This morning I accidentally caught the tail end of a radio interview while preparing for my day, which is a special day because I am at Rally (Rally!).
The guy being interviewed was a top athlete who hadn’t competed in several years. The interviewer asked if he expected to do well. If he thought he might win.
And he did. He was quite certain about it. And not only did he expect to win, but he planned to do it in grand fashion.
This phrase has been soaring in my heart all day.
Grand!
I absolutely ADORE the idea of doing something in grand fashion.
What would my day look like if I expected things to happen in a grand fashion? Or if I took steps to make them that way?
This morning I was setting up for Glow Sitting (shhhh, secret agent code for meditating).
And instead of just plopping down on my cushion and lighting my candle, I set things up. In Grand Fashion!
I made a circle of colorful blocks — because I work at a Playground!
The cushion went in the center of the circle. I sang a song. With a Gigantic Flourish at the end, in grand fashion. There was tea waiting for me.
And so my meditation, while simple, was also… marked. It was adorned.
All sorts of things could be different if they happened in a grand fashion.
At least, that is my experiment.
What happens to say, taking a break to go to the bathroom, assuming you could take that break in a grand fashion?
What happens to a snack?
How do I approach Drinking A Glass of Water differently if today I’m going to do it in grand fashion?
There are no rules about how this works.
In Grand Fashion doesn’t mean that the thing itself has to be fancy, or that it has to happen with trills and flourishes.
It really means PRESENCE. And grace. And curiosity and excitement.
It means doing the thing I would do anyway, but knowing that I am completely committed to doing it with panache. To being fully in it.
Or doing the thing I think is not-special or not-meaningful in a way that reminds me that it is.
I am pretty sure that doing things In Grand Fashion will lead to delight and play. I’m pretty sure that I will discover things. And that all of this is related to preparing for the voyage.
But mainly there will be slightly more time and slightly more space.
I’m giving that to myself, but also to my choices and to my reactions. And not in a boring way either. I’m doing it in grand fashion.
And, as my fellow Rallions know, because we coded this into our morning Shiva Nata practice… bing wheee mmmm oooo presence, gotcha!
Play! And the commenting blanket fort.
You are welcome to experiment with me, to mess around with this and apply it in various ways. You could have your internal scientists take notes, if you like.
Otherwise I am also receptive to rejoicing and saying YAY for embellishments and extras. Oooh, you could even leave comments In Grand Fashion, if you so choose.
And of course it is always okay to take a silent retreat.
We all have our stuff. We’re all working on our stuff. We take care of ourselves by taking loving responsibility for our experience. We let everyone else have their experience. We make space for ourselves.
Love to the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads.
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oh man guys, its been a long time since I’ve hung around, but you are always there to make me feel better when I need it.
XOXO
hi! 🙂
I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about magic lately, and so doing things in a grand fashion really goes right along with that. Spells, incantations, tricks: they pretty much *have* to be done in a grand fashion to work at all. Or at least, that’s how I like to think of it.
I’ve been soaking in presence for many days now, but this takes it all to another, delightful, other-worldly level. Yay!
Also, panache is such an incredibly delightful word.
Yes! YAY for this !!
I am hiding from my supervisor today – in grand fashion!
so much better already
In grand fashion, I have been hiding in my favourite coffee house and holding Monster Conversation Tables at the work/tea place.
Now, in grand fashion, I will hide some more under a blanket!
PS @Kylie – did you know today is Ostara, which is the magic word for “spring equinox” ??
I just realized ! Not that I am any sort of magic expert, at all.
But I love the simplicity of having mini rituals to mark the days adn the year. (A dutch lady wrote a lovely book about being a journalist, and by the way, a witch, but in a non-icky way)
It calls for all kinds of things in Grand Fashion! Like flowers and eating eggs and doing a little spring dance.
I’ve just been thinking about this lately. I’ve been thinking about having Afternoon Tea instead of my usual cobbled-together-from-pantry-remnents afternoon snack if I’m at home or a trip to the vending machine if I’m at work.
Afternoon Tea may or may not include actual tea (depends on the day) but it definitely entails a thought-out and prepared-in-style snack. Like cucumber sammies on that super cute mini pumpernickle bread or a *prettily* sliced up pepper with hummus. Maybe even shrimp cocktail.
Committed to panache. Just going to soak in the marvel of that. Before I head off to Whole Foods in a grand fashion. Thank you for that!
And now I am singing Presence! Like Thomas Dolby would.
To me, this is all wrapped in Stuff, and the Stuff is named Allowed to Have Good Things. My god, but the alarms that go off when I try to give myself something spectacular. (Even if it isn’t. Even if it’s really simple and just not in the normal scope of things.) Doing things “in grand fashion” sets off the same bells.
