Do What You Enjoy

I have been making time to discover what I enjoy doing.

Now that I am doing it more and more, I am so happy.

Many more ways of sharing what I love to do are opening up.

I almost began to feel rushed to do them.

But, rushing and pressure are not part of joy.

So I am scaling back to infuse even more joy into what I do.

The most wonderful thing is how this commitment to joy is erasing the old pressures and anxieties.

It is making more and more of my life joyful and joyous.

I had o idea I could layer more and more happiness into my life.

Searching for ways to consciously define what I love to do have done this for me.

The joy is infusing itself naturally into all area of my life, the more I do what I enjoy.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Do You Trust Yourself?

Do you trust yourself to learn what you need to know?

Do you trust yourself to figure it out?

If you can read directions, and you give yourself the time you need, you can put it together.

If things are not working out, no matter what yo try, do you trust yourself to go get advice ad help from someone else?

Then you can take the next step.

The more you do this, making the modifications you need for your particular situation, the more you will be able to trust yourself for the next adventure, project, goal.

You are building up connections within yourself, specific competencies which then give you the experiences you need to be confident.

Every practical skill requires knowledge and practice.

You give this to yourself every time you take on something new and develop it.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Working in Pure Ecstasy

I have just begun setting up my mobile fiber art studio in our 5’ x 10’ trailer.

It is so exciting to find that everything fits with a generous amount of room.

I am astounded.

As I complete the settling in of supplies, I will give it the kind of test run Barbara Sher describes for “scanners”, that is, people who like to do a number of different things.

She advises us to set up each project with all the supplies we will need, and then do each one for fifteen minutes, to make sure everything is at hand, just for a test run.

I tend to spend lots more time on a project than that, but that will let me know I am not missing anything I need.

Having everything close at hand will allow me to work in pure ecstasy.

Once I get started, I like to keep going.

It is such a joy to play with fabric, create the designs that please me, to write the meditations to go with the journals the fabric will become.

It makes sense to practice drawing zentangle shapes to illustrate words of inspiration.

It makes sense to prepare yarn both to knit and to add to the designs.

It makes me happy to see the collection of ribbons, raffia, and embellishments which give the fiber art a little special focus.

In addition to creating the original fiber art, I am now creating kits, due to a conversation and request from a quilt shop owner and fellow quilters.

It is fun to anticipate how far the fiber art can travel and the inspiration that people will write to fill their journals.

We can all contribute to the delight, fun, depth and ecstasy in the world.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Unlimited and Whole

I cannot accept the idea that I am limited in any way.

I have broken through too many barriers.

I hold exception to the many deteriorating and degrading practices I see people accepting about themselves.

I want to say, “No! You don’t have to think that way!”.

There are many other paths you can take.

We are precious, wonderful, lovely creations.

We live in an Infinite Universe of beautiful possibilities.

Imagine it!

Let your heart guide you to what you love.

Immerse yourself in doing it.

Let that wonderful feeling of doing what you love radiate around you.

Let it enhance the atmosphere of everyone you encounter.

Others will note your natural, uplifting feeling and it will make them feel good too, less burdened.

Many of us, taking the steps to do hat we love, will add to the wholeness of our world.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Happiness

What reminds you of who you are?

So many things show us the distance between us and happiness.

But the distance is greatly shortened when we remember who we are.

Nothing outside ourselves provides us with happiness.

When we see something that lights up our heart, it is our response to it that creates happiness within us.

When we are moved with compassion toward someone or a situation we become aware of, it is that uplifting spirit which helps create happiness.

When we take action to correct a situation, we are helping lift it with a higher practice.

Who we really are is someone who can perceive answers, steps, feelings.

We can recognize them.

We can think of ourselves as who we really are.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

In Balance

When you plan a project, then it is time to sit back and let it mature in your thought.

Even if you have all the materials, sometimes it is not quite time to start.

I find myself pushing to get something done and when I do that, nothing happens.

After a whole though, when I am thinking and working on something else, a little tiny thing will fall into place and my original project will take place very quickly.

