What Remains to be Feared?

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“In the course of my work this last long winter, I have experienced a truth more completely than ever before: that life’s bestowal of riches already surpasses any subsequent impoverishment. What, then, remains to be feared? Only that we might forget this! But around and within us, how much it helps to remember!”

– Rainer Maria Rilke, A Year With Rilke –

Remember life’s riches. Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Standing Strong as Stone

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Life is mostly froth and bubble,

Two things stand like stone,

Kindness in another’s trouble,

Courage in your own.”

– Adam Lindsay Gordon –

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – tinker toys beside a table:

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The Deepest Thing Inside

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.”

– Naomi Shihab Nye, “Kindness”–

This quote comes from “Poetry for Tumultuous Times,” a page created by On Being and shared in their newsletter, “The Pause.” These links will take you to that page, where you can hear Nye’s entire poem “Kindness” as well as other encouraging poems and essays. These enriched and encouraged me, and I hope they will do the same for you.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. 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.

Calm and Angry

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Anyone can become angry. That is easy.

But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree,

at the right time, for the right purpose

and in the right way –

that is not easy.”

– Aristotle –

Wise anger grounds itself in the calm that we carry deep within ourselves.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. 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.

Whispering to the Crocus

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

…Winter still is in the air,

And the earth troubled, and the branches bare,

Yet down the fields to-day I saw her pass –

The spring – her feet went shining through the grass…

she has whispered to the crocus leaves…

She would not stay, her season is not yet,

But she has reawakened, and has set

The sap of all the world astir…

– John Drinkwater, “The Miracle” –

Listen for spring’s whisper, and breathe deeply of the quiet hope of a world astir.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. 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.

Like a New-Opened Flower

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

And if tonight my soul may find her peace

in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,

and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower

then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.

– D.H. Lawrence, “Shadows” –

May you sleep in peace and wake like a new-opened, new-created flower.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. 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.

In the Stir

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“In the stir of too much motion:

Hold still.

Be quiet.

Listen.”

– Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations –

“Hold still.” It’s a curious expression, a lovely image: stillness in our cupped hands, our thirsty hearts, our open minds; restfulness held like a treasure, quietly, carefully, gratefully.

“Hold still.” Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

Nature of the week: