Age and Usefulness

This seems to be an appropriate topic for the end of the old year and the beginning of the next.

I am sharing my dad’s attitude toward age and usefulness.

When he was offered disability insurance, he always turned it down.  As a freelance newswriter, he typed his news stories, but said he could dictate them if his hands were injured.  If he couldn’t think, then he couldn’t work, and he didn’t feel as though he needed to prolong his life in that case.

I am thinking about the idea of always being able to draw on my thoughts.

They are pouring in and we can separate out the ones we want to keep.

In her book, The Art of Original Thinking, Jan Phillips challenges us to embrace the new direction which even some corporations are taking.  The difference is between what I can get and what I can give.

We can always listen for useful ideas to share.

Once an idea gets hold of us, it wants to take form.

As we act on it or bear witness to it in some way, its form can bless and uplift and support other people.

With thoughts in mind, our large experience becomes more and more useful and powerful.

So, aging and usefulness become a partnership.

This is a valuable legacy to live.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

A New Life

Since I have never been without my Higher Power and Protector, whatever has been done to me can cause me no harm.

I can simply acknowledge that no matter what the emotional impact, my Higher Power has already taken care of it for me.

Its like having an advocate who always knows the law so well that there is never any penalty for whatever comes into my life.

So, what of it?

No matter where I am, I cannot be separated from my Protector.

Whatever the description, there is never a power greater than that of my Higher Power.

There is no argument.

I am who my Higher Power says I am.

Everything is taken care of through my acknowledgement of that.

The system is adjusted and finds its balance regardless of my view of justice.

I am free to continue my work and activities on a higher basis, unhampered by any other view.

To be in the system of a Higher Power is to live a different kind of life.

This is a life with an infinite ability to give.

This is a life with an infinite ability to grow.

This is a life beyond all human design.

This is my life now.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Transforming Martyrdom

Being willing to suffer for one’s beliefs shows a deep commitment to them.

But it also shows a necessity to uplift them.

Uplifting thoughts bless all with the range of them.

Suffering thoughts add to despair.

Grieve and then move on.

You have found a new way.

Release yourself to live it.

People are all listening for solutions.

Find the deep solutions for yourself and let them spread through your happiness.

Discover the hidden “drivers” in your life and replace them and improve on them.

Be conscious of the motivators which you choose.

Once the hidden past is revealed, be grateful and throw it out.

You have better things to do and you have the right to do them.

You are held back no longer.

The chains of old habits are broken with the freedom of new positive ones.

Be willing to celebrate your new beliefs and practices and show a deep commitment to them.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Outgo

“Outgo” is as important as income.

We must have a place to give, contribute, “release our hidden splendor”, (as Robert Browning puts it), in some way.

There must be people who appreciate it and can use and benefit from what we have to offer.

Perhaps part of the healing process is finding a tribe.

It is important to be in a stimulating atmosphere as well.

You want feedback that is innovative and challenging and uplifting.

A group that supports what you are doing and gives you feedback plays an important part in your outgo, valuing you and giving you a way to work out what the next step is.

I know I love the communities that I am a a part of.

There is a continuing relationship, but there is always that “coming back to” that brings something new the next time.

Something ongoing and something that allows room to grow.

Something going out and something coming back in creates the balance.

My quilting and knitting guilds provide camaraderie with a common interest and continual education.

My spiritual center presents new and innovative ideas to consider while being around people who are looking at things that way, too.

My fiber artist friends and on-line artist friends are using materials and design in innovative and imaginative ways.

The support is really great in these groups.  Sometimes you are trying an established technique and sometimes you are seeing imaginative new applications.

I feel as though I am beginning to touch the circles I need in some of the ways that I also need to be touched.

I am growing outward from a new center.

I am definitely gaining much more to offer.

I am grateful to be a unique individual with a generous viewpoint.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Self-Support

I am here to support myself.

That is a new revelation.

Even though I have always held a job from being single and all through raising a large family.

What a different direction that sends me.

After all the teachings about supporting other people, family, children, husband, church, profession, it all boils down to our purpose for being here.

Is my purpose to be somewhere else for other people all the time?

Or is it to be here, where I am?

I am already here, so it seems this is a good place to start.

 Am I fulfilling all the things that are possible for myself?

That are desirable?

And why does this question bring down such feelings of anger and accusations of selfishness?

The habits and expectations of society and civilization.

But how civilized is it to require women not to take care of and fulfill themselves?

That is one-half of the population.

This is why so much literature is now being devoted to that topic.

It is time to take a good look at that fallacy and to change it.

I feel as though I can’t even reach for my goals right now.

I am certainly going to change that.

Now that I am defining them clearly for myself, I can certainly take the steps to accomplish them.

It is easier than trying to figure out what everyone else needs and to fulfill that.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.inspiredPractices.com

Prosperity and Strength

I get my prosperity and strength from the Divine.

I am led to challenge the limitations of illusions regardless of their nature.

Challenging these limitations is the real work of this world.

Once  the divine connection is made and the illusions dissolved, there is a whole new world out there.

It matches the one within.

I am just at the point of discovering this.

I can feel the freer sense, the participation in making and selling beauty for its own sake.