There is a balance to working and waiting, planning and resting, being active and being patient.

I know I love the planning stages and I am learning to relax and let the Universe shape my project and grow it and mature it until it is time for it to happen.

Then I am able to see details and appreciate nuances which did not have time to occur to me while I was still shaping the project.

When it is at an absolute calm, it is time to begin.

Before that, there is something missing.

I am learning to wait and do something else while the key piece moves into place.

Then I find myself reviewing a project from a different viewpoint and adding in subtle touches that had not occurred to me earlier.

That is the moment at which the project comes into balance and can move forward.

It has a smooth roll and delivery to it, no awkwardness or rush.

It reaches the people it is meant to reach in a timely manner.

I can enjoy a quiet celebration.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

New Challenges and Possiblities

It is always important to trust ourselves when we feel a new direction coming to light.

The one that comes consistently is a sign of Guidance.

We may cling to our present condition and position just because they are familiar. but more things are available to delight us.

When we are ready, we receive little nudges.

When we don’t reposed at first, the nudges become bigger and stronger.

Finally, they get our attention and we look at them.

We become more involved in discovering the possibilities for ourselves.

We have an ability to become expansive.

We are not limited to what we see around us or to what has already been done.

We can trust that fact.

We can trust what happens when we begin to engage with it.

Even though we may find ourselves scrambling to get on our feet from time to time as we gain our balance in new situations, it is totally worth the exhilaration.

Feeling more and more alive in new situations that challenge and delight us is something we can build into our lives forever.

It is a different kind of lifestyle, one that welcomes new possibilities.

I am enjoying both the new challenges and the new delights in mine.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Our Irresistible Path

We are all taking steps along our own path.

We are taking each one as it is revealed to us.

No one else has any idea what someone else’s path looks like.

In fact we only find it for ourselves when we quit responding to anything outside of ourselves.

Our path reveals itself from within our own deepest and quiet thoughts.

Then it puts itself into action.

We cannot hurry this process, although we can slow it down by our own opinions.

It is an irrevocable part of our identity.

Despite our opinions or even objections, it is not open to criticism.

Our experiences bring us to our own individual path once we quit resisting this process.

It becomes compelling, irresistible and satisfying in the deepest ways once we get our stride and keep listening.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Easy is OK

The thought occurred to me today, that maybe the work I was doing (putting a music newsletter together) was all right, just the way I was doing it.

I am no longer beating myself up the way i was taught to for so many of my formative years.

I did my work today without any concerns or anxieties.

Is that what it feels like?

Just doing the work?

I felt fulfilled and, well just kinda quiet.

No anxieties.

This will be easy.  Today was easy.

No struggling against self-doubts and self-criticisms.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Choose As Soon As You Can

Now that we are making the choices to do what we love, our lives are completely different.

We didn’t realize how completely we got sucked into what was going on around us.

Now that we are out and living on our land, we can see clearly that it is important to have a dream and to act on it as soon as you can.

It may be that you will be fighting upstream the whole time until you can get to your ideal situation.

It may be that you have some encouragement and support.

But whether you do or not, it is important to keep taking whatever steps you can toward your dream.

That way, you are putting the life that you want to live into action.

Otherwise, you are just reacting to the media harassment and crush of what everyone else is doing.

Now that we are out of it, and we were definitely individuals while we were living under such pressure, we are so relieved and grateful to find this peace and to be in sync with what is important to us.

Whenever you can, take yourself to a peaceful place.

Get quiet.

Meditate.

Listen within.

There is a different life available to you.

Let yourself be led and guided to it.

Do it soon.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Faithfulness and Insight

Do your work.

Ask for the inspiration to do your work well.

Become good, very good, at what you do.

Ask for inspiration for both the repetitious aspects and for new ideas.

At some point, there is a merging, a cross-over, and the repetitious, which has by now become automatic, leaves room for more inspiration and new ideas.

Beyond that comes insight.

There is simply something deeper.

