Natural Expansion

Once you have established an uplifting practice for yourself, it will expand naturally.

You will find yourself maintaining your inspired thinking not only for yourself and the situations around you, but for others in a general way.

Specific opportunities will begin to come to you as well.

The same way we would never let a child of ours remain in pain, we cannot bear to see others suffer.

By applying the tools and techniques we have learned to support our own practice to other situations, we can be an uplifting influence.

This does not require actual speech; it occurs as you direct your uplifting attitude to the situation.

I find myself affirming that a solution is at hand for everyone involved.

The same way that I trust the Universe to bring me the ideas I need, I affirm that the Universe is available in a current situation.

As I sit quietly and gain a sense of peace through this type of meditation, I often see a disturbing situation resolve itself.

The frustration and impatience some one is experiencing will stop as they receive the services they need.

A parent will be able to quiet a restless child as the atmosphere is lifted through applying this affirmative and deeply meditative practice.

As you continue to affirm the presence of the Universe and Its solutions, you will see the results around you.

On one particular occasion, I had the opportunity to speak directly to a man who was in deep depression and grief over the loss of his wife.

Even though it had been some time, he had been unable to find comfort.

As we spoke, I was able to find a way to relate how, as an art teacher, he valued the work of the painters in history,

I was able to convey the idea that he could continue to value the wonderful qualities his wife expressed throughout their marriage.

He was able to accept his ongoing appreciation which he could draw on every time he thought of her.

His depression was lifted and when I visited him several months later, he was a contributing member in various activities, and enjoying the associations.

We are always able to receive uplifting ideas for the situation by acknowledging the presence of the Universe, and we can often share them in appropriate ways.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com 

Everything Else

What if the other person is smarter?

What if they are more manipulative and they are winning?

Even there, you are OK.

Your lack of experience and cunning is not a defect.

Your purity and innocence are still important qualities which you bring to the table.

If they are able and willing to take advantage of you, what does that say about their character?

Would you be willing to act in such a way?

Of course not.

Your goodness and sense of fairness are much more powerful in carrying out your life’s purpose.

You have no more ability to compromise your character than you have to stop yourself from  breathing.

Keep moving forward with the power of your integrity.

Let everyone else have what they are scrabbling for.

Maintain your dignity and let it carry you forward into the next step.

You will always have whatever you need to make progress.

Continue seeking opportunities for service.

Continue being a giver.

You have made contact with your Infinite Source.

Your actions and attitude will uplift you even as you observe those who are scrabbling and trying to take advantage of you.

Be generous of heart and continue looking higher.

Let the other person win in the way that they can.

Keep moving upward in your own expression.

Nothing can take away your dignity and self-respect.

Do not play on a lower level.

Simply observe what is going on around you and do not be disturbed by it, even if it appears you are at a disadvantage.

You are gaining a higher view.

It will give you everything else you will ever need.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com 

Little Tendencies

I am noticing all the little tendencies of thought which run through me as a constant background to my day.

Many of those are unconscious until I look at them, and then I realize that I would not invite them into a conversation, so I take the step to consciously remove them.

As I replace undesirable judgements, criticisms, and evaluations with appreciation, compassion and patience, my day improves.

I am not subject to low grade depression.

I embrace happiness and healthful activity.

I move myself into uplifting and inspiring creativity.

I value myself and my work.

I do not accept things about myself which I would not voice to anyone else.

I realize it is a pattern from long ago, and it was part of the background accompaniment to my life.

I am leading a life which I choose.

I choose to surround myself with beauty and creativity and happiness.

I have moved onward from the degrading behaviour around me during my childhood and I am creating a wonderful life for myself.

Acting in a conscious manner toward good and uplifting and inspiring activity has totally redirected my life.

I no longer numb myself to my surroundings.

I no longer succumb to a narrow focus in order to maintain any kind of equilibrium.

I look around me.

I see detailed and embracing beauty.

I participate in making beautiful things.

I am embraced and included in conversation and in life.

I place myself where I can serve and where I can be uplifting and inspiring.

I am successful at work which I choose to do.