The valuing of the higher nature and how it expresses itself.

It is different feeling, to participate in it without the drag of the old beliefs.

I am amazed at how violent the opposition was at the last step and how calm the atmosphere is after.

I am floating on a calm liquid surface.

I can paddle in any direction.

They are all beautiful and all accessible.

I have no barriers.

I can begin anew.

I have achieved my entry.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Learning to Draw and Other Life Lessons

When we work on things we love, we are not in a hurry.

I am realizing I can apply that to my life a lot more.

Since deciding to learn to draw as a terrified beginner adult, I have been learning a lot more than how to draw.

I am learning to take my time and not to push myself according to outside standards.

I look at my latest bird drawing and I am now able to notice that the angle of the beak is slightly different from what I am copying.

I would not have even been able to see that before I started looking at things closely enough to draw them.

So I am grateful to see more accurately than before.

I discovered that I am satisfied to draw a bird from the book I have about every two to four or more months.

It takes me that long to calm down after working on it and getting worried and panicky over my results.

Then I can come back later and see what I have done and take the next step.

Never have I felt I had to throw out my work.

So I can lighten up on the self-criticism that builds up while I am drawing.

Another good thing to infuse into my life in general.

Sometimes I feel I am not getting results in other areas of my life.

But you know what?

They are just taking time to percolate through the layers of old habits and judgements.

The results are happening.

Now I know to just keep practicing.

All the rest of the lessons will have great results, too.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPratices.com

Holiday Tension and Relaxation

Feeling a lot of tension, and then I remember, t’is the holidays.

So I take the next three deep breaths or as many as are needed short of hyperventilating, and go on to the next little thing.

Little things are the key to relaxation.

Pack up the handwork for an evening meeting.

Pack up the festive food.

Do not schedule anything else at all whatsoever.

Everything will get back to its smooth running after the holiday frenzy around us.

We all have our routines and they are all being overloaded right now, so slowing down a little helps all of us.

That is all.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Food Prep

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Such a fulfilling food prep day.

I began with a meatloaf, mixing in a cup of black rice (no glutenin), and homemade salsa.

Next a platter of tomatoes and homemade ricotta cheese, very creamy.

I followed that with a double batch of oil-roasted green beans.

And now I have cut up and placed a cabbage-broccoli kim-chee in jars to ferment for a couple of days before being refrigerated.

Next, will be two kinds of smoothies, carrot-kale and broccoli-celery-garlic.

A potato leek soup will follow.

Canning the apples and citrus will take place all during the week.

There is something about preparing good food from scratch that is so fulfilling.

There has been no rush.

I even had time to visit with a cousin and tune an autoharp for a school music program.

I know we will feel the good effects not only of the nutrition (following Weston A. Price and Wheat-Belly practices), but also of the pace and deliberation of the preparation.

You are welcome to join me anytime.

Bon apetite!

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Reversing Pain

Anything which causes pain can be reversed.

An audacious statement until we remember that our thoughts create conditions for us.

Start with a simple experience and practice it until it works.

For the thousand times I have simply reviewed a painful memory, I now dedicate myself to ten thousand times of realizing the value of replacing it with gratitude for the growth I am about to receive.

For the thousand times I have regretted my acts in a particular situation, I now dedicate myself to finding the value in reversing my attitude toward myself with forgiveness.

Every time I do this, I lessen the effects of condemning myself further.

Every time I take away some of the self-condemnation, I lessen the pain.

Every time I move into forgiveness, I take off some of the weight and the pain from the remembered situation.

As I trust myself to move into less pain about an experience, I trust myself to investigate further reversals of pain.

As I investigate them, I find I am willing to trust the views of alternative practices.

Even though I do not have their vocabulary, I see evidence in the many hundreds or thousands of years of health and well-being of many thousands of followers.

I am willing to take a look.

With my willingness, I open myself to the possibility.

When I find a principle which appeals to me, I can begin the consideration and practice of that principle.

When I apply myself to the ten thousand times I reconsider my pain in the light of this new principle, I am rebuilding my thousands of thoughts about it.

I am willing to see what will happen.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Unforeseen Advantages

Sometimes when things do not work out as planned or expected, there are unforeseen advantages.

Because the Universe knows what we hold dear, and It holds us even more dearly, things are constantly being directed for good.

Keeping myself in the habit of filling my conscious thoughts with good, active, positive ideas that bless enables me to receive unforeseen good as well.

Even though I hear comments of those around me, I continually refocus on the good I wish to share and I am also able to receive it.

Every step of every path lets us change our current direction to something even better.

With Its unlimited resources, the Universe always has more to share with us.

When we realize that it comes from within, we have an even readier ability to access it.

Learning to let go and trust the infinite resources of the Universe to bless me and all those upon whom my thought rests is a pleasant way to experience life.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Open Channels

When we receive the ideas which make us feel most useful and valued, they also include ways of releasing them.

All the steps for release and reward are included from the beginning of the inception of the idea.

They show up as needed, when we are ready for them, and start looking for them.

From the beginning, we are a success.

First of all, the ideas found us, the receptive party, to express them.

