Friday, December 25, 2015

Gratitude and Forgiveness

I am learning a new practice from “A Course in Miracles”.

It is gratitude and forgiveness.

I had no idea the impact this would have on me.

Today, I was just a little depressed, easy to get caught up in the pressure of the season, even though I am not participating, and I realized I could replace my feelings with gratitude and forgiveness.

I felt a much lighter and happier attitude within me right away.

I am so grateful for this new vocabulary of feelings and attitudes.

It is far better than the escalating anger I was taught.

Instead of rigid obedience, there is lots of room for gentleness and relaxation in gratitude and forgiveness.

It removes the pressure of trying to keep up with everything and trying to please so many other people.

It lets me remember the simple things I went out to do.

It makes room for the big ideas I like to play with.

It creates the conditions I need to progress and develop projects.

It removes the worries.

The more I practice it, the better I feel.

These two qualities of gratitude and forgiveness work together for a very powerful and positive effect.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage


Saturday, December 12, 2015

No Shame

There is nothing to be ashamed of in your life.

If this is your pattern of behavior, it is the one you learned in the circumstances you were in.

Now that you are aware of it, you can redirect your life.

At the time, you pattern was the appropriate one for the situation.

Now that you want a new direction, you can note your responses and acquire the tools and techniques to create it.

But there is no shame in being where you are.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.inspiredPractices.com

Realm of the Divine - 5


You May Not Know Where I Am

You may not know where I am.

That’s why you no longer communicate with me.

You may think I am where you left me when you departed.

But I am not.

Because I am growing in new ways and new directions, you may not recognize me.

I know you are growing, too.

Maybe our paths will cross again.

Maybe not.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Realm of the Divine - 4


Nothing Gives Me Limitations

Nothing takes anything away from me.

I always gain.

I learn new ways to celebrate.

I learn new skills.

I acquire new knowledge.

This gives me new relationships.

Detracting, disappointing, even despairing experience set me in new directions.

Losing the most cherished relationships are a crushing blow until we release the pain and see where that new momentum takes us.

The story of Job shows us how an host, committed, unreasonable direction renewed Job’s life completely.

Who would commit themselves to a deeply sincere goal knowing they would lose family, friends, career?

We cannot.  It is too painful.

And so we are forced into expanding beyond even these good things when circumstances cause them to collapse.

Listen deeply when this happens.  You are being guided to a new place.

And there are good things there, waiting for you.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Monday, December 7, 2015

The Feeling

Still catching up from Thanksgiving...

Beginning the day by snuggling with the one who loves me is a good start to Thanksgiving Day.

This man kept loving me until I could feel it for myself.

I never knew that feeling before.

But now I do, and I am grateful for it every day.

I knew satisfaction, intellectual strength, academic recognition.

But love has been a much later revelation to me.

A long enduring series of daily moment-to-moment experiences, going on twenty-nine years.

And always there has been love.

Sometimes without understanding.

But there has been patience and continuing love.

So now, I am starting to get it.

Thank you with all my heart.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Supportive Community

I am considering the thoughts that come to me.

In my new setting, I am very supported.

I am surrounded by Nature’s healing beauty wherever I go.

Somehow, I am only running into supportive, calm, happy people.

Perhaps it is because so many of my groups are composed of givers.

Quilters, knitters, weavers.

All people who create beautify with fiber.

The satisfaction of hand-work.

Experienced knitters help new knitters.

Beginning quilters are led through the process.

Setting up a loom takes as much imd as weaving the project, and there is always help.

Guild meetings occur in large and small cities all over the area.

There is so much teaching to advance your skills.

What a lovely culture to attract andbelong in.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.inspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Good Life

I am learning that whatever I identity with becomes part of my life.

It may be pleasant or it may be negative..

Either way, I am choosing what I am.

When I return to negative elements of the past, I am recreating a negative life.

When I embrace the presence of what I truly desire that is good, I create a wonderful life.

