Calling on G.R.A.C.E.
Note: a version of this article also appears in the Fall 2021 Worthy Now Newsletter
I am often asked by folks who don’t have a belief structure how they can “connect” or reflect on their own growth. In response, I often recommend a modified version of the G.R.A.C.E. model, developed by Roshi Joan Halifax, as an ideal method. This can be done by anyone, and even better, requires only your own mind.
Here’s an outline of the model: G.R.A.C.E.
- Gathering attention: focus, grounding, balance
- Recalling intention: the resource of motivation
- Attuning to self: What is helping or blocking your work
- Considering: what will serve
- Engaging: ethical enactment, then ending
- Gather your attention: In this step, you take the time to ready yourself to do your work. You might pause, do breathing exercises, do sit-ups, or simply sit in silence: you need to know what you need to do. Invite yourself to be present, and use this moment of gathering to interrupt your assumptions and expectations. Allow yourself to relax and be ready.
- Recall your intention: Remember what you want your life to be about, and then set your intentions. Will you act with integrity and respect yourself? Will you open your heart and mind to the world of growth? This step can happen in a moment, or take a little time. Your motivation keeps you on track and connected to your highest values.
- Attune by first checking in with yourself: Notice what’s going on in your own mind and body. Don’t judge yourself: who you are is more than enough. This is an active process of inquiry. Open a space in which the encounter, questions, or time of reflection can unfold.
- Consider what will really serve by being truly present letting insights arise: As you deeply consider or reflect, this is the time when you let the insights… simply unfold or rise up. Then ask yourself: what will really serve here? Does it serve me only now, or will it serve me as I grow? Does this protect me? Does this keep me from becoming a better me? This is the time to let go of what does not serve you. These steps are hard, and if it hurts, step back and consider that it might not be the time to work on that feeling or item.
- Engage, enact ethically. Then end the interaction:
Part 1: Engage and enact. Thinking of the previous step, hold on to what will serve you. What emerges is love and compassion for yourself, while offering a sustainable process. Create practical and actionable plans. These plans may not always be realized; but perhaps the goal is to simply see, and acknowledge, what can and can’t be, with only love and compassion in your heart.
Part 2: End the interaction. Explicitly recognize when the encounter is over so that you can move cleanly to the next thing in your life. This recognition can be marked by attention to your out-breath, or simply coming back to your time and place. Acknowledge what transpired without being pulled back into the thoughts. Even if you feel you didn’t progress very far, acknowledge that you did the work. This is the time to honor the work you are doing.
- Calling on G.R.A.C.E. - October 1, 2021
