How to Walk in Grace and Gratitude
What walking in grace and gratitude can look like for you? Grace and gratitude, what does that mean to you? Most of us are familiar with gratitude. It's the state of being grateful. Being grateful for everything and everyone and every experience in your life that has brought you to this moment. It could be the practice of just being present and grateful for this moment and being in a place of non judgment, acceptance, witnessing, non attachment to the gratitude for how it feels in your body.
Gratitude is not outside of you. You are gratitude. Let me provide an example for you. I want to invite you to just envision something that you're so grateful for at this moment. It could be a loved one. Maybe it's a child or a grandchild. Maybe it's healthy food. Maybe it's your partner, your spouse, your husband or wife. Maybe it's your job that gives you financial support. Maybe it's the beach. Maybe it's chocolate cake, your glass of wine, whatever it is, your pet. I want you to visualize this person, place, or thing that brings you so much joy that you are grateful for. Take in all the details. Take in that person, place, or thing. Take in. Notice the color, the smell, the surroundings, and connect with that gratitude in your heart for whatever it is that you're grateful for. It could be an activity. It could be a piece of jewelry, surfing, running, biking. I really want you to allow yourself to feel the expansiveness of this experience that you're so grateful for. This person. Notice everything about it. Immerse yourself in this experience. Notice how you feel. Where do you feel the gratitude in your body? Where do you feel that gratitude? Is it in your heart? In your belly? Do you feel a sense of relief all the way down to your toes? Or do you feel a lighthearted joy in your heart? Where do you feel this gratitude?
I really want to invite you to anchor it into the body. Notice how it feels in your body. For some of us, gratitude is exciting, and for others, it's peaceful. What is the experience for you? Take a deep breath, allowing yourself to fully receive this experience of gratitude, noticing how it feels and where it is in your body.
Now that you've dropped into your body, I want to invite you to consider that this person, place, or thing that has reflected gratitude back to you is reflecting the gratitude within you. So if the gratitude is within you, you are gratitude. As long as you are willing to connect with the gratitude that is in you, you are gratitude. You are thankful. You are that energy already. So often we forget and we seek for it outside of ourselves. But the truth is, we can't create or share something or see something that's not within us.
Own that you already are grateful and maybe become just a little bit curious about why you've forgotten that that's what you are. Maybe why you play small, or you allow the stresses of the day to shadow this gratitude. And that you can come back to this feeling of gratitude in your body anytime because it's there. You just felt it. It's part of who you are. So gratitude is a feeling. It's a state of presence. It's a state of being. It's not an action. It's not outside of you. It's already you. And this applies to everything in life. We are not separate. We are not separate from the things that we think are filling us up. We are those things. We are all of it. We are happiness and joy, and we are also sorrow and anger. And it is okay.
Anchor into that gratitude. If you're in a place where you can write it down, I want to invite you to write it down where you feel it, what the experience is and what it feels like. Know that you can come back to this anytime. I challenge you and encourage you to connect with this sensation daily for at least seven days. And if seven feels good, go 21. And if 21 feels good, go 30.
Now a practice in gratitude that I love and have done over the years and led many women through in circles. It's a part of what we do together is journaling. But it's a different type of journaling. It's not the type of journaling where you just list things that you're grateful for. It's more intentional than that. What does it mean to you to be grateful for this particular thing, not just listing out the ten things that you're grateful for in the day? That's easy. I'm inviting you to go a little bit deeper and really get clear on the why. Why is it important to you? Why are you grateful for it? What does it mean about you? What is it showing you? Because this is your life. It's unique to you. Not everybody's grateful for that glass of wine at the end of work. Not everybody's grateful for their partner that they're in union with in marriage. Not everybody's grateful for their health in the way that you are. So it's unique to you. You get to celebrate. It's a way to celebrate what you're grateful for.
Go deeper, not surface, not surface gratitude. Feeling it, experiencing it, embodying it and being it and living it. This is my invitation. And so take a deep breath and maybe just for this moment, be willing to explore this new idea of gratitude and give yourself gratitude for your willingness to listen, your willingness to try, your willingness to experience.
What is grace? Grace and gratitude? Walking in grace and gratitude. How do we live a life where we walk in grace and gratitude?
Grace is a couple of things. It's another word for God that has a little bit more of a feminine energy, a little bit more of an energy of surrender. It's a way that we show up. It's presence, all knowing, sovereign, free, nurturing, loving, acceptance and trust. It's a word that has been very present in my vocabulary.
