“I am a seed scattered from the barn of heaven
When spring comes rushing in my heart
I will burst in green.
Winter seems now a long forgotten dream.”
– Rumi –
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week:
Shadow of the Week:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“The world is full of magic things,
patiently waiting
for our senses to grow sharper.”
– W.B. Yeats –
A budding rose, a bird calling to its mate, the pink clouds of sunset, the first star of evening – it only takes a moment to sharpen our senses to this everyday magic, to pause and actually taste our food, smell the morning air, feel the breeze, hear the birdsong, and see the beauty in the world around us – to rediscover the magic things.
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, enjoy the magic, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week:
Shadow of the Week:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“Behold the white wistarias –
The Milky Way blown by the wind.”
– Hajin –
translated by Asataro Miyamori
Long ago, before behold meant to gaze upon or observe, it meant hold or keep. In a way, that’s what we do when we observe something. Each season brings us wonders. Hold on to them. Keep them in your mind and heart so that, in turn, they may hold you and keep you in a place of calm and peace.
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week –wisteria hanging over our driveway through the neighbor’s bamboo:
Shadow of the Week:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“The winds wander,
the snow and rain and dew fall,
the earth whirls –
all but to prosper a poor lush violet.”
– John Muir –
. . . and all to prosper you.
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week – a wild violet:
Shadow of the Week:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week – trillium:
Shadow of the Week:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“Spring night,
cherry-
blossom dawn.”
– Matsuo Basho –
Two years ago, I was in Japan during cherry blossom season. My son’s family and I picnicked alongside other families in a park full of cherry trees – sakura – rich with blooms. We strolled paths lined with cherry blossoms and delighted in delicate petals, breeze-blown, drifting gently to the ground. It was a time to pause in wonder at the beauty and the peace of spring. I hope you, too, can pause and find moments of peace as you experience the wonders of this season.
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 © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“Every day opens and closes like a flower,
noiseless, effortless.
Divine peace glows on all the majestic landscape,
like the silent enthusiastic joy
that sometimes transfigures a noble human face.”
– John Muir –
“Silent enthusiastic joy.” That’s what I often see in Thursday night art class at Art and Soul. Music plays softly in the background as my friends and I work independently but side by side, each of us creating art that comes from our souls and nourishes our souls. It’s then that I often see in my friends’ faces a “silent enthusiastic joy.”
But I picture other faces as well – my dad and sisters laughing uproariously in enthusiastic joy – delightfully not silent. Then there are my friends in the church choir as we listen to our director in silent, enthusiastic joy – which transforms into the joy of song. Whose faces do you picture when you think of enthusiastic joy – silent or not?
Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, “Earth laughs in flowers.” In our part of the world, nature is now in bloom. As each day opens and closes like a flower, I wish you the divine peace that comes with earth’s joy and laughter. Happy Spring!
Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week – peach blossoms:
Shadow of the Week – stems in a back-porch pot:
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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast,
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small.”
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 © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” – Jonathan Swift
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 © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.”
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 © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.