Where Your Steps Will Take You

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“[I]n an average lifetime a person walks about 65,000 miles.

That’s 2 1/2 times around the world.

I wonder where your steps will take you.

I wonder how you’ll use the rest of the miles you’re given.”

– Mr. Rogers –

 

May your steps echo the peace of your heartbeat.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – books on a table, creating a profile:

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

For my longer posts on the art of noticing, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Sky in a Dewdrop

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“The whole moon and the entire sky

are reflected in dewdrops on the grass,

or even in one drop of water.”

– Dogen Kigen, 1200-53 –

 

And if I were to peer into your upward-looking eyes, I would see the whole moon, the entire sky, and the beauty of creation that is you.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – cat, contemplating:

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

For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

When Cares Drop Off Like Leaves

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“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” – John Muir

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.

For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Inside Each of Us, a Piece of God

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“Maybe the desire to make something beautiful

is the piece of God that is inside each of us.”

– Mary Oliver –

 

Make something that you feel is beautiful this week. You could take a photograph of something that strikes you as beautiful – a plant or an arrangement of rocks beside a driveway or a leaf after the rain. Or you could make a beautiful arrangement of food, like cheese and croutons sprinkled on a bowl of soup. Or trace a wavy design in the steam on your bathroom mirror after a shower. Or toss throw pillows in an interesting arrangement on a bed or couch. Or if you’re inclined, paint or sketch or arrange flowers or rearrange a room. No one else has to think it’s beautiful but you. Rest in the piece of God inside you. And the peace of God inside you.

 

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. 

 

For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

The Secret of Beauty

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“There’s nothing fair nor beautiful, but takes

Something from thee, that makes it beautiful.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow –

 

. . . which, of course, means that beauty is within you.

Look for the beauty all around you this week. It’s a sign of the beauty in your own spirit.

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.

For my longer posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Forward Toward the Sun

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“Our way is not soft grass,

it’s a mountain path

with lots of rocks.

But it goes upwards,

Forward, toward the sun.”

– Ruth Westheimer –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm as you journey upward, forward, toward the sun.

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.

For my posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

To Be Human

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“To be human is to be able to grasp hope,

to hold it tightly to the chest,

to let its nectar seep into our hearts

and give us peace.”

– Kaitlin B. Curtice –

 

Nurture peace by grasping hope, holding it tightly, and letting it seep into your heart.

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.

For my posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

How Can I Be Calm When I’m Outraged

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“There’s a difference between outrage and hate.

Outrage is appropriate.

Hate destroys the soul.”

– Diana Butler Bass –

 

Outrage needs to be rooted in a deep inner calm and a clear head so that we don’t burn out like sparklers that spew sharp, hot light into the darkness only to sputter out into a burning glow that fades, leaving behind a thin, cold, dull wand. Let your calm be the fuel for the controlled burn of an eternal flame.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm, even in outrage.

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.

For my posts on noticing the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Secret of the Beautiful Ones

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“Time and people change

but the essence of wisdom and justice is the same.

The beautiful ones mirror God’s Beauty . . .”

– Rumi –

 

Last night, I woke up sometime after midnight and was treated to a beautiful sight: the full moon with the planet Mars nearby. I thought of how the moon wasn’t really shining but was mirroring the light of the sun. It was also mirroring God’s Beauty as all of nature does. We mirror God’s Beauty, too, shining brightest when we reflect Love. And 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.

For my posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Pulse of Hope and Peace

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“We shall find peace,

We shall hear angels,

We shall see the sky

Sparkling with diamonds.”

– Anton Chekhov –

 

I think it’s possible to carry within us a sense of calm so strong that the world knows hope and peace simply because of our presence and so powerful that every physical space we step into pulses with hope and peace simply because we’re there. So find peace, hear angels, see the sky sparkling with diamonds . . . nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm. We are the pulse of hope and peace.

Nature of the week – I meant to photograph the interior of a blossom – and my new close-up lens focused on an ant:

Shadow of the Week:

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

For my posts on the wonder of life, link here.

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.