Not too long ago I watched ‘Lady in the Water‘, a movie that got universally panned, but which holds a strange fascination and beauty for me.

M. Night Shyamalan’s films have been a bit up and down, but I like what he does  (he’s the guy who did ‘The Sixth Sense’ if you don’t know him).  What I like about his movies is his peculiar knack for looking into humanity and weaving magic into what he sees.

A talented guy.

Anyway, ‘Lady in the Water’ is a magical film that ’s described as ‘a bedtime story’ (just watch the clip and try not to be drawn into the magic of it) and there’s one stand-out line from the film that leapt out of the screen and left me pretty much speechless.  I wish I could have found it online somewhere to show you, but you’ll just have to rent it instead.  In this scene, the mesmerising Bryce Dallas Howard softly asks Paul Giamatti, “May I say one thing?”

“The moment a person finds their voice…is the moment their life takes on grace.”

Just sublime.

I’m not a religious man so the word ‘grace’ holds no religious connotations for me.  I’m grateful for that, because it offers me a definition of the word that’s threaded with gold.

Grace is simplicity, effortlessness and congruity.

Think about it.  What are you speaking with before you find your voice?  What are you saying?  And who are you being before you find grace?

Everything before you ‘find your voice‘ means that you’ll be struggling with things in and around your life, for the simple reason that you’re missing something fundamental.

Your life might be full of clutter and noise.  You might feel like you’re searching for something.  You might drift through much of your career, with no real plan or agenda.  You might feel, in those quiet moments, that something’s missing.

You’ll be dying a slow, safe death.

And all because you haven’t found your voice; that voice that gives you elegance, ease and a sense of wholeness.  That voice that gives you the confidence to do things your way, follow what matters and relax into yourself.

Find your voice, find grace, find confidence.

One thing flows into the next.