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