Tuesday, February 25, 2014

I Am Worth It

One of the biggest hurdles for me is to ask for help.

Since I was tiny, I have always been independent.

On top of that, there was a caveat in my family not to talk about our troubles.

So, I learned to find a lot of solutions for myself.

Or, I buried the problems in order to get on with my life.

Some of those solutions have come many, many years later, as I read more widely and took workshops on self-improvement and spirituality.

But, of course, there are times when even the most independent and resourceful person needs to ask for help.

So that is what I am still working on.

There are appropriate places to get help for whatever you need.

People’s businesses provide all kinds of solutions.

That is how they are fulfilling their purpose.

There is no shame in asking for help, because we are not meant to live completely alone trying to solve our problems with the tools we already have.

People want to help us, and some of them have better tools.

But still, it feels hard when it is such a habit.

Another aspect of this is, it does not make the other party wrong when I need to have a product or a situation corrected.

It means that they still have the opportunity to make their service or product better, and to make it serve my needs as well as everyone else’s.

I deserve the goodness that everyone else has access to.

I, too, deserve and have the right to everything working well for me.

I, too, am good.

I, too, am worth it.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

One Direction

I am interested in attending many different kinds of events for causes that I believe in.

But now, I am thinking in terms of one direction only.

Everything is focused on whether it aids me in my deep purpose.

If it does not, I do not need to give it further consideration.

If it does, then that is where I belong.

It is so interesting being at this point.

I have talked myself into going to meetings many times for good reasons.

But now, it is time to focus completely on the one important thing.

When I weigh which activity to choose for a particular day, I get a feeling in myself.

It is either happy, positive and uplifting or it is confused, uneasy, and a little bit of a downer.

I appreciate the service of this very clear indicator.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Friday, February 14, 2014

The Contrast

If I feel pressured, I do not need to make the connection.

I am already connected to the Universe and it is an open and easy flow.

When I need to know something, it comes to me in an appropriate way.

If it is urgent, I receive the message several times to pay attention to a particular thing.

If it is not urgent, it is a more gentle message.

Pressure, however, is not part of the Universe.

It comforts, guides, prepares.

All my needs and desires are inspired and fulfilled through the Universe.

There is an easy flow whenever I am listening.

I appreciate the contrast with the messages that create a sense of pressure or unhappiness or excitement.

Those are simply the media surroundings and all the people who are responding to them.

I can help create an oasis of peace by noticing the difference and returning my own thought to that sense of listening within.

Then I am able to continue with my day calmly, connected with the unlimited resources that the Universe is always providing.

I am so grateful.

© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Attracting Beauty

I attract beauty all around me all the time.

My surroundings are lush.

They are expressive of care for all creatures.

I learn what I need to do and I do it.

My concern is not just for myself, but for all the creatures that make up my habitat.

I am not isolated in my neighborhood inside my house.

I am connected to the earth and all its inhabitants.

We provide for each other.

I help plant flowers and native plants to restore and provide a place for insects, bees, and birds.

They all help pollinate and patrol the garden.

We mutually support each other.

By providing for one another, we both experience lush beauty in our surroundings.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Monday, February 10, 2014

Completely Satisfied

I have a new habit.

When I complete something, I now give it my seal of approval by saying “I am completely satisfied.” 

It is fabulous.

Not only am I expressing appreciation for what has gone into the project or the experience or the visit, I am giving it a stamp of approval.

Criticisms are cut off.

Anxieties are denied.

The experience is complete and I am satisfied with it.

It also works for “I am completely satisfied with my life”.

Sure, I am still working on things, creating the life of my dreams, finishing projects.

But at every stage, I can honestly say, “I am completely satisfied”.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Now Is All There Is

It is easy to bring up memories from the past and feel their emotional imprint.

Reliving those feelings may be a pleasant experience or an unpleasant one.

Either way, it ties us to what once was.

In order to move forward, it is important to value the present time.

This is the time in which we have to act, to be happy, to make plans, to carry them out.

Embracing what is right in front of us and connecting it to the dreams we have enables us to take step after step to realize our dreams.

