John Muir

To Feel the Joy

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“When a man plants a tree he plants himself. Every root is an anchor, over which he rests with grateful interest, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel the joy of living.” – John Muir

Two words in this quote stood out to me: grateful interest. What a wonderful lens through which to observe the world—not just by seeing but also by listening, touching, smelling, tasting. May we experience the world with grateful interest so that we can become calm and feel the joy of living.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

 

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

We Never Know

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“We never know when we must go,

nor what guides we are to get—

men, storms, guardian angels, or sheep. . . .

Almost everybody in the least natural

is guided more than he is ever aware of.”

– John Muir –

May we be guided into paths of peace, kindness, and calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Doorway to a New World

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“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.” – John Muir

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Seeds Come Flying

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“Arching grasses come one by one;

seeds come flying on downy wings,

silent as fate,

to give life’s dearest beauty for the ashes of art;

and strong evergreen arms

laden with ferns and tillandsia drapery

are spread over all –

Life at work everywhere.”

– John Muir –

 

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Like a Butterfly or Bee

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“Drifting about among flowers and sunshine,

I am like a butterfly or bee,

though not half so busy

or with so sure an aim.”

– John Muir –

Wishing you a holiday weekend with at least a bit of drifting about.

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Nature’s Pulse – and Our Own

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“Everything new and pure

in the very prime of the spring

when Nature’s pulses were beating highest,

and mysteriously keeping time with our own!”

– John Muir –

 

Pause for a moment of peace, and notice a bud, a bloom, a spring-green leaf. Take a deep breath of the day. Match your pulse to nature’s energetic peace. Nurture that peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week – “tulips” in the tulip poplar:

Shadow of the Week – a fancy fence:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Wandering Wind and Whirling Earth

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“The winds wander,

the snow and rain and dew fall,

the earth whirls –

all but to prosper a poor lush violet.”

– John Muir –

. . . and all to prosper you.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week – a wild violet:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Divine Peace, Enthusiastic Joy

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“Every day opens and closes like a flower,

noiseless, effortless.

Divine peace glows on all the majestic landscape,

like the silent enthusiastic joy

that sometimes transfigures a noble human face.”

– John Muir –

 

“Silent enthusiastic joy.” That’s what I often see in Thursday night art class at Art and Soul. Music plays softly in the background as my friends and I work independently but side by side, each of us creating art that comes from our souls and nourishes our souls. It’s then that I often see in my friends’ faces a “silent enthusiastic joy.”

But I picture other faces as well – my dad and sisters laughing uproariously in enthusiastic joy – delightfully not silent. Then there are my friends in the church choir as we listen to our director in silent, enthusiastic joy – which transforms into the joy of song. Whose faces do you picture when you think of enthusiastic joy – silent or not?

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, “Earth laughs in flowers.” In our part of the world, nature is now in bloom. As each day opens and closes like a flower, I wish you the divine peace that comes with earth’s joy and laughter. Happy Spring!

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week – peach blossoms:

Shadow of the Week – stems in a back-porch pot:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

With Love’s Enthusiasm

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“From form to form, beauty to beauty,

ever changing, never resting,

all (in nature) are speeding on

with love’s enthusiasm,

singing with the stars the eternal song of creation.”

– John Muir –

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Nature’s Wealth

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“Nature is not so poor as to possess only one of anything.”

– John Muir –

Notice how nature echoes herself in abundance. Trees, each the same but different from others, sometimes subtly, sometimes extravagantly. Flowers, birds, clouds, all themes and variations of beauty and wonder. Gifts offered to us daily. Ours simply for the noticing.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – berries I saw on a walk in Japan:

Shadow of the Week – morning shadow on the rice paper screen of my bedroom in Japan:

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