Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Scale of the Work


At a museum exhibit today, I was impressed by the scale of the work.

Some of it was enormous, with intricate decoration.

Some of it had tiny, intricate parts that must have taken a month for a space of only 2 x 2 inches.

Some of it had the most painstaking collection of hundreds of thousands of tiny steps.

The total scale of the work was beautiful.

Individual input was time-consuming and masterful.

When work like that is done, it serves its immediate purpose.

Then, over hundreds of years, it serves an even greater purpose.

A glimpse into the craftsmanship and devotion which makes it worth looking at hundreds of years later.

What is the scale of the work you are doing?


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

What is Truth and What is a Lie?


Are you a smart, independent, resilient, resourceful thinker?

Or are you a dependent, easily-led, reactor?

Which one of you can take care of yourself?

Which one of you can put together the life you wish to lead?

Are you limited by what is being portrayed as what is around you?

Are there some threads missing in the narrative that only you can supply?

Well, think about it.

How do you wish to live?

Are you really dependent on what you see and hear?

Or is there another source, a thought within, a dream that is a greater reality?

The way you decide will make all the difference.

One way you will live.

The other way, you will only seem to live.


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com

Saturday, August 17, 2013

A Happiness Imperative


It is imperative that I feel happy.

Not giggly.

But positive.

There are too many things that can drag a person down.

So, I choose being happy and I am learning how to create happiness for myself from within.

I have an unlimited source of ideas and thoughts.

I can choose which ones I include in my day.

I can choose the attitude that I face situations with.

During one day when nothing much was happening, my husband and I drove down a country road at the end of the first day of school in that community.

We saw a couple of elementary school girls walking down the road, drinking sodas, an after school treat, I imagine.

I was able to enjoy their smiles as they walked by and waved.

Instead of saying that I am coming back into familiar situations, I am now referring to this as moving forward into them.

That is changing how I approach a return.

It is a forward move.

That is allowing all kinds of new actions to be taken.

It is creating a fresh approach.

This is happiness.

A fresh approach and moving forward.

It is a good way to think about things.


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Is It Too Soon To Find Peace?


Youth is a time of adventure and experimentation and excitement.

Is it also a time to find peace?

It is, if you think of it as a time to find the loves of your life, in companionship, in work, and in location.

How do you find your true loves?

By being what you want to see manifested in your life.

If you want uncertainty, try things that just lead you on.

With no special direction for yourself, you are liable to accept anything.

It may be good, it may be bad, but it will be an experience.

When you start thinking about what you would really love to be and what your dream mate would be and what your dream location would be, you actually start the thinking that will take you there.

The more outrageous the better.

That way you won’t think small.

Think big, deep, wide and long.

Think outside of the first box, and the second and the third and keep it going like that.

You will use the boxes for steps.

Especially do not talk about this approach for yourself.

The world is full of people who are just looking for a job.

Don’t be like that.


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com

If you would like to download a printable version of this meditation, please go to:
http://www.inspiredpractices.com/YPM/YPM/Young_Persons_Mentor/Entries/2013/8/6_Is_It_Too_Soon_To_Find_Peace.html

Monday, August 5, 2013

Timeless


I am looking at ideas and teachings which have meant a lot to me for many years.  This is one of them.
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I received a teaching in my late teens that said we can all have the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of age if we turn within to listen.

I have always valued that teaching whenever anyone announces that they are “getting old”.

I find that it continues to give me fresh and innovative ideas regardless of my “age”, and that I really don’t have much in common with people who are stuck in a particular time of life.

On the other hand, I find myself in the company of sparkling conversationalists of many ages who are very engaged in the services they are performing.

They are outward thinking and acting individuals.

Many of them have developed or are developing products which they feel are valuable.

Indeed, they are adding to their own value by listening for the best ideas to put into practice.

With that kind of mental activity and the awareness of the needs and ways to fulfill hose needs, they are helping advance society.

Looking for what excites us and gives us ways to serve is a never aging process.

Listening for the wisdom to carry out the ideas connects us at the right time and places.


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPractices.com

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Good Things


Despite the news of gloom and doom, many wonderful things are happening.

What is being reported is only on the surface.

The disruption underneath is bring all the mess up to the surface where it is visible.

The disruption is a cleansing, a purging of bad practices that have gone on so long that they can no longer be hid.

They are being brought to the surface in just the right way to bring about a deep reorganization.

We perceive people differently now than we did one hundred years ago.

We perceive them differently than even a decade ago.

We have more compassion, more awareness.

And we want equality.

We want good things for everyone.

We want room for all the individuality and creativity to be expressed.

After all, that is why we are who we are.

So, my thanks to the folks who are showing us the weakness of the system.

And even as they try to distort it beyond all recognition from the original intent of our country’s founders, we can be grateful for their demonstration of the weakness of the system in order to make room for the new awareness, the new paradigm.


© 2013 Kathryn Hardage
www.inspiredPractices.com