The Alchemist Within

Some people walk through life with a quiet kind of power—not the kind that demands attention, but the kind that radiates something deeper. That’s Kara. If I had to choose one word to describe her, it would be grace.

But not the kind that’s soft and passive. Kara’s grace is fire. It transforms. It holds space. It moves through life with effortless balance, self-discipline, and the ability to see people—not just their actions, but their essence.

The Fire of Grace

I needed to witness Kara’s grace before moving to Bermuda. I needed to see its power in action, not as a concept, but as a living force. Because grace isn’t just about being kind—it’s about seeing people as they are and still offering them compassion.

Even when they hurt you.Even when they disappoint you.Even when they fail to live up to the best versions of themselves.

For a long time, Kara gave grace freely. She saw people in their pain, in their flaws, in their contradictions—and she still loved them anyway. She still forgave them. She still made space for them.

But then something shifted.

Her actions showed that grace wasn’t just something to be given—it had to be received, too.

And that’s when everything changed.

The Hardest Shift: Turning Grace Inward

It’s easy to extend grace outward. As women, we are wired to nurture, to empathize, to see through multiple perspectives at once. We do it instinctively—through caregiving, through relationships, through simply existing in a world that expects us to hold it all together.

But turning that same grace inward? That’s the real challenge.

Kara demonstrated that the same patience, understanding, and love she gave so freely to others had to go in reverse. She stopped abandoning herself in the process of forgiving everyone else. She stopped making room for others while shrinking her own needs.

And when she did?

It changed everything.

Grace didn’t just make her softer—it made her stronger. It didn’t make her passive—it made her powerful. Because true grace isn’t about martyrdom. It’s not about endlessly absorbing pain. It’s about knowing when to hold space and when to walk away. When to love and when to let go. When to give and when to give back to yourself.

The Archetype of the Alchemist and the Mystic

Carolyn Myss describes grace as a spiritual force—something that doesn’t operate by human logic but by divine alignment. It flows through those who are willing to surrender to it, to let it reshape them.

In Myss’s framework, Kara embodies the Alchemist Archetype—someone who transforms pain into wisdom, struggle into strength, and challenges into something sacred. The true Alchemist does not just endure life—they transmute it. They don’t just survive—they evolve.

But Kara also carries the Mystic Archetype—a deep spiritual knowing, an awareness that there is something greater at play. She extends grace not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because she sees beyond the moment. She sees beyond the surface-level interactions. She understands that everything—every person, every experience—is part of something much larger than we can perceive.

That’s why Kara’s grace is not forced. It is not performative. It is something deeper—an embodied wisdom.

Laughter, Liberation, and the Permission to Be Fully Human

One of the best things about Kara is that she carries grace without ego. She doesn’t wear it like a badge of honor. She doesn’t need people to admire it. She simply lives it.

And part of that means she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She can laugh—really laugh—at herself, at life, at the absurdity of it all.

Because grace isn’t just about wisdom; it’s about freedom.

The freedom to grow.The freedom to change.The freedom to be human.

She reminds people: You have full permission to be the fullest expression of yourself. But I get the same permission, too.

That’s the final piece of grace—it is not one-sided. It doesn’t mean endlessly forgiving others while neglecting yourself. It doesn’t mean letting people take from you without limits.

True grace says:

• I see you. I understand you. I forgive you.

• But I also see myself. I also understand myself. And I will not abandon myself in the process.

  
  

The Second Passage Through Grace

A Mystic Leo friend once warned me, You’ve already been through it once. You don’t have to go through it again.

But my spirit had other plans.

The first time I truly understood grace, it was through my father. After years of pain, resentment, and the wounds his choices left on my life, I found my way back to love—not because I excused his actions, but because I saw him clearly for what he was: a human being, flawed and struggling, moving through life for the first time just like the rest of us.

That realization was a door, one that let me release the weight of anger and step into something softer. I thought I had arrived at the final lesson.

I thought grace had done its work.

But I didn’t realize I would choose to walk through it again n 2020.

I didn’t realize that the next passage through grace wouldn’t be for someone else—it would be for me.

If the first time was about forgiveness, the second time was about ownership.

I had to learn that the choices that brought me to a sexual trauma weren’t random. They weren’t inflicted upon me by fate or cruelty.

They were mine.

My patterns. My decisions. My lessons.

And just like I had once seen my father as a man simply doing the best he could with what he had, I had to turn that same lens onto myself.

I had to learn to extend grace inward, not as an excuse, but as a path toward transformation.

Because grace isn’t just about letting go—it’s about learning. It’s about seeing yourself fully, acknowledging the ways in which you’ve repeated cycles, held onto things that hurt you, and made choices from a place of fear.

And that was the hardest part.

The Journey of Grace

Kara, whether she knew it or not, was a guidepost for me in that second passage.

She carried grace with her not as something separate from herself, but as something woven into her being. Watching her, learning from her, I saw what it meant to hold yourself with the same compassion you hold for others.

What it meant to recognize your own humanity without judgment.

The first passage through grace freed me from resentment.

The second freed me from myself.

And I know now that grace isn’t a single door you walk through—it’s a journey you take again and again, each time revealing a new layer of love, understanding, and self-acceptance.

Because grace isn’t something you just give.

It’s something you become.

"Grace is the breath of God—an invisible essence beyond intellect that moves swiftly amongst us."— Carolyn Myss