The people who are creating the same kind of world that I am show up in mine.

I am protected from negative versions of life when I trust the good life I am creating for myself.

 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

My Overflowing Happiness

We have been studying “A Course in Miracles” for seventy-four days.

It is working a gentle and radical change of viewpoint.

I have heard many of the same phrases in other spiritual teachings.

It is interesting to see how each new step enhances my life.

Sometimes it is disorienting for a while as my mind finds its way into this new relationship.

The most wonderful feeling though, is that of overflowing happiness.

It is becoming a more consistent and deep feeling.

Right where I am, right there in front of me, I have all I need.

I am happy.

I am satisfied.

I am beautiful.

I am whole.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage


Sunday, October 25, 2015

Driven to New Ground

I was driven to find a new way to celebrate the holidays because of my intense emotional discomfort.

At first I thought that as I uncovered the ”hidden drivers” and healed them, I would be able to return to the old traditions.

Instead, I find myself very calmly and consistently directed to remain separate and to keep my peace.

It is a though I have found a hidden country.

I am in plain sight, but I am in a new place.

As m peaceful experience expands during the holidays, I look forward to hosting an entirely different experience for others.

A quiet day in a natural setting, appreciating Nature’s gifts.

As part of my year-round inspirational practice, I write meditations so that all may feel loved, cherished, adored.

When the crunch of media harassment for the holidays begins, I invite all who come in range of my thought to take three deep breaths and to feel deep peace.

I intend that my meditations help direct and fulfill thought to that end.

I encourage you to seek out and practice peaceful moments all year and to especially take the time to continue this practice during the holidays.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Repeating the Cycle, Reliving the Pain

I have completely reformed, as in changed, my holiday seasonal celebrations as of several years ago.

I stepped off the gift-giving and receiving cycle, the family gatherings, and the tension of planning and executing events.

Instead, I substituted recognizing and celebrating my spiritual concept of individuals throughout the year.

In my service groups, I have expanded my giving to those in direct, often desperate, need.

Instead of hoping my well-employed and supplied adult children will like what I made for them each year, I do what I did when they were little.

I remember and acknowledge their spiritual qualities and spiritual identity; and I know that God cares for them in every detail.

The things I make for them, I think of as my recognition of their spiritual gifts.

My grandchildren, too, receive amazing presents from their parents, so I feel free in gifting them with what I feel is appropriate for them from our museum and bookstore trips, plus whatever I enjoy making for them.

This viewpoint is something I can give throughout the year to everyone whenever I think about a relative, friend or acquaintance.

I have been moved to celebrate in an entirely new way that does not depend on traditional holiday rituals and practices.

Despite the all-pervading cultural ritual, I am most comfortable on my new ground.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

A Healing Meditation

A friend was facing surgery.  I wrote this healing meditation for her.

------
Divine Law is a healing fact.

It is in operation for everyone, all the time, in every circumstance.

Nothing overrides Divine Law.

It is the only Power.

It is all-active throughout every aspect of life and throughout every aspect of the body.

The body is here for our expression of God’s qualities.

Integrity, harmony, balance, love, tenderness, compassion.

These divine qualities never deteriorate or degrade in any way.

Since we express these and many, many more, no belief of deterioration or degradation can attach itself to us or our bodies.

It is a spiritual impossibility.

That is what gives this meditation its power.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Monday, September 14, 2015

Consciously Loving

I just love driving around the small town square when we drive in from way out  in the country.

I love going to the library, the post office, the bakery and the farm store.

I love waking up with all the green trees around the meadow.

I love the sound of the winds through the leaves and how the sounds change.

I love the scents that greet me when I open the gate to our land.

I love the different scents as they change at night.

I love the new skills we are required to learn to live more comfortably.

I love to watch the line of the sun as it climbs up the east ridge until it is too low to create a shadow.

I love to watch the leaves fall and reveal more and more of the land that climbs the ridge behind the trees.

