What is The Grace Advantage?
Have you ever felt like you were under a microscope and every word you said, every gesture you made, every expression that crossed your face, was immediately jumped on, examined, judged and found wanting?
If so, then you’ve experience the exact OPPOSITE of The Grace Advantage. When you experience The Grace Advantage in your home or workplace, you are in a place of safety. A place where you can feel free to be yourself with out judgement, without negativity, without criticism. Sound good? Want to find out more? Read on dear reader, read on.
The Grace Advantage is really Foundational Communication Principles at work. I’ve chosen to spell out GRACE to explain it a little better.
The Grace Advantage means you choose to…
Be Generous. Generosity, according to my online dictionary, is a “readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected.” Can you be generous? First you must be generous with yourself, then with others.
Recognize Uniqueness. Reframe your view. From strange, different or wrong, to unique! Recognize the value in the person. Recognize the value in the situation. Recognize how powerful you can be as you reframe your vision.
Accept What Is. I “give up” trying to change others. I accept a given situation as reality, rather than pretending it’s something it’s not. I accept that the current reality, IS. When you accept, you release a TON of tension, and open the door to positive movement.
Communicate (Speak) the Truth in Love. I stop ignoring problems hoping they will just go away. I thoughtfully look for ways to communicate most effectively. I learn how to incorporate words that heal. I eliminate words that hurt and harm. Boy am I convicted by this! Last night, as my 10-year-old daughter got ready to go to bed, I reminded her, “Tomorrow morning you have to take a shower. You stink and your hair is disgusting”. Niiiice, Mama. (I say in full sarcasm mode…) Oh my, am I ever convicted. I would call this the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I should have said…Good thing I’m writing this blog post to remind myself of who I really want to be. That ugly, critical Mother is NOT it for sure!! Today, I will choose to speak words that help and encourage.
Expect the Best. I expect the best in people. I anticipate positive outcomes. I look for creative ways to turn negatives into positives. I ignore and avoid negative people and situations. Once again, there is tremendous power for you once you recognize that your outlook will affect the outcome.
This is just a quick overview of the Grace Advantage, but wouldn’t you love to live and work in this kind of an environment? Wouldn’t you love to BE this kind of person? Me too! I’m so excited to explore this more over the coming weeks.
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How can you add some GRACE to your daily activities? How do you fail? How do you win? Please share your stories below.