Nature’s Simple Wisdom

Go forth under the open sky,

and listen to Nature’s teachings.

What is Nature teaching me? To listen, I think. The world will circle on with or without me. The evening star will rise. Clouds will sail the skies. Cicadas will buzz. Crickets will chirp. Trees will dance in the wind. Seasons will glide in and then pass on. Nature says to simply breathe deeply and listen. (From my new book Noticing, available now.)

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.

The Rest Between Breaths

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“One ancient word for breathing is inspire or in-spirit. Inhaling is in-spiriting. So breathe into yourself inspiration. Breathe out your unique treasure of a self. Breathe into yourself love and hope. Breathe out to the world peace and grace. Receive as a gift the pause, the rest between your deep breaths.” – kh, Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – A collection of shells and rocks and other bits of nature turned into a creature, thanks to my five-year-old grandson.

Shadow of the Week:

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

A Point of Balancing Calm

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“I’m wishing you a few moments of silence and stillness today. Close your eyes. Listen to your breath. Feel the subtle messages your skin receives from the air and the textures you touch. Catch scents that drift to you. Then open your eyes and focus on one small object. Notice its shape, size, and colors. Listen to your breath again. Feel the peace of the moment. You are a fulcrum, a support, a point of balancing calm in the world.” – kh, Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

And to all my friends near and far: Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!

Nature of the week – the solstice moon:

Shadow of the Week:

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

Among the Frosts

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“There is a rumor of total welcome among the frosts of the winter morning.”

– Mary Oliver, Upstream –

Winter welcomes,

beckons,

invites us to

pause

on the brittle brink of the year,

witness

the shimmer of the season,

listen

for undertones of time passing

on icy tiptoe,

breathe

the crisp air.

Drink all of it.

Deeply.

Deeply grateful.

– kh

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

Nature of the week – a visitor at my heated birdbath:

Shadow of the Week – spied at church:

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

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

A Greater Mystery

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“It is sometimes the mystery of death

that brings one to a consciousness

of the still greater mystery of life.”

– Kate Douglas Wiggin

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

I’m in Texas this week with my Dad and my three younger sisters at my mother’s hospital bedside in ICU as she breathes with the help of oxygen. Mother is 90 years old, and from her hospital bed, she has been writing her good-byes on sheets of paper on a clipboard – amazingly, without looking at pen or paper. We don’t know what will happen from one moment to the next, but we do know that each breath is precious.

Pay deep attention. Breathe in the mystery of life; breathe out gratitude. Nurture peace, cultivate loving 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 life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

Where Does the Sky Begin?

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“[T]he sky actually begins at the earth . . .

We breathe it deep within us.”

– Diane Ackerman –

Take a breath of sky today!

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

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – a tree casts its shadow in the Japanese Garden at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, Nashville:

Long, Easy Strides

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

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

Cares Will Drop Away

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“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 away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”

– John Muir, Our National Parks –

Calm seems to be in short supply these days. All the more reason to intentionally call time-out for yourself – two minutes, five minutes, thirty minutes, whatever you can manage. Slow down, don’t relive or prelive but simply live for a moment in the moment. Find a bit of nature to observe, listen to, smell, and touch. It may be as large as the sky and a path through the woods, or as small as a blade of grass, a fallen leaf, or a pebble cupped in the palm of your hand. Exhale the panicked ugliness that has seeped in from current events, and inhale nature’s faithful beauty. Exhale tension; inhale calm. Let the wind blow its freshness into you. Let your cares drop away “like the leaves of Autumn.”

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm. We need you.

Nature of the week: