All Days » Day 35
A day of GRACE.  When you hear the word "elegance" what comes up for you?  For me, the movies Casablanca, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Out of Africa stir up images of elegance and grace.  And keeping with that theme,  the movie stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep also come to mind.  Elegance exudes a specific style of dress and decor and demeanor.   The popular soap opera, Mad Men, also has these qualities of elegance and grace woven into the storyline.  Elegance has a formal tone to it that is also intriguing and inviting.  There is a beauty and charm to elegance.   There is a timelessness to elegance.  
There are many ways to feel and express elegance.  What is elegance to you?  What does GRACE mean for you? Share your ideas in the Facebook Group.  Let's practice it today!

Here are your 3 gems :
1.  Practice more silence and less talk.  Smile and listen.  Notice what happens.  As much as you can today, reduce the need to respond and just feel and look and listen.  It is a powerful practice of grace and encourages understanding.  
2.  Have a difficult conversation with somebody that you've been desiring in your heart to resolve.  Elegance and grace is practiced in communication, both non-verbal as in gem 1 and in verbal expression.  When we cheat ourselves of having the hard conversation with someone, grace and acceptance becomes hidden.  Rise to the occasion of elegance and follow these steps to creating an authentic communication that is filled with beauty and love:

Picture
  • Get permission from the person to whom you wish to speak.  "Is this a good time to speak with you about something on my heart?"
  • Explain the situation from an objective perspective but using the personal pronouns of "I" and "me".
  • Explain your intention in having the conversation.
  • Apologize for your role in the situation.  Be accountable for your actions, feelings.  Be vulnerable! 
  • Ask them for their perspective of what happened.  This opens up to hearing and understanding and accepting in a very big way.
  • Describe any lingering concerns that you may have from your side.  And be okay with these concerns NOT being resolved in this moment.  Just express them.
  • Decide on what you want to honor for yourself and for the other person. 
What happens now?  Feel the shift in the relationship and feel the shift in your divine power to harness grace and be elegant.

3.  The thing about all those movies I mentioned is that there is a common element of vulnerability that is expressed in the characters that carries over into elegance and grace.  Here is a Ted Talk by Brene Brown on the power of being vulnerable.   Let me know what you think.
Bonus:

Wear clothes that embody elegance and grace for you today.  Is it a bow tie or a special dress?  Take a picture of your ELEGANCE and post it in the Facebook Group.

~ big big shizzling hug to You!

xo
Stephanie
P.S.  You're a super star and I see your elegance and grace! 
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