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