I’m not very good at correcting people. I have moved closer toward being able to show people mistakes they have made and explain the significance of those mistakes and suggest a better course of action.  This mostly becomes necessary with respect to the people who work for me.

I have developed a supervisory style over the years that could best be described as erratic.  I give heaps of praise one day, and slash-and-burn condemnation the next.  I’ve been asking myself, “How’s that working for you?” And the answer inevitably came:  “Not so much.”

Now I create the entire speech in my head and have to deliver it without ceasing.  I’m a great lawyer, a loyal friend, a reasonably competent parent but a lousy boss.  I praise and instruct but I also snap and snarl.  With the preset speech, I avoid the temptation of harsh tones or sarcastic rhetoric.  So far, I have to get the whole speech out.  If I’m interrupted, I get sidetracked and regress to my old ways.

My new-found desire to emphasize acknowledging the essential value of everyone before suggesting changes in behavior tenuously balances with the practicalities of running a law firm. I’m not sure what “grace” really means, but I use it to describe both the attitude which I desire to adopt in inter-personal communication and the inspiration for that attitude.  In finding grace, in speaking from that place where grace dwells, I’m learning that I don’t need to complain to get my point across.  I need only explain, and appeal to the other person’s essential desire to succeed, and to the pool of grace within them.

Sitting on my porch this morning, I felt this state of grace rise within me, filling  me with peace and possibility.  I took this picture at the exact moment that the breeze rose through the windchimes and bells on our porch.  The gentle melody flowed around me, and I closed my eyes, surrendering to the beauty within me and around me.