Month: September 2016

What Seas Are You Sailing?

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“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

– African proverb –

If your seas are rough right now, take heart. Sail with a calm spirit and a sense of wonder, for even storms have their beauty. You will come through it all with deeper wisdom and greater skill.

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – a canna after the storm:

wtrcanna

Shadow of the Week (in the foreground, on the water):

rdnrlake

For my posts on coming of age in a community of faith, link here.

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

 

The Very Life of Life

 

 

The Very Life of Life

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Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence;

The Bliss of Growth

The Glory of Action

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is only a Vision,

But Today well lived makes every

Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, and every

Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

– from the Sanskrit –

 

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

norwaybaysun

Shadow of the Week:

stairrailshdw

 

Photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Whole Secret

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“The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round,

if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.

The whole secret is in being pliable.”

– Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs –

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

pnkwlily

Shadow of the Week:

hrtshd6-16

 

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Where Do You Dwell?

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“I dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson

We sat cross-legged, seven friends and I, a circle of artists, each in turn responding to a poem we had just heard, one of David Whyte‘s: “Start close in / don’t take the second step / or the third / start with the first / . . . ” I couldn’t see the next step in my life, the one close in. A tiny voice of panic was whispering to me that, at my age, there was really nowhere I could go from here.

Before I could respond, a woman older than I updated us on her health. She couldn’t walk without pain. It should have been discouraging. But, peaceful and relaxed, she told us that she was looking forward to all the possibilities the future held for her. It made me realize that I could choose to dwell in panic or possibility – only one provides the calm I want for my spirit.

Helen Keller said, “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” Dwell not in problems but possibilities. Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

rose-peach

Shadow of the Week – a poolside table:

TblShdw2

 

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.