Gracies Blog

They say to love your enemies, but no one tells you how to do it. It’s easy to think nice thoughts about difficult people when you’re alone, but how do you love the annoying work colleague, you know the one who’s like a shiver looking for a spine to run up. We’re supposed to find the best in people, but how do you do it? How do find the best in a person that even telemarketers hang up on? Sometimes you can remove difficult people from your life, and sometimes that’s exactly the right thing to do, BUT, on the other hand…… Sometimes you can’t. Sometimes they’re your boss in a job you need. Sometimes they’re a brother-in-law, family members and you don’t want to lose touch with your sister. Sometimes they’re an ex and you need to co parent. Sometimes they move in next door. Sometimes they’re on the other end of an important service call. You get the point. And in any case, can’t we do better than create a cocoon of people we like? As Socrates said in Peaceful Warrior, “Those who are ...

“When you’re depressed, nothing matters. When you’re sad, everything does.” ~  Gloria Steinem I guess its a fine line, because sadness doesn’t explain itself along the way. Its only after a bout of sadness, when the fog lifts, that you gain the perspective that everything matters. When you’re sad, you’re just sad. Maybe the distinction between depression and sadness is in the intensity and how long it lasts. You still function while you’re sad, go about your day as best you can. Sadness is a weight, but depression is crushing and paralyzing. Danielle Laporte put it like this, Sadness hurts but it signals that you are very, very much alive. Depression may be the cousin of sadness, sometimes the defended response to unyielding sadness, but it makes you feel anything but alive. It dulls, weighs, and messes with your memory of your true essential nature — which is that of joy. Its important to seek to understand the difference, because the cure is likely different.  Fo...

Life is divine chaos. Embrace it. Forgive yourself. Breathe. Enjoy the ride.  We all want to control our lives, to some extent, so that we can feel safe. Change often throws a wrench in that plan, hurling curve balls and body blows that mess with the order you crave.  Change can feel chaotic. Befriend chaos, and you will befriend change. Befriend change, and you will unlock the secret to a peaceful life.  The  first truth of change  is that it happens and we are always in the middle of it.   The   second truth of change   is to allow the future to emerge within, through and around you. The third truth of change is to embrace chaos. Buckle in, stay present, know who you are and get ready to grow. The difference between a deck of cards and an iPhone illustrates the possibilities of chaos. The deck of cards is shuffled and completely disordered, a prime example of chaos. The iPhone is a prime example of order, an amazing mac...