I overcome the background noise I was raised with and create a conscious and distinct and tangible, beautiful, happiness in which to live.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com 

Surrounded and Included

My expanded view surrounds me and includes me.

I am no longer being cut off from my results.

I can feel the peace and joy and happiness seeping down into my pores.

I can see beyond the things which brought me to this point and my expanded view includes my success.

I continue to follow my heart and my design intuition as I “play” with my materials.

I enjoy how they come together and the fact that I always know when they are “wrong” and need to be rearranged.

The final results please me in simple ways that take away my restless feeling throughout the design process.

That is how I know I have finished.

I can step back and enjoy looking at what I have made and feel happy and complete.

Being surrounded by simple and happy exchanges, I give up my worries and concerns and just enjoy my art.

My simple day-to-day exchanges allow me to be refreshed and comforted as I return to my work.

I feel directed to work on each thing until I run out of steam, and then I work on something else.

Interspersed are complimentary activities as I learn my way around a new location.

I am including a better sense of confidence and success as I trust myself and the way that I work.

I feel comforted by my art and the easy access I am finding to materials and inspiration.

I am connecting to resources in a natural way.

I am finding many opportunities for expansion and upliftment.

I move with confidence and peace throughout my day.

I see my progress and I celebrate it.

I feel my completeness and I am satisfied, happy and content.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com 

The Beauty of Quietness

I am listening to the calls of songbirds and mourning doves and no traffic in a town of 105, 000 population up in the hills of central Portugal.

I love the peace I am finding as I take the time to orient myself in a new culture and learn a new language.

My meditation drawing today reflects the repetitious lines of roof tiles and new plants in my new environment.

We walk slowly, very slowly, up tiers and tiers of steps in this steep setting.

We feel our stamina increasing gradually as we take the time required to walk to cafes, the grocery store, the bookstore, and look for fabric stores for my fabric travel journal.

We do not feel the restlessness of people who are frantic or dissatisfied with their lives, which was part of our US environment.

People are working regular jobs, but they are surrounded by people who come regularly to their places of business.

The sense of community builds peace and security.

We stopped in to a local grocery store, which is the size of two large rooms, many are smaller, and bought two gigantic strawberries (produce here is much larger than we are used to).  

Our tiny purchase was not scorned.

People are making a living at human scale, and at a human, not corporate pace.

All the tiny businesses we go into are considerate of all their customers.

The personal relationships are part of the peace and beauty of quiet community.

I am finding that I can relax in this environment.

As I continue to travel and have more experiences on this scale, I feel validated in ways that I never did while raising my children and running my human-scaled business in the US.

The new category of business which follows after the workings of micro-credit called social business is more to my taste.

It exists to address a social problem and it solves it by becoming self-sustaining while doing so.

Human scale gives me a sense of quietness.

It allows me to enjoy what is beautiful and peaceful around me.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com

Building in Harmony

By being honest with myself, I can live in absolute and complete harmony.

As I express my ideas, I am building and furnishing my new home.

My expressed ideas create the atmosphere I want to live in.

They attract the surroundings, friends and colleagues that I most enjoy.

As I write, I am voicing the ideas which most sustain me.

As I do my drawing meditations, I experience the calm of repetitious lines and shapes.

As I expand my drawing, I explore new connections between ideas and motion.

As I create with fabric, I make a way for texture, design and color to be expressed.

My honest action to do these things which I love fills me and satisfies me.

I am happy as I pursue and complete them.

They keep me in motion, so that the next step is already in front of me even as I take a breath with my foot poised.

I love living in my new home which is created as I write, draw and sew.

I love letting the ideas which well up in me have a home through my expression of them.

I love sharing them so that others may enjoy them and give them a home as well.

I love the support that ideas garner when they are shared with other caring and appreciative souls.

We have a title of sorts, “cultural creatives”.

It is very appropriate as our work does indeed create the places where it can benefit those who love it.

When there is that much joyous creativity happening, it aligns the world differently.

© 2019 Kathryn Hardage

www.lovedcherishedadored.blogspot.com