finding inner peace

Quietly and Clearly

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“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others.”

– Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata” –

 

Curious about the word placid, I looked it up and found that it means “serenely free of disturbance.” That’s what “carry the calm” means to me: It’s possible to make our way through noise and haste with our souls serenely free of disturbance.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

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Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Path of Peace

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Think toward whatever leads to hope,

to beauty,

to peace,

to gracious love.

Then move in that direction.

– kh –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The First Point of Light

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“It is necessary for me to see the first point of light which begins to be dawn . . . I receive from the Eastern woods, the tall oaks, the one word DAY, which is never the same. It is always in a totally new language.” – Thomas Merton

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Great, Everyday Wonders

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“Be not blind, but open-eyed

to the great wonders of Nature,

familiar, everyday objects though they be to thee.”

– Orchot Tzaddikim –

– a 15th century Jewish ethical work –

 

“There is not a particle of life

which does not bear poetry within it.”

– Gustave Flaubert –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Simple and Sacred

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“The art of art,

the glory of expression…

is simplicity.”

– Walt Whitman –

 

It’s the simple things that nourish me. My grandson’s smile. The laughter of friends. A pepper turning red on the vine. The dance of leaves in a breeze on a hot day. The sun shining red through a broad canna leaf. The scent of citronella leaves at the back door. The prickly center of a coneflower. Smooth, sweet coconut yogurt. The chirring of a wren as it guards its nest box. Simple, sacred gifts, each a wonder of art and glory, each an invitation to joy and peace.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Nature. Art. God.

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“The course of Nature is the art of God.”

– Edward Young –

 

Linger,

heart open,

intent on the smallest bit

of nature’s art—

a pebble,

a butterfly,

a bud,

raindrops;

let wonder widen,

dreams deepen,

hopes stretch and soar

up and out and into

the eternal mystery

that many call

God.

–KH

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Place of Inner Peace

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Here’s a riddle for you:

What’s so fragile that you can break it by just saying its name?

(The answer follows this next quote.)

 

“In a world of noise, confusion and conflict,

it is necessary that there is a place of inner silence and peace,

not the peace of mere relaxation

but the peace of inner clarity and love.”

– Thomas Merton –

 

The answer to the riddle is:

Silence.

 

Wishing you the inner silence of peace, clarity, and love.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

One of the Hardest Lessons

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“One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure, in the common, the near at hand—to see that heaven lies about us here in this world.” – John Burroughs

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Broken Dreams, Beautiful World

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“Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” – Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata”

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – shadows and reflections in a double paned window:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Peace and Possibility

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The energy of this week lost some of its spark at the death of a lovely friend, a good, creative, and generous soul. I’m grateful for the community we shared at Art and Soul Nashville, where she was—and her memory continues to be—a joyful, hopeful part of the welcome, the creativity, the encouragement, and the peace.

Here are some thoughts on peace that I wrote a few weeks ago:

 

For Peace

I’m grateful for the gentle souls

who hear peace,

hold it in their hearts and

hum it into mine.

 

I’m grateful for the fiery souls

who envision peace,

sing it out loud and

shout its possibilities into the world.

 

I’m grateful for souls both gentle and fiery

who know peace is both deep and wide,

sometimes the gift of a whispered breeze,

sometimes a hard-won shelter in storm.

 

I pray for the holding,

the hoping,

the healing

of peace.

– KH

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – short cat, long shadow:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.