Listen.
Listen past the noise
to softer sounds.
Wind, water,
bugs, birdsong,
a church bell, a distant train.
Listen
to your own deep breath
drifting in and out.
Listen as the sounds of peace
calm your soul.
– kh –
Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses
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.
“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others.”
– Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata” –
Curious about the word placid, I looked it up and found that it means “serenely free of disturbance.” That’s what “carry the calm” means to me: It’s possible to make our way through noise and haste with our souls serenely free of disturbance.
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 © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
Here’s a riddle for you:
What’s so fragile that you can break it by just saying its name?
(The answer follows this next quote.)
“In a world of noise, confusion and conflict,
it is necessary that there is a place of inner silence and peace,
not the peace of mere relaxation
but the peace of inner clarity and love.”
– Thomas Merton –
The answer to the riddle is:
Silence.
Wishing you the inner silence of peace, clarity, and love.
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 © 2021 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.
“Quiet is not an absence of sound but an absence of noise.”
– Gordon Hempton –
Treat yourself to 5 minutes of nature’s soundscape in a peaceful inch of the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park, identified as the “quietest place in the United States.” From that page you can link to other sounds recorded by Hempton, a sound recording specialist and acoustical ecologist. Enjoy!
Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.
Nature of the week – acorns and leaves on January ground:
Shadow of the Week:
P.S. If you’ve never been to the Hoh Rainforest, place it on your bucket list. Hiking its mossy trails is like stepping into a fantasy world. It’s a habitat for banana slugs, which secrete a slime that has an anesthetizing effect. A park ranger held one across her palm and asked if anyone wanted to lick it. My older son did – and did. With no ill effects. Except an anesthetized tongue.
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For my posts on coming of age in a community of faith, link here.
Text and photos © 2017 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.