What Lifts Me Up?

I am noticing what lifts me up and what doesn’t.

I find myself involved in a bunch of little habitual activities that actually are not uplifting.

So I am asking myself the question, why would I want to deal with something that does not lift me up?

I want to lift up myself and I want to lift others up.

What allows me to do that?

What allows me to live an uplifting life with enough overflow that it lifts others up as well?

It certainly is not the stuff that drags me down, upsets me, or causes me any kind of fear.

So I will go on a fear diet.  I will go ahead and include the other stuff that drags me down and upsets me, too.

I will have to break those little habitual routines that are not uplifting.

I wonder what it will feel like to only live in an uplifting mode.

It is certainly worth a try.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Looking Out at Sunlight

Across the field, seedheads of hay-grass are catching light and shadow.

As they wave gently in the breeze, the proportions change, more light, less shadow, more shadow, less light.

Our days go like that some times.

But there is always some light.

And then things shift a bit and other things come to light.

This field is absolutely not worried about the sun or the shadow.

It simply is.

And there is a lot of life going on down the stalks below the seedheads.

Several flowering grasses and numerous insects interact and make it an ordinary beautiful day.

Lots of little things that I don’t see at all make up my day, and interact, and make it, too, an ordinary, beautiful day.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

What We Need, We Have

In taking on an unexpected project, I was faced with the need to take care of something immediately, that I had not prepared for.

As I got to work, taking care of what I could, I realized that the study I had been doing to “release the hidden splendor” from within always meant that we have what we need, wherever we are, right then.

So, in realizing that, the thought came to check on something.

I did, and it worked.  I found something useful for the situation.

Although it was useful, it did not take care of a more immediate need for action.  So I listened again for the idea.

It came, it was applied, and the next immediate step was able to be taken.

I have seen this happen over and over again, and I am always so grateful.

I am delighted to have this new, readily available ability to “release the hidden splendor” from within.

I love practicing it.

It is a whole new way of approaching anything that comes up in my life.

It has led me to discover what I truly have within of value to release.

Working in that way, with the ideas that keep welling up from within, finding the resources to develop them at every turn, is certainly a stress-free approach.

It works for all kinds of things, whatever shows up.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Cultivating Inspiration

I am so grateful for the ability to cultivate inspiration.

Reading all those inspired spiritual writers and just reading wonderful literature has created the atmosphere and vocabulary for creativity.

The real reason for learning to read is to experience what wonderful writers have to say.

I am reading travel books, recipe books, philosophy books, fiction.

It all adds to creativity by giving me so many points of view.

It is inspiring to read the insights someone has obtained.

And then.

It is such a deep delight to simply sit and be quiet and listen.

Being quiet has its own rewards, of course.

But then, the small secret feeling of specialness that is just for you, just for me, slips in.

It isn’t in the noise around me.

It isn’t in following all the directions and doing it “right”.

It isn’t even in doing it the way the other writers have.

It is in listening for your own direction, your own secret and wonderful individual identity.

Your project.

Your ability to connect with whatever it is you are.

This is inspiration!

This is living!

We only have so much time.

Let’s get inspired!

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

There is Always Inspiration

I love filling myself up with inspiration.

I can just listen and it fills me up.

It is everywhere.

It is like each tiny leaf doing its job.

Taking in the sun and making oxygen.

It’s all inspiration.

There is a rhythm.

Look, listen, receive.

Share.

It is a different way to live.

Get quiet.

Go within.

Listen.

More inspiration pours in.

And who is it for?

It is for everyone.

We are all precious and we are all receiving extra special messages of inspiration right where we are.

It is why we are here.

To be inspired and to share it.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Our Individual Purpose

This is my purpose.

This is my life.

I have been given this vast capacity for wealth and service through my mind and body.

This is my purpose, to grow, discover, develop and inspire.

In fact, we have all been given this same gift, although expressed differently in every individual.

Because of the individual nature of this gift, there is no competition.

There is nothing that we each want, need, or can develop in exactly the same way.

Because there are individuals who are looking for what we have to share, we all have an individual clientele.

Because we all use resources in individually efficient ways, there is no waste and no way to run out.

We all compliment each other in business and in wealth and in personal life.

We each have enough compassion, kindness and imagination to take care of everyone who comes within range of our thought.

We would never leave anyone out at the expense of anyone else.

This is how we are made and this is our purpose.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

All the Things I Love

I have been listing all the things that I love that I enjoy sharing with people.

There are so many workshops I can now offer.

It is so fun to build community around things you love.

I have never tried it extensively, but it is something I am looking forward to doing.

Imagine structuring your life around sharing what you love.

Letting what you love bring you together.

Letting your genuine interests pull you in a direction.

It seems a peaceful and happy way to interact.

Necessity becomes art.

Art becomes a regular part of life.

A much more interesting and fulfilling way to live, I think.

I am ready to try it.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

When I Take Care of Me There is More Love

I love me.

I am so grateful for the growth that has enabled me to move in my true direction.

Through all that work and study, I have grown out of my old viewpoint.

