Beneath Birdsong

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

I’ve started a practice of trying to listen beyond or underneath the shouts and clangs and alerts and clashes that demand attention. I’m trying to rediscover soft sounds, the hums, the sighs, the whispers. It’s like trying to pick out one instrument’s musical line while listening to a symphony. Right now, underneath the birdsong, there’s a soft whispering whoosh. I think it’s the sound of wind in the trees. It ebbs and flows and reminds me to listen for the constant, soft undertones of wonder, joy, peace, and hope in each day, the life-giving grace of love’s whispers. – 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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Being and Seeing

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“As a man is, so he sees.” – William Blake

Be peace and see

possibilities of peace in the world.

Be kind and see

kindness that shines

like a lighthouse in the fog.

Be calm and see

calmness beyond the clamor.

Be and see.

-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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St. Augustine’s Fear—And Mine

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

St. Augustine once said, “I fear that Jesus will pass by me unnoticed.” I fear that the gifts of this day will pass by me unnoticed—the cloud formations, the birds, the fragile blooms open to the sun at this moment, the peace within this day. So as I move through this day, I hope to look for the gifts that nature has for me and linger with them. – 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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Bugs and Birdsong

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

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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Forgotten

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

– Mother Teresa –

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Unbreakable

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Habit is a cable;

we weave a thread of it every day,

and at last we can not break it.”

– Horace Mann –

May we make a habit of spreading peace and kindness and carrying the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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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:

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The Wish to Wave a Wand

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“This present moment is where peace starts—in the here and now, in my eye and yours, in my ear and yours, in my heart and yours. As much as we’d like to wave a wand over the entire world and make the jumbled and jagged pieces smooth out and fall into place, peace has to start with each of us being peace for everyone we meet.” – kh, Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – snow on the crape myrtle:

Shadow of the Week:

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Peace, Angels, and Diamonds

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

We shall find peace,

We shall hear angels,

We shall see the sky

Sparkling with diamonds.

– Anton Chekhov –

When skies are clear, long winter nights make for good stargazing. If it’s a clear night, look up and linger for a moment with the stars. Let your cares float away, if only for a moment. Breathe in peace. – 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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A Splash of Light in the Darkness

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Tonight after I turned off my bedside lamp, I paused to settle into a restful peace, letting my eyes linger on the skewed rectangular pattern created by my neighbor’s garage light shining through my windows. A car passed, and its lights lit the angles of the dormer ceiling for a moment. Then all settled back to the grayed tones of the shadows cast by my windows. When I was a young girl, I often spent the night at my grandmother’s house, which was on the corner of a busy street. After dark, snuggled in her king-sized bed, I would watch light flash through the bedroom windows from the headlights of cars turning the corner. Like Tinkerbell, the light splashed one wall, flowed around the room, and then darted back out, chasing the car.” – Karyn Henley, 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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