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Category: thoughts

A Life Celebrated

March 21, 2026 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

Today, I went to the celebration of life for a young woman I had known since before she was born. What a precious, life-filled person she was all her short life. I sat in a room filled with people who were mourning her: her parents at whose wedding I was officiant, both sets of grandparents, … Continue reading A Life Celebrated

Autumnal Equinox.

September 23, 2023September 23, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

The sun is passing directly over the equator today. The length of the day will be roughly equal in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the North we are passing out of summer into fall and winter. In the South, it is passing from winter to spring and summer. Nature gives me pause in its … Continue reading Autumnal Equinox.

What Is A Leader?

September 15, 2023September 15, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

Do you see yourself as a leader? This prompt is deeply personal for me. It asks me to ponder who I am and how I see myself. Maybe this prompt does the same for you. I see life is a gift; I write and speak from an expanding awareness of life-as-gift. People assume “leader” has … Continue reading What Is A Leader?

Let Your Yes Be Yes

September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

What's your favorite word? My practice for these daily prompts is to sit with them a bit to see what rises in me. I pause. Then I begin to write whatever arises. Today, I was surprised- as I often am- when the blogging prompt brought forth this word: Yes. I must add this disclaimer: “Yes” … Continue reading Let Your Yes Be Yes

Chats with My Inner Critic

September 8, 2023September 8, 2023 ~ James ~ 1 Comment

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be? "Stupid." I would dispel that word from my vocabulary; that goes double for my inner critic. Let me be clear. I do not use "stupid" much in daily conversation or thoughts I have about the world. However, my friend … Continue reading Chats with My Inner Critic

Holding Tightly to Past Wrongs

September 7, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

Are you holding a grudge? About? The word “grudge” immediately brings to my mind savoring the perceived wrongs, intentional and unintentional, that have been done against me. There is even a sour flavor I can almost taste when I remember some of the grudges that shaped periods of my life. And shape my life they … Continue reading Holding Tightly to Past Wrongs

Where is Home?

September 5, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

What does your ideal home look like? This writing is a second attempt. I wrote and edited a response to this question as I originally read it. However, in an “aha” moment, I realized there was a different response rising in me. That is because my first response was to the question, “What does your … Continue reading Where is Home?

Out of Focus

September 2, 2023August 30, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

I realized this morning what is arising in me: I feel scattered. It is a natural feeling from time to time. My presence is not gathered here; I am all over the place in my thoughts and feelings. Perhaps that feeling sounds familiar to you? Perhaps being scattered wouldn't bother me too much except I … Continue reading Out of Focus

What I learned from Jesus

June 22, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

When I look at the stories of Jesus of Nazareth, I see a person teaching and modeling a path for living. Jesus taught about healing and wholeness, and facilitated others finding the wholeness about which he taught. Jesus practiced being in the moment, with whoever he happened to be with then. He would stop at … Continue reading What I learned from Jesus

A Good Failure at “Little Things”

June 13, 2023 ~ James ~ 1 Comment

I spent the last several days spinning in frustration. After all, I have had a meditation practice for more than 10 years and little things are not supposed to trip me up. Hadn't I arrived at some deeper place? That is what happens when I start to imagine I have arrived and move from a … Continue reading A Good Failure at “Little Things”

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Older posts
  • Ripening Awareness: The Space Before We React
  • A Creed of Holy Mystery
  • Ripening Effort: Gentleness in What We Bring
  • A Grace-filled Creed
  • A Sabbath Creed
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You are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

James Henry

Ripening Awareness: The Space Before We React - Infinitely Precious

In week seven of the Ripening series, James Henry turns to one of the quieter but most transformative dimensions of spiritual growth: ripening awareness. Building on the series' central metaphor — that transformation is less like achievement and more like a fruit slowly receiving what it needs to become what it already is — James explores what it means to notice a reaction rising in you before it becomes your automatic response.Drawing on his own practice of Centering Prayer, James describes how sitting in twenty minutes of silence, releasing thoughts as they arise, trains the same muscle needed in everyday conversation: the ability to catch a reaction — anger, defensiveness, the urge to walk away — in the split second before it takes over. He talks candidly about the amygdala's role in this process, the evolutionary logic of fight-or-flight, and why so many of our modern reactions aren't actually about survival at all, even though they feel that way in the moment.This episode offers a gentle, practical invitation: you don't have to react to everything that rises in you. Through simple practices like breath and pause, James shows how ripening awareness creates space — not to suppress what we feel, but to choose, with more freedom and presence, what we do with it.In This Episode:Why James chose the word "ripening" over "growth" for this seriesHow Centering Prayer trains the mind to notice and releaseThe role of the amygdala in reactive, self-protective responsesThe difference between needing to react and wanting to reactA simple breathing practice for creating space before respondingHow ripening awareness deepens presence with others
  1. Ripening Awareness: The Space Before We React 12:18
  2. Ripening Effort: Gentleness in What We Bring 12:53
  3. Ripening Release: Loving Without Grasping 16:02
  4. Ripening Enough-ness: I Am, and That's Enough 13:02
  5. Ripening Action: The Ripple You Never See 12:46
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