July 5, 2024

By Darren Starwynn, O.M.D., Quantum Catalyst

Grace is the sweetener of life. At this time when so many of us are stressed in so many ways grace is a most welcome breeze wafting through your experience.

While grace has many definitions these from Merriam-Webster dictionary say it well:

1. Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration
2. A virtue coming from God
3. Disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency
4. A temporary exemption : REPRIEVE

What these all point at are blessings you don’t have to work hard for. I highlighted the words describing this aspect of grace.

We can say that grace is a force in the Universe that reminds me of the Get Out of Jail Free card from the Monopoly board game I used to spend countless hours playing in my youth. It gives you more good than you deserve based on your own actions or karma, or what you believe you deserve, and it gives you less bad than you would ordinarily get. So it’s a kind of amnesty offered by heaven.

A simple example of grace was a hike I took with my partner. We were in Fairfax, California where the early summer temperatures had been in the 90’s and up to 100 midday. We really wanted to take a hike on Sunday, and didn’t get mobilized until early afternoon. When we went outdoors to see how hot it was we were surprised to feel a cool breeze blowing. We got to have a vigorous hike in the mountains with delightfully cool weather the whole time. Yet on Monday the temperatures soared way up again. That was grace.

Grace may come when you’re flustered and going through challenging experiences, and someone is unexpectedly kind to you. Or you find the exact information you need at the right moment. Or someone inspires or helps you out in some vital way. That’s grace.

Grace can also show up as just the right idea arising in your mind at the perfect time. You’re struggling with something, worrying and feeling stuck. Then a very clear thought pops into your mind and you think “Oh – that’s how I can do this.” I’ve experienced that when I get clear about something I’ve previously seen as a problem, the solution is right there. Once I changed my thinking, Bingo – there was the solution.

When I look back on my life I can say that that’s been true for me 100% of the time. The times when my problems appeared to get worse was when I wasn’t allowing myself to get clear. I wasn’t really listening for the “small still voice” within. Instead I was spinning the wheels in my head, going deeper into the doo-doo (which is when I try to “do” lots of things instead of stopping and getting clear.)

I like to offer practical solutions, so here are some principles for finding grace in your life.

First of all, any seeming LACK of grace is from over-focus in your mind. It’s from energizing fear, doubt and negativity with your precious power of attention. It’s important to know that most of the fear, doubt and negativity you experience isn’t even yours! It’s something you’ve probably picked up from others. When you’re having those downer experiences you’re probably tuning into the shared pain body of the human race that can also be called the dark dream of our society.

Here’s a useful image to get this point across. Imagine you’re in a room in which hundreds of cream pies are flying through the air in every direction, all over the place. If you stand up the pies are going to hit you and you’ll look like a mess, with cream covering your face and dripping down all over your nice clothes. But if you keep your head down you remain below the level of those flying pies, and can stay clean and clear as you walk through that room.

It’s something like that. You can say that the shared consciousness of our society is like the room with the gross pies flying everywhere. Standing up in that room is like being focused in your own lower mind, which is being manipulated by others. It may seem like it’s so hard to get out of that focus, but it just takes believing you can.

Your greatest blessings are your attention (consciousness), your love and your breath. Breath is one of the greatest graces there is.  You’re alive and breathing. In that breath you can attune yourself to the radiance, this beautiful feeling of Presence of your true, divine self.

Now it will likely take some practice, and it won’t seem easy at first, but that’s just because you’re listening to thoughts telling you it’s not easy. Not because it really is difficult.

Here are a few simple ways to put yourself in a clear state where you can more easily find the grace in your life:

1. Put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, slightly behind your two front upper teeth. Do this as often as you can – whenever you’re not talking, eating or kissing. This is the Master Hookup practice, and it instantly calms and grounds you.
2. While doing the Master Hookup breathe in a complete way. Breathe deeply into your lower abdomen first, secondarily allowing your breath to fill your chest. Then breathe out in reverse, emptying your chest first and then your lower abdomen.
3. Practice embodiment. Make the statement “I now call all of my energy that I’ve projected outwards onto other people and situations back into my own body.” Say it with calm authority and it instantly happens. Feel the greater sense of aliveness in your body.
4. Ground to the Earth – after calling your energy back in your body imagine that some of it is moving down to connect with the Earth below you. Open to the grounding, calming influence of this practice.
5. Choose Love. From this greater embodied state simply intend to experience love in your heart. You can, it just takes a conscious choice. If you have a dog, cat or young child think of them. Your children and pets are there to help you experience unconditional love.
6. Take a few moments to be grateful. There are ALWAYS things to be grateful for – even on your alleged “bad days”. Just like attuning to loving presence, it takes a conscious choice to shift your attention from problem consciousness to the graces and blessings already in your life. What you focus on expands.
7. Make a clear intention to find the grace in your life. Make a clear declaration like this: “It is my intention open my heart and mind to see the grace and miracles in my life today. I am willing to choose thoughts of appreciation and gratitude today.”

It takes steady, patient effort to train a dog, help toilet train your toddler or learn a new professional skill. In the same way you need to train your own mind to let go of low-vibrational thoughts of fear, doubt and worry. It is well worth the effort. You’ll be able to experience more of heaven on Earth and influence others to do so. Now that’s graceful!