Recently, I was working with a client who was really judgmental about this, that and everything else in her life. After identifying some of the belief systems and getting clarity around what was really going on, I asked her what her best friend would say to her.

Without hesitation my client said, “She’d tell me to have more grace with myself.”

While I stayed in coaching mode in the moment and provided a safe space to process what more grace would look like, there was a piece of me that was like, yes! Of course!

Then there is the “mirror moment.” The mirror moment is when something happens for a client and there is the realization that maybe I should hold up the mirror and see where I might need a little more grace with myself.

Friends, my vote is that we all could use an extra dose of grace—not just for ourselves, but also with others. Our world has gotten so full of judgment. Maybe a little grace is just what the doctor is ordering.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started with offering yourself and others a little more grace:

• Take breaks—mini ones throughout the day and longer ones on a regular basis. I worked with a mentor who once told me to put my vacation dates on the calendar now and work my schedule around that. Make sure you also schedule days off so you can reenergize and reboot.
• Know that whatever you are working on will get done. Maybe it would be useful to break it into smaller pieces. Celebrate each step of the process. Embrace the process. Maybe even make it a little more fun. Fun goes a long way in helping get things done. Didn’t Mary Poppins even sing a song to that effect?
• May I invite you to not be so hard on yourself? An option could be to invite more self-compassion into your space and appreciate all the amazing things you are doing. You are shining in your brilliance!
• Stop judging yourself. It’s not serving you and it’s not serving the world. Judgment gets in the way of you thriving. It drags you into a spiral of self-doubt, inadequacy and the proverbial, “I’m not enough.”
• When you notice yourself judging others, may I invite you to gently pick up the mirror and get curious about what you are really judging in yourself and then go back to the self-compassion suggestion? It’s interesting what you may find.
• Friends: life is a journey. We are constantly learning, sorting, healing and navigating our way. The journey is too short to keep being so hard on ourselves. What are the ways you can choose grace today? You may just inspire others into a grace-filled life as well!