Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Living and Working in a Natural Setting

What did I do this week to promote the feeling of being loved, cherished and adored?

I helped load a pick-up truck bed full of firewood, ends from a pallet factory, for our wood-burning stove.

It took about a half hour to load, with me standing up higher and higher on the stack so as to take advantage of the gravity effect.  Husband was on the ground.

It took about an hour to unload and stack, with me sitting in the back of the pick-up and moving large, then small, pieces of wood forward for (aforesaid) husband to stack in the newly (husband-) built woodshed.

We now have approximately one-third cord of wood, which should take care of about half our winter needs.

(It doesn’t take much to heat a 12 x 20 tiny house in the woods.)

It just felt good to be working together.

It felt good to be doing something very useful.

It felt good to see measurable results in a couple of hours time.

We are in a beautiful, if overgrown, setting, with clean air and lots of meadow scents and sounds.

It is like bathing in a setting of gentleness and natural comfort.

The senses get to rest.

They are eased form the harshness of mechanical sounds and surfaces.

Yes, it is a lot of work which we didn’t do in our city life.

Yes, we are looking for more ways to make it easier and more comfortable.

For instance, I will plant fruit trees in front of the cabin and other retreat buildings to help deal with the heat.

However, it is unequivocally  rewarding and peaceful to the soul.


© 2016 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 15, 2016

My Miracle of Feeling Happy

I noticed I was just feeling happy today.

After thinking about it, I tried to figure out why.

I couldn’t think of any particular reason, so I asked my husband.

He said I was was happy because I was not unhappy.

This is so great.

I am realizing that being happy is a state of normality.

It is actually what a person normally is.

We are created to live in a state of happiness.

If something happens, it can create temporary unhappiness.

But a return to normality is a return to a normal state of happiness.

The attitudes around me as as a very young child taught me to think in certain negative ways about myself.

It created a very challenging life.

But I have been learning over several adult years how to think of myself differently, and that is producing a different result.

A happy result.

I can live a happy life, and I now know how to create that for myself.

Join me.

Let’s do this.

And, please ask me for help if you need it.

I have received help from so many authors, workshops, quotes of the day, and friends.


© 2016 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Quiet Places, Quiet Moments

I am discovering a different pace.

I am learning to live in quiet places and in quiet moments.

I am still getting a lot done.

It is just quiet, not so noisy.

Without tension and pressure, there is time to do things in a relaxed and orderly fashion.

There is the opportunity to just appreciate the beauty of what is going on.

I still have project materials spread out all over, but I don’t panic when something is  not right at hand.

I know I will see where it is momentarily.

And there it is.

After a stressful afternoon one day last week, I decided to do less the next morning when I got up.

I didn’t try to move fast, but I got so much more done than when I had been stressing.

Now that was a quantum realization!

I am so happy to have projects which I love.

It is so wonderful to make beautiful things.

It is a joy and a delight to play with fabrics, yarns, embellishments, and create inspiring and beautiful journals, spiritual treasure bags, scarfs, fabric art pockets for affirmation cards, drawings.

There is no hurry, no deadline.

The quiet moments of work are part of the blessings people receive in the designs.

It is part of what they feel when they use them.

Another way of sharing quiet moments and quiet places in the heart and mind.

© 2016 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com

Sunday, September 4, 2016

The Beauty That I See

I am very gradually and gently completing projects.

Many of these I have been carrying around with me for several years.

And yet, now that it is time, I have the space to spread out the materials I need to finish them.

I am taking little steps with each one.

I am sewing linings into little Spiritual Treasure Bags that I knitted several years ago.

I am adding beads and button closures.

I will print up the meditations that I wrote to go with them and make them into booklets.

I will make fiber art pockets to hold affirmation cards.

It is a completion process that makes me feel so calm inside and quietly happy.

It is a way that I can share the beauty that I see.


© 2016 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com