From the Brain of Dr. Nicki: Inspired Grace!

I’ve always loved the word Grace. It feels so…well….graceful. People with grace seem tireless. They radiate kindness, elegance, refinement, polish. I’ve never thought of myself that way. However I appear to you, inside I’ve always felt more like a street fighter. When I was an actress I never played the charming ingénue – always the Eve Arden gritty sidekick (look her up, you youngsters).

I’m not sure how grace got so quickly appropriated by religious organizations (especially Catholics and Protestants who tussle over it – which seems quite…anti-graceful). Sure we could arm-wrestle about what precisely grace means, but perhaps more important is what grace allows, because I think it’s a word and concept that can rightfully inspire us all.

Grace permits us the strength to endure the trials and tribulations that inevitably weave through every life. It allows us to become familiar with an extraordinary experience called Inner Harmony – a state of well-being that outdistances momentary chaos – that lets us, as they say, “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you!”

Now, right before you experience Grace you most likely find yourself in the presence of Awe – another beautiful word and concept. Awe can be seen as the astonishing, take-your-breath-away pause that refreshes.

Thus, the question, then, you want to start asking is: What in your life on a daily basis inspires awe? Your babies’ face? The rising sun? The way the rain makes things grow? The swelling of your heart in the face of promised love? A beautiful poem or dance or painting? Kindness unexpected and unrequested?

If these instances are indeed the very stuff of which awe-inspired grace is made, maybe we’re all closer to a gracious life than we’ve imagined or considered. Perhaps at any given time Grace is simply an enthused glance away. Now isn’t that a revolutionary thought!