So, naturally, I plan to do it as much as possible.
And take notes. ^_^
I have been a Beloved Lurker for some time now, and I see that this is the perfect time to step forward, in Grand Fashion, to being a commenter! So, cue the red carpet and fanfare and drums please!
Flourish! Swoop! Twirl! Hello!
I so enjoyed this post. I love the words you used, like adorned, and grace, and panache! Such a beautiful idea. I know there’s lots in my life that could benefit from a few extra flourishes. Thanks for your thoughts today Havi (and all the other days I’ve already enjoyed!). Here’s a deep bow for you!
Ooh, interesting. The thought of doing things in a Grand Fashion made me nervous. Who am I to eat crackers & cheese in a Grand Fashion? That’s uppity.
Hello, Uppity Monster, would you like to join me for some cheese and crackers?
I just fed my cat in grand fashion.She’s very sick and it feels wonderful to do this for her with extra joy.
Just what I needed today.
*lurks… in grand fashion!*
@Max Daniels — Presence! Hee! I love it. (Good heavens, Ms. Daniels, you’re beautiful! And so are we all.)
That’s why I wear lipstick every day! Nope, this is not just another day, this is a GRAND day and I shall be glamorous and strut about avec panache!
Now, if I could bring that into more aspects of my life…
***~~~~~HUZZAH!~~~~~***
Love this!
“There are no rules about how this works.”
Maybe it works because it breaks the rules about how we are “supposed” to do things.
Because I like to think that words are my superpower, I looked at synonyms for panache: elan, brio, verve, gusto, vitality … the words evoke a sense of energy that is channeled into whatever you’re doing.
And that seems to be what it takes to do things in grand fashion: energy and thought. Having tea instead of grabbing a snack, setting things up in grand fashion for meditation, wearing lipstick… need energy and thought.
What strikes me is that doing things like this may actually give me more energy than it takes to do them in the first place. So maybe I can live increasingly in grand fashion…
Wow, this really applies to *my* thing (ballroom dancing). DH and I got lightly spanked by a judge we’re well acquainted with, for not doing a grand enough bow at the end of a non-competition presentation.
She said (approximately) “when you just walk off it says you don’t think you were worth watching; it’s apologetic; but it also fails to acknowledge your audience and thank them for watching.”
We promised we would henceforth practice our grand bow as if it were part of the actual performance. Which, of course … it IS.
Always something to learn!
This post could not have been more perfectly timed (thankyousomuch): read it yesterday while I was working on entry for a big conference presentation today. And today I gave my paper In Grand Fashion (with a helpful note on the first page to remind me). Totally shifted my sense of presence. Tomorrow: another presentation, In (a different) Grand Fashion!
I was mulling over this while in the thick of traffic, and it occurred to me that it might be fun to approach life as a Handelian sorceress (albeit using my powers for good, and with a happy ongoing ending). Something along the lines of sweeping about in grand gowns, the ability to mesmerize and transform things, and the ability to cascade up and down double octaves with shimmering ease.
(I already think of myself as a stealth diva at times. Time to play with this some more, it seems…)
I love this! Makes me break out of my usual beloved lurker role and comment even though I have not recently posted myself, which is usually my self-imposed prerequisite for commenting here.
It’s quite timely for me.. In Grand Fashion I will begin my life as a performer tomorrow. I’m one member of a “worm” chorus for an artist creating a piece on the beauty of dirt and worms and compost (http://on.fb.me/pcng123).
Okay, maybe not everyone would find starting one’s performance career in a chorus of a cabaret piece to be In Grand Fashion, but let me elaborate: ‘Naked Worm Chorus.’ Yes, In Grand Fashion in my first public performance ever, I’m getting naked!
Interestingly, two years ago I got an astrology reading from a serious astrologer recommended by a friend. Among many other things, one thing she said in the reading is that I should consider taking a class from a certain local artist that I’d never heard of before that day. And she said that with respect to pursuing an interest in performing or acting, that after 2012 there would ‘be no going back.’ On the day she said it I joked by quipping that must be the year my blockbuster film would come out. But actually, the artist whose piece I’m in the chorus of beginning tomorrow for two weekends is the artist she recommended I study with. I only encountered her a few weeks ago and all this transpired immediately. And I’m thinking that by beginning my performance career getting naked on stage, there pretty much is no going back after that!
Now though, after reading the In Grand Fashion inspiration above, I’ll disrobe in even grander fashion imagining a trumpet playing too! Enthusing!
Love. Grand Fashion = sovereignty every day, every way. Thanks for reminding us about this in your VPA post today (3/26).