The Invitation and Promise of Earth

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

When cool dawn drifts through

open windows,

when the rising sun

tips green and golding leaves and

trickles down tree trunks

in trailing drips of light,

when honking geese

cross the fresh sky,

when asters open

and the basil releases

tiny pepper-black seeds,

when the cat no longer sprawls

but curls into a cozy pose,

I know Autumn is on the way.

I also know Summer’s heat

is not done with us,

but these are hints of what’s to come,

promises of cooler days ahead.

Already, the earth is offering up

her generous, ripe gifts.

Soon enough she will invite us

to settle with her

into long, fallow days

of peaceful rest,

patient renewal,

potent re-freshening.

She will invite us

to join the slow, deep

in-breath and out-breath season

of all creation

calming,

becoming serene,

being revived.

-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature and shadow of the week:

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Over the Pines and Elms

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

A blanket of soft, silver-gray clouds

covers the morning sky

as far as I can see.

Even indoors, I feel the weight of it.

I try not to see it as gloomy

but as a protective roof

over the pines and the bare elms.

All is still and quiet.

The whole world seems to have taken

a day off.

Rest, the clouds say.

Rest after this busy, crazy year.

Rest under this silver gray blanket of sky.

– kh –

From Noticing: 365 Days of Calm Reflections

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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To Feel the Joy

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“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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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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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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Part of the Music

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Moments of silence are part of the music.”

– Anonymous –

In music, moments of rhythmic silence are called rests. But rest also means “peace of mind or spirit.” I wondered if the word restore had the same linguistic origin as rest, but it doesn’t. And yet they are related in a sense. Restore means to renew, rebuild, and give back, which is what rest does for us—it renews us, rebuilds our spirits, and gives back our energy. Rest, our moments of silence and peace of mind, are necessary for the rhythms of our lives. Rest is part of life’s music.

Wishing you good rest this week.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Rest and Be Thankful

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Give me the splendid silent sun,

with all his beams full-dazzling;

Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe

and red from the orchard;

Give me a field where the

unmow’d grass grows;

Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;

Give me fresh corn and wheat – give me

serene-moving animals, teaching content.”

– Walt Whitman –

“Rest and be thankful.”

– William Wordsworth –

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, carry the calm, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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

“This Present Little Instant”

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“No heaven can come to us

unless our hearts find rest in it today.

Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future

which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace!”

– Fra Giovanni Giocondo –

Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – a blue poppy from the botanical gardens in Tromso, Norway:

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.

“The Heart Must Pause to Breathe”

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“For the sword outwears its sheath,

And the soul wears out the breast,

And the heart must pause to breathe,

And love itself have rest.”

Lord Byron, “So, We’ll Go No More A-Roving”

My across-the-street neighbors hung their outdoor Christmas lights right after Thanksgiving. I was still in autumn-harvest mode, so it felt a bit too early for me. But my son and daughter-in-law also decorated their house for Christmas that weekend – and for good reason. She’s a manager in retail, working at a mall, so if she decorates at home early in the season, she has at least a few minutes to sit and enjoy a bit of holiday peace before she gets caught up in the melee of shopping season and all the work hours it requires of her.

In spite of cards and carols announcing “Peace On Earth,” we’re often personally overwhelmed and anxious during end-of-the-year holidays. But “the heart must pause to breath.” And that’s what I encourage you to do to maintain – or regain – peace and joy in this season.

One practice that helps me is consciously, intentionally taking a moment or two to feel and listen to my breathing. When we do this, it focuses our attention on a movement that began and sustains life. Breathing, as necessary as a heartbeat, is so basic that if you already practice conscious (or mindful) breathing, you’re probably rolling your eyes. Stay with me, though. For some of us, it’s new, and even if it’s not, it never hurts to gain a fresh perspective on the practice.

Take a few seconds right now to consciously breathe in and out as you draw your thoughts away from the past, away from the future, and into the present moment. Listen. Feel. You might think of the cycle of breath as symbolic: inhale and receive, exhale and give (which is the way David Whyte describes it). Or think of it as Muriel Rukeyser suggests: “Breath-in experience, breath-out poetry.” Or think of the ancient word for breathing: inspire. Or in-spirit. Inhaling is, then, in-spiriting.

This month, try to take a few moments each day to reel yourself in from the rushing world. (Focused breathing may be especially helpful in traffic or in a checkout line at the mall.) Breathe into yourself love and hope; breathe out to the world peace and grace.

Nourish peace, cultivate lovingkindness, and carry the calm.

Shadow of the Week – a toy ship:

Nature photo of the week – winter-blooming mahonia: