Hello Dear Reader,
It is 7:30 a.m. as I sit down to write to you.
I have returned home to attend a short course, known as a refresher course, which is required for assistant professors in India.
If you’re not aware, I work as an assistant professor of sociology, teaching at a college in Kolkata.
So I am home with my mother, two dogs and my two cats.
My mother is doing an online yoga class right now with our neighbour, my dogs are sleeping, and my cats are busy hunting birds.
I am sitting on the porch as I write to you, and it’s a pleasant monsoon day. It is monsoon season here in India, and it has been raining every day.
I was wondering what I should write about today, but I always let it unfold as I sit before a blank page.
A line that comes to me today is – Quiet Acts of Grace.
Something about this word, Grace, has always stuck with me.
‘Grace’ is also the name I have given to my diary since I started journaling back in 2016, and whenever I write in my diary/journal, I address it as ‘Dear Grace’.
I gave a name to my diary after reading Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, where I liked the fact that she wrote her diary entries to Dear Kitty.
Anyway, coming back to the word grace, I think that if there’s any word I would like to embody, it would be this.
I would want for myself to be more graceful, not just in mind but also in body.
If you ask me what grace means to me and how we can embody it in our daily life, here are all the ways that come to my mind:
Quiet Acts of Grace
Table of Contents
- Being mindful of your movement and moving gracefully.
I had written a post about this earlier on the Power of Graceful movement in life on wellbeing.
We often hear about how the mind affects the body, but not enough is said about the reverse — how the body also equally affects the mind.
At work and also elsewhere, I see many people in a constant state of rush with their bodies and speech. They are always hurrying, worrying, panicking and bracing for something. This they most often do without even realising it.
This also happens many times to all of us, but at that moment, if we come back to mindfulness of the body, then we can observe ourselves, pause and let ourselves relax, soften our breath and let our body and speech become calm.
I have noticed many times that when you are calm in the body, your mind automatically follows the same.
Being mindful of how we move, speak, and hold ourselves is not just about “looking composed”. It is a practice in self-regulation.
Precisely, it is also a way of saying:
“I refuse to be ruled by urgency. I choose presence and calm instead.”
- Not rushing with your morning chores but easing into things.
P.S. How to have slow, unhurried mornings.
- Moving from room to room gently after waking up.
- Folding clothes mindfully.
- Washing the dishes gently.
- Picking up and keeping things gently.
The way we handle objects says lot about the energy we carry.
When we are gentle with our everyday objects, we invite mindfulness and presence into the smallest moments of our day. We can shift from rushing and carelessness to intention and awareness.
So some small, quiet acts of grace would be to:
– Picking up your cup slowly.
– Placing your books down with care.
– Serving food on the table as if it matters — because it does.
- Throwing away things gently.
For example, usually after I have my evening tea at a tea stall, I would throw away the tea cup from a distance without a thought, but in trying to be graceful, I become mindful of how I throw away that tea cup and gently throw it in the trash bin from a near distance.
- Leaving things as you found them.
Whether it’s someone’s kitchen, bathroom, room, table, or space, treat it with quiet care.
If you can’t leave it better, at least leave it as you found it. This also applies to your room.
P.S How I always keep my room clean and tidy
- Keeping a small smile on your lips from time to time whenever you find yourself alone.
I find it amazing how something as simple as a gentle curve of the lips can automatically shift our whole inner state and make us feel a soft inner calm and peace rise from within.
I put on a small smile when I am on a rickshaw ride to my college every morning. My little ritual is I plug in my earphones and listen to music even on my 5-6 minute way to college, and remember to smile as I begin my work day.
I also do intentional smiling in my last minutes of meditation and yoga. Sometimes I do forget to smile, but whenever I remember, I always feel so nice.
You can try it too. When you’re walking alone. Sitting at your desk. Washing dishes. Or even while taking a deep breath.
- Speaking unhurriedly.
This is something I long to grow better at.
I’ve seen people who speak slowly and gracefully — their words come out with ease, their tone is soft, and their presence feels calming. There’s often a gentle smile on their face, and I find myself in awe of that kind of unhurried presence.
I, too, want to be like that.
To not rush through my words.
To let my sentences have breath.
To speak in a way that brings calm to others and myself.
- Walking mindfully and slowly as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.
We might not always remember to do this, but you can try by practising mindful walking for 10 minutes a day, maybe inside your house or around the neighbourhood.