I love to watch the deer cautiously venture onto our meadow.

I love the fact that bluebirds made decorative nesting boxes on a cedar bench into their own dwellings.

I love the seeing the passage of time through the seasonal changing of wild flowers.

I love feeling cozy in my cabin when it rains and hearing the different pattern of raindrops on the roof.

I love being close to Nature and feeling enveloped in Its tender care.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

You Can Change Your Circumstances

If your family circumstances did not provide you with the elements you need to thrive, you can learn to build them for yourself.

You will be led to friends, counselors, authors, workshops, courses that will give you a different set of skills with which to care ate a supportive and productive and positive sense of yourself.

As you gain experience and confidence in your new set of skills and techniques, you will see evidence right in front of you that your life is changing.

You will feel it within.

Gradually  you will discover the benefits of spending your time and thought-energy in these positive and productive directions rather than to remain bitter.

Perhaps, as your life continues to progress, the more experienced you become with the new, improved, confident and happy version of yourself, you will find you can make even more progress through forgiveness.

You are only in charge of yourself.  You do not need to know what is going on in other people’s lives, including your parents.

You do not even need to judge or evaluate them or excuse them.

The best use of your time is to continue to move yourself forward, building on the new foundation you have discovered for yourself.

You will continue to attract better circumstances, and more supportive friends.

You belong in good circumstances, surrounded by tender, nurturing, positive and uplifting people.

You have a right to be happy, but in order to do so, you must turn all of your efforts to reeducating yourself and let others continue on their own life-paths.

Build your own strengths and happiness.

Don’t let others’ criticism or frustration, hatred or jealousy deter you or slow you down.

If you can be a positive example to others, let them draw their own conclusions from your practice.

If not, keep going anyway.  You deserve it, and most importantly, you are the only one who can do this for yourself.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Loving Yourself

Loving yourself means doing those things that please you.

It is not just a privilege.

It is a requirement.

We are each here to discover the most beautiful part of living our lives.

Sure, we are surrounded by all the societal requirements.

But we can change those priorities to love.

It really is possible to do this.

When I look at the difference between what I was “trained” to do, in great and exacting detail, and what I love to do, there is a world of difference in the feeling.

This feeling is the key.

What is easy and beautiful and makes you feel wonderful?

What is it that you can do in service to others?

This combination starts you in the right direction.

Persistence, because the tendency is to return to what is familiar, will get you there.

It is a different world.

I highly recommend this process and its beautiful results.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

You Will Figure It Out

Despite anything negative that has happened to you, you will figure out a way to move forward into a happy life.

I am extremely grateful to be able to say that.

I had felt so despairing and devastated when I discovered, at age fifty, the “hidden drivers” from long-term abuse which began during my early childhood and continued until I was fourteen years old.

Without a clue how to begin, I sent out a desperate call to the Universe.

My previous Sunday School training in spiritual healing had saved my life as a child and I continued drawing on it.

But I finally realized I needed to go beyond that.

My call to the Universe brought me remarkable resources, just what I needed, each time.
I read other inspired authors, read daily inspirational quotes from several on-line blogs, attended workshops, met with a woman’s group, and studied, meditated, and prayed, deeply and rigorously.

The old deeply hidden thought habits which were shaped by the abuse began to be replaced.

Gradually, over fifteen years, more and more happiness has become possible for me.

I find myself in a place where I can encourage and assure others.

You will figure it out.

The Universe has resources for all of us.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

A Requirement

I realized I was getting uptight and dissatisfied over my new class schedule even though I loved everything I was learning.

Since I had discovered how to be completely satisfied and happy and relaxed in my new setting, I was acutely aware of the contrast.

Always, before, my priorities had been on getting things done efficiently, with a push to organize and prayers to support me being able to accomplish what I set my mind to do.

But a new kind of priority has emerged over a period of five years in retirement.

It is a priority to listen to my heart and inner guidance.

