Give Yourself Grace To Find Growth

Do you find it easy to forgive others, but are hard on yourself? You’re not alone! Many people struggle to admit their imperfections and weaknesses. Spirituality Coach Sara Spittler thinks this reluctance to accept a very essential part of our humanity is hindering our progress toward personal growth.

Sara discussed her views on how we can support our growth journey on a recent episode of the podcast TaskHuman Talks. Here are a few takeaways:

1. Communication Is Important

When we’re looking to connect with the divine, what we’re really trying to do is create a relationship. Just like in any relationship, communication is critical. 

“I think the two biggest elements are gratitude and communication, right?,” Sara says. “Like any relationship or relationship with the divine or a relationship with ourselves? Open communication.”

We can work to build our communication by knowing what we really want, which also means getting to know ourselves. For Sara, that means practicing these habits:

• Self-Care 
• Gratitude
• Celebrating small victories
• Meditation or prayer

By practicing positive habits, we can have a better understanding of what is important to us and what we want to cultivate.

2. Define Your Virtues

For Sara, a virtue is “good practice and good habits that help us lead good lives.” In other words, a virtue is a tool to help guide your morality. What you see as a virtue can show you what you think it means to be a good person. 

It can also help you understand what steps you need to take to adopt that virtue. 

“When we talk about practicing virtue, that can seem hard, right?,” she says. “Like, ‘how do I practice being courageous whenever a situation arises?’ The best way to address this thought, this concept, this situation that I’m in, we have to take a moment to stop and reflect and consider what is the most true response to who I am and who I want to be, because what’s that always, you know, the person that we want to be right in this moment.”

Practicing your virtues gives you the ability to make progress toward your goals and quiet the voice inside your head telling you that you didn’t do enough. 

3. Find Your Saving Grace

Life is going to shift you off balance. Even if you are well-versed in staying grounded, you’ll still have seasons of life where you are thrown off course. After all, that’s what life is about! And it’s important to have grace for yourself in those moments, Sara says.

“I think first and foremost is having grace for ourselves,” Sara says. “And recognizing we’re not perfect. We’re on the road to perfection. Like we’re never going to achieve it in this life. Again, a Christian understanding. We’re never going to achieve perfection in this life, but everything that we do can lead us there or it can lead us away.”

Sara wants gratitude to follow grace. By focusing on what you’re grateful for in a situation, you can build on the grace to reset. For example, if you don’t stick to your healthy eating plan during a weekend away, you can give yourself grace for having a few “off” days. Adding gratitude for getting to be away, for your vacation spot, for the quiet time, can show you that the weekend was more of a blessing than not, which can help you find the determination to renew your healthy eating.

Acknowledging and moving forward to re-discover your balance through grace is a powerful tool. Learn more about yourself and how you can grow by listening to the whole podcast here.

Book Coach Sara