Afraid I Might Fall

 

Sometimes there are no words,

there’s only sitting in silence

and letting the tears come.

It feels massively important to lose

a father.

I’m left with roots running deep,

but the trellis is gone,

the one that held me up,

the one too often taken for granted.

There is now a breeze at my back

where the support used to be,

and I’m afraid I might fall,

but I am finding I’m strong enough

to stand

on my own,

and I realize that all these years

I have been strong.

And all these years,

he knew.

-kh-

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week:

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Text and photos © 2023 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Peace of Simply Sitting

After lunch yesterday, I simply sat in my sunroom. I would say I sat in silence, but I was the silent one; the world around me kept humming, although quietly—a gentle tick of the clock, the soft breath of the air conditioner, muted chirps from birds outdoors, the distant rush of a jet crossing the sky. Sunlight turned the tops of the leaves outside a bright green, while deeper in and underneath, the leaves were a forest of dark shadow. A gentle breeze swayed their stems and led them in a slow dance. I was still and silent for only a moment, but that moment filled me with a sense of expanding serenity, and I returned to the tasks of the day refreshed and hopeful.

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.

After the Storm

Notes from last evening:

A welcome rainstorm just passed through, drenching thirsty trees and sunburned grass and sagging flowers, leaving the world in a soft green glow. Branches are still dripping. Flowers cup tiny puddles. The air is hazy with heat. The stillness is striking. It’s as if the backyard world has been caught in a freeze-frame, holding its breath, utterly, silently, majestically still. Like me.

“Often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.”

– Pindar –

 

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.

A Point of Balancing Calm

“I’m wishing you a few moments of silence and stillness today. Close your eyes. Listen to your breath. Feel the subtle messages your skin receives from the air and the textures you touch. Catch scents that drift to you. Then open your eyes and focus on one small object. Notice its shape, size, and colors. Listen to your breath again. Feel the peace of the moment. You are a fulcrum, a support, a point of balancing calm in the world.” – kh, Linger: 365 Days of Peaceful Pauses

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

And to all my friends near and far: Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!

Nature of the week – the solstice moon:

Shadow of the Week:

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

The Sigh of Silence

 

Half of the leaves have fallen, half have yet to fall. Leaves underfoot, leaves overhead. I’m surrounded by beauty.

 

“And then there crept

A little noiseless noise among the leaves,

Born of the very sigh that silence heaves.”

John Keats

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

 

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

Part of the Music

 

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

Quietly and Clearly

 

“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:

 

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

A Place of Inner Peace

 

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:

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

Infinite Calm and Exceeding Peace

 

Deep in the soul, below pain,

below all the distraction of life,

is a silence vast and grand –

an infinite ocean of calm,

which nothing can disturb;

nature’s own exceeding peace…

­­

R.M. Bucke

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Pasturing the Soul

“There is . . .

the fertile silence of awareness, pasturing the soul . . .

the alive silence of alert perception . . .

the silence of peaceful accord with other persons

or communion with the cosmos.”

– Paul Goodman, Speaking and Language

 

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Pasture your soul, and carry the calm.

You can listen to a beautifully read, one-minute version of Goodman’s thoughts on silence at this link.

 

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 © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.