Beyond the repetition, past the automatic, there is beauty, symmetry, and… something else.

Every time you reach the “something else”, you discover insight.

Your facility, your competence, your inspiration take you beyond what you are doing, into why you are doing it, into why it exists, and then you find your insight.

After that, you can take yourself through the steps pretty quickly and add the most value and satisfaction to your work through insight.

Then your work reaches farther and has more than just the physical result of providing you a living.

It lets you live more and more in the realm of inspiration and, ultimately, service.

Your life becomes something for more than yourself.

You become able to give others a glimpse into the deeper, more inspired aspects of your work.

You become able to inspire and uplift others, right where you are, as you go beyond yourself into the deeper work and service.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Creating Your Images

Whether we know it or not, we are creating the lives we live all around us.

Whatever dominates in our thought, consciously or unconsciously, comes out in the life we are living.

I found this very disturbing.

There were many issues which I prayed about constantly, and although I could see improvement in many of them, there were still situations in which my otherwise effective prayers had no control whatsoever.

As I watched with deepening horror my utter inability to change the very slow progression of my life in certain important areas, I was finally led to some other conclusions.

Through reading and workshops and persistent rigorous attention, I finally was led to the understanding of deep unconscious influences.

These are the types of things that we simply grow up with.

They are in the atmosphere around us when we are born.

Or certain shocking, tragic or traumatic events can be buried.

While we appear to be able to function after their immediate effects disappear, we may still have deeper work to do to destroy their influence and effects in our lives.

With no other options, I took on the work of redirecting, and even rebuilding, my mind.

It has been trial and error many times, but gradually, I have gained some techniques and tools which have aided me greatly.

I have learned to create the images which will benefit me instead of causing me repeated despair.

I have learned to release even the most treasured of desires and relationships in order to gain my peace within.

No treasured association is worth the pain it can cause if things are not going right.

I required uplifting thoughts around me as well as from within.

And so, I have reshaped my life, both within and all around me.

I am greatly encouraged by my progress and look forward to expanding it.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

The Reason to Keep Asking

Every time we ask, it opens the door of possibilities a little further.

When it is something we are drawn to, or deeply cherish, it becomes more imperative each time we ask.

If we are waiting for an outside power or circumstance to change, we are not actively invoked in the solution.

But, if each time we ask, we are impelled to take a little step, then we are showing our trust in the power of the Universe to bring it to pass.

A precious idea wants to grow.

It grows where it can find space.

When you give it space in your thought, your consciousness, you are bringing your intelligence, your care, your consideration, your desire, to bear on it.

That is a lot of power!

Keep asking.

It may take years, but that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.

It means the door is opening just a little bit more.

The steps you are taking dissolve boundaries, cross borders, create connections.

When they are all mature, when they are ripe, then you get to see the harvest.

And just like timetables for seeds, they bear well and truly at the right season.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Where I Need To Be

I am aware of my divine being within.

It keeps me from going in directions I do not need to go.

It gently leads me where I need to be.

I listen, I act, I am when and where I need to be.

The overall pattern of my life shows me this.

I am acquiring a different kind of wisdom.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

As Artists

Walking around the Dallas Quilt Show, it felt so very good to be immersed in such color and design and creativity and beauty.

My favorites were the art quilts.  

Such individuality.  

It was fun to read the short descriptions by the quilters to gain a bit of insight into the work.

Mainly, it justified all that I feel about art and music and creativity.

The expression fulfills its own purpose.

When I want to play with colors and layers and shapes, it is for its own sake.

When a musical idea partners itself with words, I get to witness the dance.

When I visit a museum, I see the encapsulation of thousands and thousands of tiny thoughts into one work.

Art and creativity are beyond description.

They simply have to be.

And we, we get to be, also, as recipients, as artists.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Simple Persistent Impulsion

I am simply impelled to make my products and product line in order to release spiritual ideas in these forms.

When ideas persistently come to you, listen.

They are directing or redirecting your life.

In fact, you are the one who is supposed to give them life.