I try to walk mindfully whenever I get up from the classroom after teaching and come back to the staffroom.
Many times I forget and walk swiftly and mindlessly, but whenever I remember to become mindful of my walking, my energy automatically shifts, and I am more graceful in how I take each step and with it automatically become more relaxed and at ease even by my walking.
This makes me think how wonderful it would be if we all practised it as many times in a day and made it into a culture of everyday gracefulness.
- Choosing not to complain.
Complaining is an energy sucking activity. It shows that in that moment, you are not grateful, and when you are not grateful, you cannot be graceful.
Many people are always picking up the faults in things and are quick to point out what is not good.
By doing so, they might feel superior for a while, but such a habit will make that person always remain miserable, no matter which situation they are in.
Of course, you can complain where you have the right to voice your concern, but many of us are also in the habit of complaining simply out of habit.
Nothing can satisfy them.
They will complain about any food they get.
They will complain about the rain when it’s sunny and complain about the sun when it’s raining.
-Practice gracefulness by being grateful for what is given.
-Eat what is offered without judgment and with gratitude.
-Wait in line without fussing.
-Give grace to other people’s behaviour, even if it bothers you for a short time.
-Be graceful when certain plans change and try to be flexible.
-Let it rain. Let the weather just be.
These are all quiet acts of grace.
Other quiet acts of grace
- Accepting failures and endings as a part of life.
- Allowing yourself to make mistakes and learn.
- Allowing others also to make mistakes because they too, are learning and in the process of life.
- Responding instead of reacting.
- Giving your loved one understanding that you would normally turn it into a big thing.
- Giving yourself the same love and understanding that you so freely give to others.
- Not being mean to someone on the internet. I don’t know how people do it.
- Taking the time to leave a kind comment or email.
- Doing things without the need to receive accolades.
- Noticing your judgments of others and yourself.
- Not trying to prove anything to others.
- Breathing gently
- Put your moisturiser gently and unhurriedly.
- Watering plants gently and mindfully.
- Holding back a complaint
- Switching off lights where someone had left them open without a fuss.
- Picking up litter you saw.
- Giving yourself spaciousness and rest instead of always being hurried and busy.
- Doing yoga not as a series of just movements, but as a series of gentle, graceful, mindful movements.
- Letting go of things that you can’t control
So these are all the things that come to my mind when I think of quiet acts of grace.
I realise that grace, mindfulness, and slowness are inclusive of each other.
They inter-are, as Thich Nhat Hanh would say.
Without mindfulness, we cannot practice gracefulness.
Without gracefulness, we cannot truly enjoy the gifts of slowness.
And without slowness, we miss the chance to even notice grace at all.
Lastly, I want to say that it’s not about asking for perfection in our practice of grace.
I don’t know if I will ever be polished in gracefulness.
But this is not about being perfect. It’s not about mastering all of this in one day, or even one lifetime.
It is called a practice for a reason. Because we forget. We rush. We react. We fail.
But then, we remember.
And remembering we forgot is mindfulness, too.
When we remember that we forgot is when we remember to practice.
Without that, no one would ever be a master in anything.
To remember that we forgot is to return.
So even if you keep forgetting, I hope you also keep remembering and keep coming back- to grace, mindfulness and unhurried living. Because that’s where real joy is.
P.S This was a part from my Mindful Monday Newsletter. To receive my newsletter directly to your inbox, subscribe below. It would be wonderful to have you ❤️
Journal Prompt of the Week
“Where in my life am I being invited to slow down, soften, or be more present?”
Take a moment to explore:
- What moments in your day tend to feel rushed or reactive?
- How does your body feel when you’re moving mindfully vs. when you’re in a hurry?
- Have you noticed any small acts of grace from yourself or others this week? (Feel free to answer by replying to this email)
Blog Post of the Week
Quote of the Week
One from Others
Why indeed must “God” be a noun?
Why not a verb… the most active
and dynamic of all?
— Mary Daly, Theologian
One from me
Allow yourself to surrender. This does not mean to give up, but rather it means to let go. To surrender means to trust. If we truly surrender, there will be no anxiety, no worry, no panic. We are only anxious because we fail to surrender. Surrender and let go of all the things you think should be, should have been, supposed to and all else. Live like a river, not a rock. Where are you not trusting? Where do you need to surrender? Surrender. Everything happens at its best time. Trust the timing of the Universe.
You are always taken care of
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