Even as I feel the emotions from the past, I realize they are just not useful to me.

I encourage myself to move forward by feeling the excitement of my dream enacted.

As I work backwards from where I see myself in my dream to where I am now, I am empowered to take action to get me closer to my dream.

Ideas come for staging areas, product design and supplies to make them, selling and teaching locations, original construction sites to support the spirit of what I am doing.

The Universe supplies all the ideas we could ever need.

Which ones excite you?

Which ones line up with where you see yourself?

Are you reaching far enough?

Can you imagine the most outrageous and exciting goals for yourself?

Then those are the ones you want to pursue, even as you work day-to-day right where you are.

Using your “now” time to place yourself in the most desirable situation you can imagine is the first step to getting yourself there.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

Friday, February 7, 2014

Making Art

It is so fulfilling to draw, quilt, dance, make music.

It lets a person move into a different dimension, a different state of mind.

After posting photo of a new quilt top and a new drawing of a bird, I have moved myself back into the dimension of creating it.

It is so fulfilling, after going through the process of all the sewing, or creating all the lines and shapes and textures, to see the completed project.

It inspires the next ones.

All the baby steps, all the little skills, contribute to the whole.

I watch my attitude as I am in the creative mode, which is most of the time.

I only want good feelings to go into what I am making.

I love the concentration where I forget how much time is involved.

I am solely in the moment.

Each step leads to the next and the next.

Even though I might be able to see where I am going, it is still a refreshing and fulfilling moment to arrive, and sometimes a complete surprise in a different direction.

Make art.  Make more art.  Create.  Live.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Intuition and Guidance

My plans for this weekend were joyously planned out.

This morning, about 8:00 AM, I was surprised by a sense of sadness that would not leave me.

I finally decided that I would be happy wherever I was, no matter what was going on.

A couple of hours later, I received a call canceling my evening out-of-town class, which I always look forward to, due to the weather.

I am glad that I had already decided to be happy.  The cancellation of that class impacted a series of events that were also out-of-town.

However, because I had already decided to be happy, my morning is proceeding just fine.

I am able to move forward on a couple of projects earlier than I expected, and I have just designed another fun decorative thing to make and started making it.

I have been paying more attention to my intuition and not regretting it.

I am guided in advance to take care of things whether I am aware of them or not.

Listening in this way prevents me from putting too much weight on an event, and prepares me for a move in any direction.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Choose Your Own Guidance

What is within is more powerful than what is without.

We externalize what we see by default.

It is effect following upon effect.

When we start from within, and discover our deep nature, then that is what is externalized in our life.

Our deep true nature is what we create from.

It is the essence of our being.

Everything else is what has been enacted upon us.

When we guide that action by being true to our deepest nature, we create an entirely different kind of life for ourselves.

By being compassionate, we create compassion in others around us.

By being unselfish, we create unselfishness in others around us.

By being generous, we create generosity in others around us.

By being creative, we impel creativity in others around us.

We attract those who want to be associated with compassion, unselfishness, generosity and creativity.

When we create abundance, we attract others who also create abundance.

Never underestimate the effect of what you are sending out.

Look at what is coming into your life and you can decide whether it is the result of your own direction or being in association with others or being in default with world opinion.

World opinion, rather than being a default or unguided, is actually being guided.

You can step out of that default position, by looking deeply within and choosing your own guidance.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage

Anxiety No Longer


Anxiety is no longer needed.

There is nothing more for me to learn from it.

I have learned to reach out for permanence, to be surrounded by affection and love, and to gain my own deep self-respect.

Anxiety no longer serves me.

What does serve is what is on the other side.

Instead of a continuing habit, there are new practices to cultivate.

Practices of confidence, loving myself, being certain and assured, self-possession.

I look forward to cultivating these, now that I am becoming conscious of them.

Imagine!  A new kind of life.

A fulness, a trust.

An appreciation, communication, expectation, happiness.

I no longer need anxiety.

I have many other new practices to embrace.


© 2014 Kathryn Hardage