When Dawn Raised Her Window Shade

 

This morning,

dawn quietly raised her window shade, releasing

a stream of gold that flowed

across reaching roofs and leaf-strewn lawns.

The brilliant stream wandered west,

a glowing, growing, widening river

warmly hugging the autumn garden.

Orange peppers blushed red,

purple pansies nodded,

black-eyed Susans brightened.

The river of sun dappled fallen pinecones,

speckled spent coneflowers,

splashed up tree trunks to spotlight the elms

and burnish yellowing poplar leaves.

I saw this golden gift of dawn

this morning

when she raised her window shade

and I raised mine.

-kh-

 

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 © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Sacrament of Waking

 

In the drift of easing from night dreams

into the gift of a new dawn,

there exists a pause,

a delicious time,

a handful of moments,

the day reborn in peace.

This handful of half-waking minutes

is a carrier,

a courier,

an envoy of the sacred—

a sacrament.

In the fraying fog of waking,

I feel my fragile frame,

my trusting weight generously held,

graciously cradled,

between blanket and bed,

between heaven and earth.

This moment is a silver bowl

holding silent prayers

measured in heartbeats,

whispered in slow, easy breaths.

In a handful of half-awake minutes,

time touches eternity.

– kh –

 

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 © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Never Ever Before

 

I’ve always been this way, I say,

and yet,

I haven’t always been this way—

not exactly,

not this unique and particular way,

living another day

with its unique and particular thoughts

and wanderings

and wishings

and astonishments.

I’ve not always been aware

of ideas I read

last night,

sparking questions I’ve asked

this morning.

Each new dawn

marks a waking

to wider wondering,

deeper thinking,

and the joy of possibility.

I’ve always been like this.

But not precisely like this.

I’ve always been made new

each day.

It has always been this way.

Yet it has never ever

been this way

before.

– kh –

 

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 © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Stretch and a Deep Breath

 

In the twilight of dawn, I lie in bed and let the cool breeze brush over me as I listen to the world outside my open windows. The first thing I hear is a soft underlying swish like a gentle tide, maybe wind in the trees, maybe cars on the distant freeway. Around six o’clock, a jet crosses the sky with a hum that rises in a momentary crescendo and then fades away. A car rushes down the street. A bird twitters somewhere in the distance. Another one answers closer in. The cat jumps off the bed with a light thud. There’s a distant pulsing beep of a truck backing up and a growing river of traffic on the freeway a couple of miles north. An insect begins a high-pitched hum. Another jet flies overhead with a whine. Another bird joins in the morning song, another car swishes as it passes by. Chirps and faint rumbles drift in. I add a rustle of sheets, a stretch, and a deep breath. My bed creaks as I rise. The world is waking up.

Nurture yourself with moments of 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 © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Love Like a River

 

“Those who don’t feel this Love

pulling them like a river,

those who don’t drink dawn

like a cup of spring water

or take in sunset like supper,

Those who don’t want to change,

Let them sleep.”

Rumi

 

Peace is waiting for you – and joy and wonder and goodness and grace. And Love. Don’t sleep.

 

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 art of noticing, link here.

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

Awake or Asleep?

 

“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:

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.

 

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

A Winged Heart

“Wake at dawn with a winged heart

and give thanks for another day of loving.”

– Kahlil Gibran –

 

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 week, simply sign up on the right.

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

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

The Very Life of Life

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence;

The Bliss of Growth

The Glory of Action

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is only a Vision,

But Today well lived makes every

Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, and every

Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

– from the Sanskrit –

 

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

Nature of the week:

norwaybaysun

Shadow of the Week:

stairrailshdw

 

Photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.