I live in a new world.

A happier world.

A world where I am loved, cherished, and adored and appreciated and recognized.

It is as though through gaining strength, I have simply stepped through into my new world.

Sometimes it feels like a path, this time it feels like a breakthrough.

It all requires strength.

To go against everything I was trained to think about myself.

That set up a vibration which showed others who I thought I was.

As I go forward into my new reality, it is confusing to others unless they have been on the journey with me.

But then, this is the puzzle, the goal, the breakthrough, the prize.

To be who I really am.

To go forward into my new powerful, revealed identity.

To be the person I am.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Freedom and Peace

Today, a step was completed which has been progressing for several months.

The effect was a harmonious transfer of property.

The step itself was the redirection and resolution of my career path.

Although there have been many indicators and guidance and retraining to move me in this direction, today’s step had significance.

I no longer have the ability to use that piece of equipment from a former life practice.

So, that symbolizes that a part of the past has been cleared out.

It lifts a burden.

It completes a worn-out practice.

It leaves me even more free to complete my redirection into a more fulfilling and authentic career.

It leaves peace and freedom and joy in its wake.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Gently

I have embraced a whole new perspective.

It is invading and taking over my psyche, my genes, the way I relate down to the minutest part of me.

As I do my daily chores, there is a gentler spirit in me.

I am leaving behind all the pressure and despair of my early training.

I had no idea those attitudes could get in so deep as to be undetectable.

But those are not mine.

Mine is a gentler spirit, a considerate, kind and respectful one.

It moves gently as it can.

It is not tense and irritated.

It is almost tentative, but moves smoothly and gently onward.

This is a life separate and apart from anything I have ever known.

A gift from shifting my perspective.

A gift I did not even have the vocabulary to ask for.

A gift so complete in the moment, that I don’t know where the next step will take me.

Do I need a next step?

There is always a next step.

I will take it gently, I think.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Blessed

There are so many beautiful things going on in my life right now.

I am continuing to do a lot of spiritual study.  It is yielding some truly deep and amazing growth.

I have a lot of Spiritual Treasure Bags and Journal Covers that are in the first stage of creation and are ready for the next stage of being put together.

I am getting more and more comfortable with creating blogs and websites.

I am learning several new cooking techniques and recipes.  I will be exploring fermented foods this year.

I have discovered several steps to keeping the kitchen gently under control.

I am exploring container gardening and shaping my back yard into charming little areas.

As we continue to downsize, we are using less and less electricity, water and space.

We are adapting to a new way of living and devoting ourselves to sharing what we love best.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Satisfaction

Following one’s own priorities.

What a concept.

And finding satisfaction.

Not from the outside, but from the inside.

What is it that you want to do?

What is it that feels most like you?

That is where satisfaction lies.

You can tell when it is done well enough.

You can tell whether it needs more work and whether you need more information.

You can tell how much it fulfills you.

After being obedient and dutifully following directions, I finally decided to do what spoke to me.

I receive completely different rewards from this activity.

They are not society’s rewards, but they are traditional rewards.

Peace of mind.

Peace.

Satisfaction.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

A Sole Direction and Focus

Making the decision to devote myself to my purpose is requiring a stringent scrutiny of my time.

I have received the inner guidance.

I have been learning the technical skills required in order to share.

Now, comes even quieter focus and devotion.

A more concentrated application should yield different results.

Instead of solely comforting myself and expanding my outlook, I will have the opportunity to serve.

For years I have been receiving ideas, ideas for whatever I need.

I will now have the opportunity to share these and to see how others are benefitted as well.

It is a different kind of step.

Healing from the inside was new.

This will be, too.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Simple Happiness and Delight

I woke up this morning and thought about simple happiness and delight.

What if those were the point of our lives and not competition and the work ethic?

What if our purpose and efforts were to acknowledge and provide simple happiness and delight?

What would I do?

I would let people know I recognize who they are, in the spirituality of their identity.

I would grow flowers and share them.

I would let them know I appreciate what they do.

I would see them in their higher purpose and recognize a temporary identity in what they present right now.

I would provide a harmonious backdrop to what I see in the world.

I would cultivate qualities of peace and understanding in myself.

Another change I am noticing is not pushing myself to do things.

Instead of coercing myself, I am realizing that they can be accomplished differently, through happiness and delight.

When I see Bed and Breakfast businesses, their rooms always look delightful.

Without pushing myself, but by cultivating happiness and delight, I am thinking that would be a charming way to live.

What will it bring into my life?

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Living Sweetly

In the past, I always felt so pressured about my house.

Perhaps we were all pressured to make sure everything looked just right when we were growing up.

What I am finding now, is that I want to live “sweetly”.

There is a feeling of joy, exuberance, and imagination throughout my house.

I find that as I am more accepting of who I am, I have time to live in an unpressured way.

And that includes my house.

As long as it feels sweet, like the two people who live here now, I am satisfied.

The routines are different now, without a large family.

The routines are also different because I am completely self-employed.

It all works in a gentler rhythm.

It is a sweet way to live.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com