Then the ways to release them appear.

Each step to best promote and feature the idea comes as needed.

We, the receptive party, are enabled to reap the rewards of our work in listening and following the steps for release.

The ideas go forth to those best prepared to receive them.

They go to those best prepared to appreciate and share them and to value them and to best see the changes and enhancements in their lives through using them.

This appreciation comes back to us, as a receiving and releasing vessel.

Our nurturing and love and persistence is always rewarded.

We are open to being rewarded and provided for in this natural sequence.

The ideas are provided for and so are we.

It is included from the beginning.

It is part of the plan also.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

My Work

I am so very loved.

I love me.

I love what I do.

I love how I contribute to society.

I love the response I receive.

Everyone loves my materials and loves sharing them with their children.

(www.MusicandBooksforChildren.com) 

They uplift everyone who uses them.

They give them a sense of being good and feeling good about who they are.

They give them a sense of being precious and valued.

They give them a sense of practical achievement through caring for the earth.

They inspire them to be and to create through their unique individuality.

They inspire them to be happy.

I am so happy and grateful for this work.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Every Step Empowered

First step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will give you your purpose.

Second step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will tell you how to proceed.

Third Step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will make any adjustments that are necessary.

Fourth step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will transport you.

Fifth step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will connect you.

Sixth step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will provide for you.

Seventh step:  Listen to the Universe.

It will inspire you.

Eighth step:  Be grateful to the Universe.

Repeat as needed.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Peacefully Moving Forward

After rigorous soul-searching and study, I am finding my way.

I am learning to go within for all the answers I need.

After thinking my way through several possibilities due to unexpected changes, I realized my best step was to go within for the best answer.

I am finding it, and I am also finding a sense of peace as I take my next steps.

It is so different working from a spiritual perspective.

The purpose and every step of manifestation proceeds with deep calm and trust and quiet happiness.

There are no doubts, only the sense to keep shining, and each step will open up.

The shining happens from contemplating the ideas that appear from within.

They know how best to express themselves.

I am only the vessel.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Blessed, Blessed Rebirth

It is always a wonderful thing to be present at the birth of a new baby.

In some ways, it is an even more awesome event to witness the rebirth of someone whose life has not gone as hoped.

By pouring in the missing love, confidence and support, we can bear witness to our own rebirth.

And our rebirth inspires another and another.

It is a quiet thing, rebirth.

It gathers force so very gently, until all the obstacles which have built up over a lifetime are dissolved.

A person who was seen as hopeless, acquires success.

A person who was downtrodden, is uplifted by his or her own perceptions from within.

It is such a relief to be able to overcome a lifetime of disappointments.

It is Grace.

Sometimes success comes later, even much later.

It is even sweeter when that happens.

Seeing a much longer life ambition manifest causes us to pause in our judgement.

Trusting that somewhere, somehow, each person will feel the support and love of the Universe is a more compassionate view.

That each person will find rebirth in this world, through finding resources within, this is the promise of what I have been privileged to bear witness to.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

What There Is Of Me

What there is of me is formed for a spiritual purpose.

When I listen deeply, I can hear it.

I can feel it.

It is not shaped by this world, although it may take shape within it.

It has a different shape than the one I learned in order to prepare myself to have a job and to raise a family in this world.

The spiritual purpose shape comes to me in a different way.

Through listening.

Not through training and college courses.

Not through experiences, whether they are good or bad.

Through listening alone, I am given my purpose and the way to carry it out.

I don’t exactly know how to describe this, except to say it is a feeling.

When I listen, I get a feeling and then something comes to mind and I do it.

Or something comes to mind and I do something entirely different from what I thought I was supposed to do.

Anyway, it just happens.

And things happen around me, outside of me.

Things adjust.

Suddenly, I am assigned a new location.

Unexpectedly, the plans I had for that new location are changed and I have to do something else.

The new something else takes me off in a completely different direction.

And there I arrive.

Exactly where I am supposed to be.

Able to fulfill my spiritual purpose, which looks like a job in a location, but it is completely different.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

A Chemical Addiction

After reading Evolve Your Brain, by Dr. Joe Dispenza, I understand a little more about the brain’s chemistry.

When we combine that with how habits are built and maintained, it is easier to understand why it is hard to change direction in our lives.

The old habits are reinforced by the chemical brain which keeps producing more of what it has produced in the past.

So, in order to create new habits and to reform the old processes, we basically have to break a chemical addiction.

The miracle is that this can be done.

In following the steps and recommendations in Dr. Dispenza’s book, it is possible to create new tracks in the various neuro-systems.

And with the great desire for doing so, a new life can be built.

I thought I was doing pretty well in rewiring myself and creating new patterns and tracks for my behavior.

And I am.

But something set me off on the old path of emotional reaction and it took a few hours of distracting myself and feeding myself with comforting activities, (I chose to draw and embroider,) to do to finally calm myself back down.

I have so much more respect for people who are coming off drugs and going through rehab now.

If this was what I face mentally, I can just barely imagine a small part of what they are facing physically.

So, I have another layer of compassion now.

And I am also being more respectful of myself and appreciative of my progress so far.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPrctices.com