find grace in your life, follow the advice or Caroline Myss:

“Just let go. Let go of how you thought your life should be, and embrace the life that is trying to work its way into your consciousness.”

Grace is surrounding you right now – what will you do with it?