finding inner peace

When Nature Takes Center Stage

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“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

– Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida –

 

This week nature brought us together to watch in awe as the moon totally eclipsed the sun and, only days later, a howling hurricane stormed its way onto land. Our hopes and prayers are for safety and an extra measure of inner peace for those in the path of the storm.

Hold onto your sense of awe as you nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – during the eclipse, sunlight through the leaves formed crescent shadows:

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Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Awake or Asleep?

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“Only that day dawns to which we are awake.”

– Henry David Thoreau –

 

Do we look but not see? Hear but not listen? Touch but not feel? Catch a scent but not inhale deeply? Eat and not savor the taste?

May our senses be awake when we’re awake. May we slow down, nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – dawn from my window, and a haiku to go with it:

Dawn whispers morning,

hums the day before breaking

into full song.

– KH –

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Moment of Rest

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“Only when we’re at peace inwardly can we bring some measure of peace to a violent world.”

– Parker Palmer –

 

Treat yourself to hearing Wendell Berry read his brief and beautiful poem, “The Peace of Wild Things”.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – Queen Anne’s Lace, large as a dinner plate, with two bees feasting:

Shadow of the Week – leaf shadow on leaf:

 

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Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

“This Present Little Instant”

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“No heaven can come to us

unless our hearts find rest in it today.

Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future

which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace!”

– Fra Giovanni Giocondo –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – a blue poppy from the botanical gardens in Tromso, Norway:

Shadow of the Week:

 

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Sometimes the Answer is Very Simple

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“‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely,

‘and go on till you come to the end.

Then stop.'”

– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland –

 

Begin at the beginning, nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm until you come to the end. Then the calm will carry you.

Nature of the week – a recent evening visitor:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

What Do a Moment and a Blossom Have in Common?

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“Look past your thoughts

so you may drink the pure nectar of this moment.”

– Rumi –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – A moment and a blossom, both hold nourishment. Three are looking for nectar in this picture: two bees and one ant – see them?

Shadow of the Week – seen through leaves of coleus:

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Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Which Way to Peace?

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“There is no way to peace; peace is the way.”

– A.J. Muste –

(but often attributed to Gandhi)

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – hollyhock:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

A Curious Old Word

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Curious Old Word

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This week’s quote contains a word we don’t hear much anymore: partake. But it’s a rich little word, a mashup of two that we use all the time: part and take. Like a puzzle, they’ve been rearranged. They mean take part. If you “take part,” you’re a “part taker.” You partake. Or as we say more often, using a related word, you participate. In the following quote, Milton is stretching out his hand and inviting us to come along. “Partake.” It’s an invitation.

“In those vernal seasons of the year,

when the air is calm and pleasant,

it were an injury and sullenness against Nature

not to go out and see her riches,

and partake

in her rejoicing with heaven and earth.”

– John Milton, Of Education –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week ­– a creek I passed on a hike in Norway:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

To Cherish a Just and Lasting Peace

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“With malice toward none; with charity for all;

with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right,

let us strive on to finish the work we are in:

to bind up the nation’s wounds;

to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan,

to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves,

and with all nations.”

– Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address, 1865 –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week ­– celebrating the summer solstice in Norway:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Simple Things

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“[G]ive us a heart for simple things:

love, laughter, bread, wine and dreams;

fill us with green growing hope!”

– Barry Rose –

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

Long, Easy Strides

 

Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.