The word grace is the invitation to walk through life softly knowing, but also with a sense of ownership and sovereignty, which require some fierceness. It's not like we say, okay, we just roll over and just surrender to everything. We're not willing to be part of spiritual bypassing, but we know we're sovereign in our knowing with nothing to prove. We walk with dignity and integrity and also the willingness to admit when we're wrong. Take self responsibility, radical self responsibility and ownership when we're wrong. That's grace. It's in the surrender. That serenity prayer.
Grace is an energy in our willingness to be in union with our life in the present moment and all that is with our creator, with this present moment, with our soul, with our heart, with our body. That's what grace is. Acceptance without judgment, without any type of even discernment, because it's pure acceptance. It's courage without projection. Courage is in.
All of these things are in.They're an inner state of being. And because we're human, we make mistakes, we project our shortcomings on other people. We avoid difficult situations because we're hurt, we're angry. Sometimes we have. It's more important for us to be right than it is to be happy. Has that ever happened to you?
Grace would be rewriting all of those. The willingness to be peaceful, the willingness to wish peace upon others, the willingness to surrender to, and I don't mean give up your freedom and your rights, but I mean surrender to the acceptance internally with this present moment. I am not saying we spiritually bypass. We don't stand up for what we believe in, we don't stand up for ourselves. But it's that wisdom to know the difference.
A true way to get there is to know your triggers, to be aware of your activations, to know yourself, to be so aware of your patterns and conditioning. Your human patterns and conditioning that have been a part of your life story. To be so aware that it's, you're witnessing. You're witnessing all of the experiences without attachment and at the beginning and the end of every day, surrendering everything to grace, to God, to your life, because there's no guarantee for the next day. The only truth you ever have is this moment right here. Everything you know today could change tomorrow.
Grace is the willingness to wake up every day with the intention to live in alignment with your truth. The truth that you feel that you embody. To live with intention and purpose. To know that your entire experience is so much bigger than you. It's all of us. We're all connected. And at the beginning and end of every day, laying it before God and surrendering and just asking, show me the way. Show me the people who can help me. If this is how I'm meant to be, if this is who I'm meant to be, if this is how I'm supposed to live. Whether you're struggling with whatever you're struggling with, a relationship with a friend, a partner, a child, addiction, food, illness. There's so many things that many of us are struggling with. Nobody gets through this experience without painful experiences. We all have them. It's part of the human experience. So it's the willingness to surrender to the idea that all of that is part of who you are. And you get up every day and you ask yourself, how do I want to show up today? And if there's something that you want from me in my life, God, then show me the way. Show me the people who are going to support me. This is uncomfortable. I don't like this. And I'm willing to be in this experience rather than resisting it. I'm willing to be present to the experience fully. I'm asking for help. Show me the way. I lay everything down before you in total surrender.
If you want to actively participate, maybe you consider a morning routine, meditation or movement connecting with nature in an evening of gratitude and grace. The more that you do this, the more you become it. And it just becomes so much less work. It is no longer separate from you. You just become that. You don't have to think about it or schedule it because you live in alignment with your values. You live in alignment with your truth. And it's no longer something that you have to do anymore just to stay peaceful in your life because you already are peace.
You begin to realize that all of these things that you think you had to do to be somebody you actually already are. But the idea that you didn't see it in yourself created separation. And separation feels like suffering. So coming back every day and surrendering to the idea that you are everything that you are meant to be, and you are exactly where you're meant o be. It can be uncomfortable sometimes, and it can be painful. Sometimes it feels like when it happens, it happens. Like when it rains, it pours.
And if you're a person who feels that way, spend some time with yourself, journaling about it. Seek some support. Seek a community. So that's one possibility. Or maybe that doesn't resonate for you. You're looking for some in person support or experience, connect with your friends, connect with your loved ones, and then ultimately give yourself space and time for meditation and prayer. Because you're never alone. Never. Even if you can't find the people in your life physically, you're never alone. Always supported and held and loved as a child of God. Always. When you know this truth, when you know it, not just believe it, but when you know it, you have all the strength you need every day.
P.S.
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Jen Mons is an author, speaker, mentor and coach for high achieving purpose driven ready to shift the paradigm of feminine leadership and redefine excellence and wealth through 5 Element Wellth, Prosperity, Journaling and Soul Wisdom Imprinting.