That’s why they keep coming to you as desires to be expressed.

When you give into that impulsion, it will lead you through each step.

The smaller ideas will get done when it is their time.

The larger ideas will get done when it is their time.

Throughout this process, you will be in action in the direction of your heart’s love.

You will be in alignment with your soul’s deep purpose.

You will no longer be confused or sad or unfulfilled.

You will find yourself happy, content, challenged and alive!

Listen.

You are being distinctly impelled.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Larger Movements

Judging by today’s weather, it is still winter.

But, we know that the northern hemisphere is tilting toward the sun, so spring is inevitable.

Just the same, as we are taking the steps we need to accomplish a goal, we are being brought to the point where it is accomplished, even if it still looks like we are not there yet.

I find myself doing the boring parts, the refining of the layouts, substituting the new back cover, checking the order for front and back pages, getting ready for the first new sample.

Will it work this time?

Will everything work?

Will I see something else that needs to be fixed?

But the goal is the same.

I am still excited about my product line and the service it will provide to its very young clients.

So it is worth all the steps it is taking.

At some point, everything will be done, and then, voila!, it will launch.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Creating the Happiness I Want to See

I woke up this morning with tired eyes.

I realized that I am tired of looking at the kind of life the world is presenting - limited resources, greed, lack of compassion, violence.

So, I decided to start creating the happiness that I want to see.

There are many people involved in a better view of humanity.

My most recent search involved the www.earthship.com website.

Another wonderful project is a Permaculture for Students Kickstarter project which will contribute to better practices.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattpowers/the-permaculture-student-1.

There is so much good in the world and this is providing wonderful opportunities to increase our best sense of life.

If we start out with the idea of limited earth resources and how to be sure “I get mine”, then we act in a particular way toward others.

If we start out with the idea of a different kind of unlimited resources and and develop the ideas which come from that, we act in a completely different way.

In my life, I have seen how an expanded sense of life and living can provide for a large number of children in the family.

I am noticing a lot of good practices by organizations who truly have the welfare of the earth and all people on it at heart.

I plan to spend more time with those ideas and practices and look forward to the happiness I can contribute.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Uplifting Change

I relax into the destiny that the Universe provides for me day by day.

I can do nothing to rush it.

I can do nothing to interfere with it.

I can do nothing to slow it down.

It happens as the Universe weighs in and takes care of all of us all the time.

We came here with specific goals and ideas.

We accept the modifications that occur through circumstance.

We choose the modifications that we see to improve our course.

But, bottom line, we are part of the great evolution of consciousness as we encounter the set-in-place experiences of millennia.

As our awareness has come on-line and joins the awareness of so many others, we are creating, by our combined influence, the new direction of the world.

We are witnessing the destruction of the old mind-set as it tries to hold on desperately for its right to exist.

But separation and exclusivity have no more place.

Even as Nature denies it and takes care of all Her creation, so we are now denying it in order for all of us to be taken care of.

We are all precious.

We each have a role to play in our evolving consciousness.

Painful as the process is, it is ongoing and unstoppable.

Sweet is the goal, even as the path reveals itself one step at a time.

Change is happening.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com

Refreshment

Sometimes you gain a new insight in a new place.

Sometimes it is when you reread a book.

Sometimes it is just because you slow down.

Refreshment comes when we give ourselves permission to renew.

We become aware that it is OK to take a break.

We give ourselves permission to look around, and to look at new things.

A new setting provides a different place for reflection.

We can feel ideas coming at us from new directions.

Placing ourselves in a different relationship to authority is refreshing.

Sometimes it is OK for other people to do those things we have always done.

Even when we steal away for a few hours to do something different in a very busy day, we are giving ourselves time for refreshment.

Our productivity goes up when we come back.

We have found the new solution.

We have an idea for reorganization.

Doing our work has its own rhythm, its own qualities, its own rewards.

Refreshment strengthens those rhythms, brightens our qualities, and rewards us with an enlightened perspective.

© 2015 Kathryn Hardage

www.Inspired Practices.com