A Day at the Museum

I am so grateful for a lovely day at the museum.

Before attending the exhibit, we had lunch together and enjoyed conversation ranging on many topics.

I noticed the different feelings that came up on various topics.

I am getting more and more aware of how important it is to embrace things in a way that is uplifting.

Looking for solutions, or at least acknowledging that there is one is an important part of staying uplifted.

If you have the gift of humor, this is an important place to practice it.

There is an appropriate way to look at painful moments, and sometimes humor is one of those ways.

We are all here to share our gifts.

There are many places and circumstances which need them.

When you think of yourself as a giver, then you have a much better approach to life.

Policies can be turned around, but while you are waiting, be as authentic in your life as it is possible to be.

There is human dignity no matter what, because it comes from within.

There is true love and compassion no matter what, because you make those decisions for yourself.

I find myself looking for and appreciating these qualities because they contribute more to society and culture than anything else.

I would rather be involved in expressing and creating more of these qualities, than in berating those who are not.

I am sure everyone has their part to play in society, but I am biased toward those who use their power and influence to help everyone uplift themselves.

Please join me in being uplifted and being a compassionate giver.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Getting My Energy Back Up

I have started observing how things that are going on around me make me feel.

I used to just feel however things made me feel.

Up, down, elated, depressed, sometimes in the middle.

Now, I am noticing it.

Does the event, remark, experience have the effect of making me feel uplifted and happy and full of light?

Or is there another feeling?

I like the uplifted feeling the best.

So, now I am starting to look for ways to get my energy back up into the uplifted category.

Since I live with myself first, I want to feel the best I can the most time possible.

Since noticing the feelings “barometer”, I am taking the time to do what it takes to get uplifted again.

This is how I want to feel and this is the feeling I want to share with others around me.

This is the feeling I want other people to know and to have as a result of the work which I do in this world.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.inspiredPractices.com

For a printable version of this meditation, please go to:

www.InspiredPractices.com and click on "LovedCherishedAdored".

Already Happy

I am already happy because I am accomplishing my dream.

After rigorous searching, I was able to discern my purpose for being here, and with a habit of deep listening, each step for accomplishing it comes to mind at the right time.

When I am tempted to be impatient or to feel frustrated in some way, I look at when and where I started, and I am greatly encouraged.

Each step is being carried out in order to have a sound business along with appropriate creative and efficient production methods from concept to sale.

I love receiving the ideas to turn into little music books for children.

I am privileged to have the best teachers in the world (at the Apple store ) to teach me how to use the computer.  What a great team!  There is always someone who knows  way more than what I am asking about.

I have a long-term relationship with a couple of print shops.

I found the types of magazine racks I need for book display and sales at events.

I learned how to set up my blog to include digital downloads of the latest releases (with an occasional freebie thrown in).  www.MusicandBooksforChildren.com. 

I have been tracking the google rating and find that my inspirational blogs are rated higher than my business website and blog because I have daily multiple entries on it.  www.InspiredPractices.com.

So, listening to the inspiration pouring from within, I have started writing articles about each music book which will be posted daily as soon as I get that rhythm flowing at  www.MyMusicalMind.com. 

My husband built me some portable banner holders to support my banners of sample musical patterns when I attend events.

I get fun responses when I dress up in costume as my teaching character, "Kacky Muse".

I have expanded my teaching base to include Farm-Arts-Nature topics which can be found at www.KackyMuse.com as part of my F.A.N. Club.

Ideas are pouring in and it is my job to acknowledge them and to express my appreciation to the Universe for its abundance by making these ideas available to whoever can be benefitted by them.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Self-Appreciation Fills Me

I am learning about the value of self-appreciation.

Who I really am, and what I enjoy most about myself, comes from my own inside knowledge of myself, knowledge to which only I am privy.

I can enjoy my special insights on what I am reading.

I can enjoy the new skills I am learning.

I can enjoy the special friends with whom I share deep respect.

I respect the many people who put together the interesting clubs and Meet-Ups available in this area of such rich resources.

I enjoy the quiet natural settings available to me through Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists.

I am so privileged to know and attract interesting people who are doing meaningful and fulfilling work in our communities.

Despite the powerful commercial and political interests all around us all over the world, we have deep self-appreciation for our involvement in issues that are important to us and we celebrate our ability to engage in meaningful work.

This is deeply powerful and we can’t help but practice it on a larger and larger scale as the superficial world becomes emptier and emptier for more and more people.

This is what is changing in our world.

I appreciate you being on this journey with me.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Managing Someone Else's Life

I just realized that I am very susceptible when other people act helpless.

I try to come up with all kinds of helpful suggestions, which is frustrating, because it just makes them mad.

Then I feel all tense and distracted because I am not getting anything done.

It finally occurred to me, that when other people act helpless, that is their choice.

I can be aware of that, but as it is not my life, I am free to go on with my projects and keep my attitude positive and productive.

I am now recognizing, that if I find myself feeling frustrated about someone else, I have been paying too much attention to them.

I have worked hard to figure out my purpose.

My job is to fulfill it.

Anything that gets in the way of that has no place in my life.

I can keep doing what it is I came here to do.

That way, I add to the satisfaction factor for myself.

I keep the atmosphere around me uplifted and happy.

I have quite enough to do managing my own life.

It was not easy to learn how to do it for myself and it may not be easy for someone else to learn how to do it for themselves.

But that is why we are here, to manage our own lives in order to uplift ourselves and to encourage anyone else in the vicinity who happens to notice.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

The Groove of Fulfillment

I am just now getting back in my “groove”.

I have been writing my blog posts by hand in a spiral notebook while we have been “off the grid”.  I catch up some of the time at the public library or while recharging my computer off the car battery as we are driving.

But now, we are back “on the grid” and what a luxury it is!

I have been revving back up on blog posts while battling the attendant “monkey mind”, and then, once that baseline has been established, going to my work of developing children’s music reading readiness materials (www.MusicandBooksforChildren.com and www.MyMusicalMind.com).

A new avenue of communication has been coming to me, so, since I take that sort of thing very seriously, I have been taking dictation from the Universe and writing it down.  I am now being gifted with the words to describe my musical materials.  These will appear as articles on the home page of www.MyMusicalMind.com as I release the materials I am describing.

It has long been my goal to share what I have been doing for so many years with other folks.  I am now being led to release my materials to parents of very young children.  It will be easy to follow up with these simple and delightful Music Reading Readiness Books with their accompanying Music Stories which make it really (very) easy to practice.  Just read the story and play the musical symbols as the story unfolds.

Once again, I am so grateful to receive these wonderful ideas which have been so very effective with young children for so many years.  I love watching them make the transition to traditional music reading once they have had lots of experiences developing their confidence through originality, that is, composing their own original musical patterns with my Music Reading Readiness Kits.

I am looking forward to sharing more, now that I am back in my “groove”.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

The Feeling

Now that I know the feeling I am looking for it is much easier.

I knew I was restless.

I took action to get ready.

But I didn’t know where I was meant to go.

So, after a while, I found the feeling I was after.

Then the action I had been taking made sense.

And it made sense to continue it.

A simple thing, but elusive.

Once I had the feeling, the rest made sense.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com