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Does Grace Create Action?
Friday, October 02, 2026
Ease or Grace?
I pondered the difference and relevance 20 years ago when I first published Spiral Impact. I was deciding whether the subtitle would be 'The Power to Get It Done with Ease' or 'The Power to Get It Done with Grace.'
The word “ease” seemed more palatable to my business audience than “grace.” Yet ease seemed dismissive and self-centered to me. Although ease is something everyone wants.
Using the word “grace” brought up a concern that I’d be pigeonholed as religious, and perhaps seen as a less serious strategic businesswoman.
Grace won.
Though it’s not lost on me that my writing since then has focused more on true power, and less specifically on grace. To be honest with myself, appealing to my business audience—speaking their language—was perhaps my motivation for downplaying grace.
Or perhaps this female engineer is now willing to speak to what I know has the power to transform. And that is grace. True power and grace exist together.
What is grace? Can it be acquired?
As in my book, grace can be a physical attribute—beauty, finesse, style. Though for me now, those are expressions of grace.
I experience grace as a steady spaciousness that holds both me and others. It allows me to absorb friction and transform it into clarity.
For example, I ordered a door to replace one that had failed. My home was already listed for sale, so time was of the essence. The replacement wasn’t straightforward and seemed to require several people.
Consciously, instead of panic, I chose grace. I stayed calm, trusted a solution would emerge, and did research.
Then a workman showed up for a different project and said he could handle all aspects of the project in a short amount of time at a reasonable price.
I exhaled.
Then, when the time came for him to install it—he vanished.
Did grace disappear?
Again, as I felt panic creep in, I kept returning to grace. I felt frustrated, sent one last text requesting a timeframe, and faced the possibility that I’d have to start my research over again. I had discarded the information I’d collected before.
I felt disheartened.
I let it go and committed to starting over the next morning.
Then, about 8:30 p.m., a bamboo text sound came from my phone. It was the guy!
He apologized. He’d had an emergency. Would I still like him to install the door?
He showed up. Fixed the door.
Perhaps grace hadn’t gone anywhere. Perhaps it had given me space to feel my frustration, make a clear request, and leave room for the possibility that I didn’t know the whole story.
And a door opened for me.
I used to think grace helped me act.
Now I wonder if grace itself creates action.
How about you?
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Karen
Hello! I am Karen Valencic
Founder, Spiral Impact
Partnering with leaders to turn chaos into calm, pressure into progress, while bringing out the best in everyone! I blend 35+ years of my aikido training with the practicality of my engineering background to promote transformational performance improvement.
