Grace.

By Lyndsay Laursen

What comes to mind when you think of "grace"? Is it different than what "graceful" brings up? Grace has been a theme that I have been exploring for a while. Initially I was focused on the idea of having grace for yourself as you move through your health journey, through finding what works and what doesn't for you in a given season. That generally requires the ability to be ok with it not looking like you thought, and being gentle with yourself instead of beating yourself up over it. Approaching yourself with this type of grace feels different than so much of how social media or pop culture have shown, and it changes how your body responds to all the things you're doing.

It starts out really practical- you eat the "bad" thing or the thing you were trying to avoid, and instead of the negative self talk that has previously been your response, now you choose to let go of the judgement and criticism. Instead, you choose to step back and observe. How did it feel in your body? Did that choice serve you and your goals? Did you enjoy it fully and find benefits that made it worth the choice for you? This observation allows you to choose more intentionally next time, whether it's food, a workout, drinking your water, avoiding alcohol, or any other new habit. Over time, leaning into grace for yourself naturally seems to having more grace for others, as well. At least in my experience for myself and the women I've worked with, once you start finding that grace, you experience how good it feels, and it wants to expand. Yes, you could choose to be mad at someone about the choice they made. But you could also choose to respond differently- maybe it doesn't really matter to your life, and you let it go completely, maybe you choose a curious conversation with the person, maybe you change how you show up in that situation. Not perfectly. Not out of avoidance or unhealthy boundaries. Simply because you realize that you can choose grace. Because it feels better for you.

As I have leaned more into this, imperfectly and often inconsistently, I'm also starting to notice those around me who seem to move through life gracefully. It has become a character trait I admire. If you have ever observed someone who feels "graceful", maybe you have also noticed how at ease you can feel in their presence. Not because they haven't dealt with difficulty, often they've survived immense challenges. Yet somehow they have allowed those to make them more genuine, more forgiving, more at ease with themselves and with life. Living in community is challenging. Relationships are inherently going to have points of friction and tension. Yet, if we could all find a little more grace, for ourselves and for others, move with a little more ease, and respond more intentionally, how different could that feel? This doesn't mean that we don't fight fiercely for the things that matter to us. It doesn't mean we don't hold strong, healthy boundaries. We may, in fact, have to do that even more. How different would if feel, though, if more of us could show up a little less reactive, and a little more at ease? What could a community meeting or discussion look like if you chose to show up more "gracefully"? Where to start? That's really up to you. Maybe this does not feel like where you're at at all, and that's ok. Maybe something in here calls to you. If so, find a piece where you want to start exploring. It could be as simple as choosing to notice it, watching for people who exhibit what looks like grace. Perhaps you choose to see what it felt like to be more gentle with yourself as you move through your own day, not avoiding accountability or enabling bad habits, but choosing awareness and grace when it doesn't go like you planned. That's what I've been thinking about. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.