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WELCOME to My First Blog Post ~

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Being Present to What Is:

Life is right here, right now, not in the past, not in regret. I imagine you have heard many times about the value of living in the present moment. It is in fact a basic teaching found in all major world religions! Over many decades, I have learned the profound difference between knowing this in my mind and actually living it. It is as different as describing how to eat an apple versus biting into one and experiencing the crisp, juicy texture while some of the sweet, tasty liquid overflows down your chin.

I have come to call this ability the art of ease and grace. The heart of the art of ease and grace is being present to what is.  

• For example: When you walk on the beach or down the street, are you thinking about what you will have for dinner or a conversation you had yesterday? Or, are you paying attention to the beauty around you as you are walking?

In applying this idea to various challenges in life, I realized that this art has three keys: vision, vibration and grace. My overall intention, in this and future blogs, is to explore these keys to living a life of greater ease and grace, in service to you on your spiritual journey. 

I am grateful to live in a place of predominant Peace and Presence. Only because of the amazing support of so many along the way, both formal and informal guides and teachers, am I where I am today. It is truly my deepest pleasure to pay it forward and support you along your way. 

Let’s start with a very recent experience during which I released the heaviness of an old regret that surfaced in my sleep. I share three simple steps for you to play with in your life to do the same. 

The Gift of Distraction:

“Ohhh, I see now I should have done that.” I chided myself as soon as I woke up. “It would be really nice to be the author of several children’s books.”  

“That was forty years ago, Carol!” I, or rather a deeper, wiser part of me, countered in my own mind. 

 “Still, I wish I had done it,” my current regretful-self continued, even as my inner, wiser self knew I had within me the tools to release the regret that had surfaced in my sleep. 

I took a deep breath, rose up out of bed and let myself begin to feel the pain of an old regret from the past. Greeting me outside the kitchen window was a full, bright, beautiful rainbow. Immediately, my Spirit lifted. I grabbed my phone, tapped out of airplane mode and prepared to take a picture.  

Alas, there was a text from someone I had promised to email. Ooops. I spent a few minutes responding to her text, apologizing for the delay and committing to a new timeframe. When I looked up from my phone, the rainbow had almost fizzled away. Ugh. Another missed opportunity?! The observer in me was amused. 

 

Moving from Angst to Curiosity:

With curiosity as my guide, I let myself sink into these old feelings that had resurfaced and really felt them this time. I felt my excitement at applying to the Institute of Children’s Literature. Having seen their ad in magazines for years, I finally responded to it. I felt my sense of accomplishment at finishing the application and sending it in. I had always loved children’s book. It would be SO cool to write one. 

When I received the acceptance letter, I started to wonder if this was a scam. Would I send my money in and get nothing back? Fear took over my excitement and I never enrolled.  My stomach tightened as I felt this old fear; then, as if my stomach had sent a memo to all my body parts, my breathing slowed down and soon became imperceptible. A blanket of tension gripped my entire body, even as part me simply observed. I noticed that every cell within my body was on high alert, not really wanting to feel the pain of doing something wrong.  

I reclaimed some sense of calm by declaring inwardly, “It’s okay to feel what you are feeling.” 

 

Moving from Curiosity to Acceptance:

With that declaration, my breathing became perceptible again, and I consciously focused on expanding it, allowing all that I was feeling to have space to just BE. The angst felt like a lead vest; I let myself be present to the uncomfortableness of this pain from the past. Soon ‘my’ pain of missing out and doing something wrong felt surrounded by compassion and it became ‘a’ pain, not ‘my’ pain anymore. As I simply sat with everything I was feeling, I stopped sinking and gradually started to feel lighter. 

I reminded myself: that rainbow was there first thing this morning to give me hope. And what did I do?  I sank into thinking I did something else wrong, perhaps a downward spiral in the making. 

A few minutes later, my deep, inner voice declared. “Remember, life is right here, right now, not in the past, not in regret.” 

Within moments, to my surprise, the full rainbow reappeared! I breathed in the beauty around me, luscious green everywhere — trees, grasses, shrubs, even the house across the gulch proudly wore its green coat. Capping the green landscape, like a broad sun bonnet was spacious sky, the rainbow placed elegantly like a fashionable feather.  In that moment, I felt fully present to Life Itself. As I immersed myself in the moment, a double rainbow became evident!  

My Deeper Realization:

Later, as I wrote about this experience in my journal, I realized each regret that shows up in life is simply a call to action, not something to be pushed away. I can choose to release the regret as no longer relevant and move on to something that is important to me now.  If my desire is still a present-day desire (writing), I can set an intention and then take appropriate current-day action to move forward. I did this by birthing a blog on the Art of Ease and Grace.

My intention with this new blog is to support you along your spiritual journey with tips and tricks I have learned in my explorations.  Below, please find a summary of the actions I took, as described above, so you have some clear steps to take, if any old regrets show up in your life.  

Summary ~ Three Steps to Release Regret with Ease:

 

1. The first and fundamental step for releasing regret is to feel the pain or disappointment behind what you did or did not do. It is important to actually feel your feelings, not just your resistance to your feelings. Take the time you need to feel any fear or discontent you may still have over the situation. Remind yourself that these feelings are not YOUR feelings, they are simply feelings you are choosing to experience for a time.  Disconnecting from them in this way will help in allowing them to fade away.
2. In the space you have created without these feelings, become fully present to the Peace & Presence of the moment.  It is always there.  Notice your breathing, the things in your surroundings and the sounds around you.  Enjoy this time, allowing the expansive space you have created to be with you all day, every day!
3. In this spacious moment, decide if the subject of your regret is still important to you.  If not, good riddance!  If it is still important to you, set a vision or intention for what you would like that part of your life to look like in current time.  Allow any action items to flow from your intention.  

Please do share your experience with regret below.  How do you handle regret when it surfaces in your life?  What regrets have you been able to release and what new intentions have emerged? 

I invite you to continue exploring the Art of Ease and Grace with me in future blogs. 

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~ Carol McNulty-Huffman,

Best-Selling Author & Inspirational Speaker

artofeaseandgrace.com

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A Peek at My Next Blog Post:

Having a Vision for Your Life REALLY Helps

• Visioning is one of the three keys to living with ease and grace. Join me, in two weeks, to learn how to easily manifest your desires!  

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We are continuing our conversation about the art of ease and grace, between blog posts, in my Private Facebook group (Art of Ease and Grace). Click HERE to request entry. You can also email me at carol@theartandeaseofgrace.com or send a message through Messenger to make that happen.

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