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Tag: practice

An Examined Life

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

What principles define how you live? Living intentionally invites me to be clear about my values. Those values as they are shape my life; these values determine my choices and daily interactions. I regularly state my values usually writing them in my journal to see how they “sit” with me; then I examine my life … Continue reading An Examined Life

Recovering Perfectionist

October 15, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

What have you been putting off doing? Why? My traditional pattern for living has been to put off everything until the last minute. That way, there is a reason when it is not perfect. The longer and harder I work on a project and the more invested in the outcome I am, the more I … Continue reading Recovering Perfectionist

The Growing-Up Project

October 14, 2023 ~ James ~ 4 Comments

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)? What is a grown-up anyway? There have been a number of moments in life when I imagined I was finally grown up. I was certain when I hit some self-created marker that this was adulthood. For an instant in my mind, … Continue reading The Growing-Up Project

Bringing My Body Back Online

October 11, 2023October 11, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

What was the hardest personal goal you've set for yourself? The pandemic changed many of my personal habits. I worked more and more from home and spent more of time reading, writing, and meeting online. Prior to the arrival of the pandemic and its resultant shutdowns, I walked daily 3-5 miles. During the pandemic, I … Continue reading Bringing My Body Back Online

Not My Place, Not My People

October 6, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place. I arrived for my first day of the first-grade. Ms. Key was my teacher. I did not know her; I did not know anyone in my class. I did not like riding the bus. I did not like much that day. Thus, I began … Continue reading Not My Place, Not My People

Wanting to Say Something

October 5, 2023October 7, 2023 ~ James ~ Leave a comment

Anxious Uncertain wanting to say something habit, not want no-thing needs saying no-thing rising to say

All of Them!

October 3, 2023October 3, 2023 ~ James ~ 3 Comments

What details of your life could you pay more attention to? Attention is a fleeting companion. Being attentive in any moment is a challenge; still, to be awake is to attend one’s life. I love that word, “Attend.” We attend concerts, the movies, the theatre, parties, meetings, and school. Is our attendance more than an … Continue reading All of Them!

No One Here By That Name

October 2, 2023 ~ James ~ 2 Comments

What's your #1 priority tomorrow? A cheery smile greets me as I arrive. “Today is my name,” they say with a hopeful, helpful smile. “I’m here to see Tomorrow,” I say. Looking a bit bewildered but still smiling, Today says, “There is no one here by that name.” “Wait. Let me see Yesterday then. Yesterday, … Continue reading No One Here By That Name

Working Hard

October 1, 2023October 1, 2023 ~ James ~ 2 Comments

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled? Admittedly, my first inclination was to interpret this as physical labor; physical labor is hard work. After reflecting, I am willing to see hard work includes any work in which someone can fully engage themselves. Practice makes the work easier but any work might be … Continue reading Working Hard

My Own Voice

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 ~ James ~ 1 Comment

What’s the trait you value most about yourself? When my children were young, I would read to them most nights before bed. Often children’s stories have multiple characters, and so I would attempt to create appropriate voices for members of the Berenstain Bear family or Junie B Jones or any of children’s favorites. Almost without … Continue reading My Own Voice

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  • A Trust Creed
  • Ripening Awareness: The Space Before We React
  • A Creed of Holy Mystery
  • Ripening Effort: Gentleness in What We Bring
  • A Grace-filled 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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