Grace

Grace (grs)n.

1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

3. A sense of fitness or propriety.

This week I was reminded of something. I was reminded of a choice we all have. About how we choose to carry ourselves from day to day. Our lives are hectic. Some say that we as a species are subjected to a historically unprecedented level of stress. I don't know if that's true, but I can say speaking strictly for myself it seems like things never stop. There are getting to be fewer and fewer opportunities to sit down and decompress. These days it seems that if I stop moving for too long... I just fall asleep. Those of you with children will understand.

Through all of this chaos (organized or otherwise) we still have some choices as to how we decide to live. Recently it's occurred to me that the only good choice, barring the ability to remove the stress, is to go through it all with a certain measure of grace. We can choose to walk effortlessly through our daily struggles letting the difficulties wash over you as water to a duck's back OR we can choose to let these adversities crash against us as though we were rocks on the ocean shore. While the latter may sound like a position of strength and endurance you have to remember where all that sand on the beach came from to begin with. It seems to me that moving with grace is the only logical choice.

People have been encouraged to forget this option. It doesn't sell. But when I look at the individuals I've admired in my life I think that one of the things that they all have in common is that, to me at least, they moved forward with a certain grace. It used to be the order of the day. Glamorous movie stars living so effortlessly. Heads of state with honor and strength. I know... I know. The past is largely an illusion created from memories of real events airbrushed by a sense of nostalgia, but I can't think of too many people that routinely make the headlines these days that I can say, "Yes, I want to be like that". I think they're out there. I think people prefer to see the Trainwreck. It's easier to look down on others and demean than to look up and aspire. Maybe it's also easier to stomp your feet and act like a child that it is to make the effort and inspire.

As for me: I've made my decision. I can act like a child. I can be a stressed-out trainwreck. I can be unorganized and confused. I can suffer the slings and arrows... I'm going to try to keep that on the inside for a while.
For the time being I'm going to try to walk with a little Grace.


Cheers,

R