I have discovered my new deep purpose.

I have been guided to acquire the skills to express it.

And apparently, the Universe is supporting me in that direction in a way that makes it clear that it is my priority regardless of how I am adding on other plans.

So, I dropped my extra classes and immediately regained my happiness and ecstasy in my wonderful, purposeful work.

Everything got done.

Time compressed and a lot more got done.

Solutions appeared where much thought and consideration had yielded nothing.

I am back in my groove and so completely happy once again.

I didn’t know I was allowed to live like this.

Actually, I didn’t know I was required to live like this.

It is the best thing in the world.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Instant Gratification

My instant gratification is waking up every morning in the country to a beautiful view of acres of trees and sky.

Every time I come home and push open the gate, I smell the scents of the trees and forest all around me, and it feels so good to know that this is where I live now.

At night, I walk outside and see a sky full of stars.

I hear the night sounds of frogs and insects, conversations of owls and coyotes.

I watch the rain from my cozy cabin and hear it change from light mist to heavy pounding on the roof.

I walk from my cabin to the open deck to read until twilight.

I walk from my cabin to the covered deck to cook in the open kitchen and to watch the shadow line of the sun as it advances west throughout the day until noon on the steps of the deck.

Then I watch the sun-line advance up the eastern ridge until it disappears into the night.

I can estimate the time of day, once I get used to its rhythm.

I love the feeling of a solution when we discover an innovation we can implement using simple materials.

I love the amazing feeling when we discover we can carry out a project in a much simpler way with the resources at hand.

I love how we enjoy discovering solutions that make us feel so good and let us celebrate our strengths and creativity.

We have so much more room to play out here.

We have room for current ideas and future ideas, and ideas we have been carrying for so very many years.

Yes, it is gratification all the time in our wonderful country setting.

A different kind of instant gratification.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

Monday, August 17, 2015

Trusting Ourselves

It is wonderful to be surrounding by friends who love and support us.

It becomes one of the benefits of trusting ourselves first.

When we pursue the things that we love and which are important to us, we attract a different kind of friend.

Our new kind of friend is adventurous, supportive because s/he too, has tried new things.

One gets better and better balance after trying new things and having to regain balance even in the face of new experiences and techniques.

With practice, we get better at this, as we do with everything else.

I am grateful to get better at trying new things than just checking my existing balances.

I like the interest it adds to my life.

I like the feeling of spontaneity and exhilaration.

I like the new vocabularies of the new things I am exploring.

I like finding my true niche as it expands into more and more possibilities.

I simply feel better about myself now that I have given myself more room to live.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Pure Joy

Today, I began rubber stamping “www.inspiredPractices.com” onto the backs of all the affirmation cards I had printed up.

As I read each card, i felt the power of its truth and inspiration.

Over the year and a half that I spent listening for and writing down the affirmations, my life changed dramatically.

I realize now that I began recreating my life from the very first one.

Absorbing and immersing myself in my new intent so consistently, eventually drowned out the old habits with their desired replacements.

Step b step and affirmation by affirmation, I became completely convinced of the power to live my life in a new and confident manner based on my personal priorities and desires.

Mh conviction finally became so powerful that is has now moved me to a new and beautiful location where I spend my time in joy.

When I find the old habit of beating myself into submission to be “in production,” I can no longer just do the work.

My new way to work is in “pure joy”.

I don’t want any other element to go into what I create except “pure joy” , so I quit until I can regain my “pure joy” state of mind.

I take the time to breathe deeply and look across the meadow, and listen to the buzz of dragonflies and the cries of hawks up high in the sky,

I feel the gentle breeze and watch the light and shadow from the clouds play across the ground.

I breathe deeply.  I am happy.  I am peaceful.

Then, when it is time, I will continue my projects.

I am so very glad and satisfied and grateful to know that what I offer the public has only th elements of creativity, imagination and pure joy in each one.


© 2015 Kathryn Hardage