My New Life

I did finally realize that I was in charge of one life only, my own.

What a revelation and also what a relief!

After taking care of the physical and emotional needs of so many for so long, it was hard to break the habit.

But gradually, the reduced number in the household came down to two.

Two adults.

And no children.

Not in the house.

All grown.

All grown children.

Adults on their own.

And now, how to experience this new kind of freedom?

I have been trying out many ways.

And now, I think I have found it.

My own rhythm.

My own balance.

And I am not in the place my children left me when they grew up.

And I am not of the mind of the time my children left me when they grew up.

I am in a new time, and place, and mind.

We remember each other, but we can not see each other in our new places, our new minds, our new times.

Life is so new for us all.

How could they possibly see me where I am now?

None of us have ever been there.

How can we keep up with the changes?

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Plan...or Listen

In order to “release the hidden splendor from within”, we need only develop a practice of getting quiet and listening from “the within”.

As this becomes a habit, the ideas needed turn up every time.

What is your project?

What is your life?

I used to go from project to project as they filled up my life.

Now, I fill up my life with listening and the projects just get done.

Such a different approach.

Using my mind for a quiet place to listen instead of plan.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Don't Push, Glow Instead

We learn how to coerce ourselves into doing things.

But where is the inspiration in that?

We fill up our cubicles with things to distract us.

Why did we agree to this?

Instead, as we find our true nature, we begin to resist.

But that is not the best way.

We can glow, instead.

We can dream the ideas, gather the materials, seek out the locations, and then take the first step of action.

By then, we will have built up a new foundation.

We will know when it is ready to support us.

Serving a new purpose which fulfills us is the point and reason for our being.

Working to fulfill someone else’s goal is not.

Letting our inner resources flow into action is.

We listen inwardly, and see where our thought goes when it is quiet and undistracted.

We see where it returns over and over again.

We let that idea, the one that glows, be our guide.

We follow it.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

One Step Forward

Just taking one step at a time is movement.

It is action.

Step and think.

Test it.

Try it out.

You have a vision.

It’s OK.

Proceed.

It’s all right to realize your dream.

Even if that is a new mode for you.

Take the next step.

You will be there.

Soon.

Or a bit later.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Picking Up the Rhythm

A couple of years ago, my husband bought me a book on how to draw north American Birds.  There is a list of colored pencils for each bird along with five illustrated steps.

It has been taking me about two months to get up the courage each time and to actually start each bird.

After bird number eight, I took an on-line watercolor lettering class and learned how watercolor paint works.  It is magic!

With such superb training, I gained so many techniques that it was overwhelming, and I absolutely loved it.

I singed up for the next class on drawing Culinary Herbs.  I broke down in the middle of it and could not complete the assignments.

After feeling really bad about that for weeks, I finally decided to take a break and quit beating up on myself.  

After a while, I realized that I was having to take in so much new material without having time to apply it on my own, that there was no more room.  Until I digested all the new material and made it my own, I was depressed and listless where I had felt so amazed at being able to learn how the magic works.

Finally, I drew some line drawings of daffodils from a handout at a Master Gardener workshop.  That felt OK.  So I went back to the bird I had started.  That felt OK, too.  I was able to finish it.  Now I feel that I am back on track.

I just had to find my own rhythm.

I will be glad to experiment some more with the techniques I learned, but I need to build my own foundation now.  This is an important step for me.  I am grateful to learn how I work.  Up until now, I just kept absorbing whatever I was told and did it.

I am grateful for the breakdown.  Now I can develop my own rhythm and let it guide me in my new field of drawing and painting.  I do not have to (nor can I) learn it the way my musical education was presented to me as a child and career-oriented adult.

This expression is solely for me, myself, a new entity I am only just now meeting.  

It is a gentler entity and my approach is also turning out to be more gentle.

I like learning this new rhythm.  It is giving me a totally new perspective on how to live.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

You Know

Your precious diamond mind knows what it wants to do.

It knows what makes it feel golden.

You carry a glow about you when you listen to it.

Do the thing that gives you the deepest satisfaction.

the thing that challenges and fulfills you the most.

It does not, indeed, cannot meet society’s goals.

It must meet your goals.

Then society can benefit.

Trust your feelings.

They are your true guide.

Be little.

Be small.

Listen inside.

Then do the thing that your diamond mind tells you to do.

Be big.

Be gigantic.

Be dedicated in your actions.

You will feel good and society will be benefitted much more.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Depth and Focus

Your diamond mind can do anything.

It can take you anywhere.

After exploring many of those places, it may become time to go deep.

Not just deep for a while, but deep into your one purpose.

It is such grace to find this place, to move into a new state of being.

Seeker, explorer, finder.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

A Mind Full of Peace and Happiness

When your mind is full of peace and happiness, you share an attitude and atmosphere of joy and calm.

People respond to your happiness and peace and joy and calm in a refreshed and alert way.

Since you are not giving out gloom and doom, it is uplifting and clarifies the atmosphere.

People around you can move and think in a more inspired way.

As you provide this atmosphere for yourself, good connections flow.

You find people of like mind.

Soon you both, or all of you, find you are moving more smoothly in the directions you desire and prefer.

You are not held back or held down by your former practice and its results.

You are a different track.

Your surroundings may still say the same things, but you are experiencing an entirely different life.

Soon, even your surroundings change, because you are bringing forth what you practice.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Learning New Things

Knowing when and how is important when taking on a new subject or a new challenge.

In just such a new endeavor, my baby steps jumped into giant steps and I was floundering.

How to back up?

I got past the panic, reconsidered my resources and discovered that I truly was in over my head.

In going back, I discovered resources for baby-steppers.

Now, I can proceed once again.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com