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:

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

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:

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

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:

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

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:

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

Nature’s Invitation

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Nature invites me to linger and fills me with wonder.

And wonder, I believe, is a kind of gratitude.

– kh, Linger –

Wonder and gratitude nurture peace, so as always: Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

And Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family in the U.S.!

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week (It’s a triple shadow.):

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

Talking of Rain

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“The aspens at the cross-roads talk together

Of rain, until their last leaves fall from the top.”

– Edward Thomas, “Aspens” –

The cool morning breeze is whispering to the trees that rain is coming. Hackberries and elms are dropping their golden-brown leaves a few at a time. As they drift slowly down, I breathe deeply of this moment of peace.

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 Wisdom of Water Lilies

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

On a walk at the zoo last week, I crossed a boardwalk bridge and noticed an elegant white waterlily blooming on the river below. Water lilies look as if they’re floating on the surface of the water, but they’re held in place by stems that extend under the water to a rhizome buried in the mud below. It seemed like a symbol of calm and serenity. I thought of how each of us, like a water lily, can root ourselves in the unseen, peaceful flow of life deep in our souls so that what is seen of our lives is a beautiful bloom.

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.

Quietly and Clearly

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“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: